Those red berets

[Yak_Herder]

I was a Scout when the red beret was introduced. At first I thought it was cool, then reality set in.

 

One problem was the badge placement in the front. Even at my young age I knew that the badge should be off center and the beret sloped. The BSA designed theirs with the badge on center. It bugged me. Wearing the beret "even", rather than spilled off to one side just looked dorky.

 

Another thing was the badge. Why didn't they make an allowance for rank pins to be worn up there rather than that gold flor de lis?

 

Finally, that terrible band around the edge. Mine cracked shortly after I started wearing it (or maybe that's where the seam was, anyway...). It always dug into my forehead. It just wasn't comfortable.

 

All that an a lack of a brim (seemling essential in practical headgear) seemed to do it in for me. I quit wearing it after about 6 months. None of the other guys in the Troop even tried it.

 

Do you think it would have been better accepted if these problems had been addressed?

[dan]

No, it would still be dorkie!

[EagleInKY]

There are a couple of troops around here that still wear them for dress headgear, such as a for a color guard. They are still sharp for that kind of purpose. But, I agree, they have little value as traditional headgear.

[Eamonn]

English Scout uniform used to have a green beret. There was a metal Scout Badge that you added to the darn thing.

The Lad in the Scout catalog looked good, sad to say the Lads in our troop never managed to look that good. In fact the Lads with Afros looked like clowns.

Eamonn

[John-in-KC]

FWIW,

 

The most practical hat I've ever encountered is the Army tropical "boonie hat." Think of it as a crushable, ripstop, campaign hat.

 

I wear the black beret when I wear a Tree Suit (read Battle Dress Uniform) or Army Greens. Berets are impractical headgear professionally, and it's impractical headgear in the context of Scouting. Unfortunately, GEN Shinseki (an Armor Officer) had an ally in BG (Ret) and former SECARMY White (also an Armor Officer, who had worn the black beret in Viet Nam). The Army will be stuck with it a while. Good thing Scouts don't have to have it anymore.

 

(That said: For Army Airborne, Ranger, and Special Forces troopers, it's a badge of honor, and denotes earning recognition)

 

John

[Fat Old Guy]

I have two of the red BSA berets. If worn witht the tie in the back, the emblem is over the left eye.

 

 

[scoutldr]

A beret properly worn over a shaved head (or nearly so) looks good. Unfortunately, when the red beret was introduced in the 70s, the hair style was shoulder length and straight. All that hair sticking out under the beret looked just plain stupid.

[AggieScouter]

The beret can look sharp. We go to summer camp with a troop that is connected to a JROTC program. They look good. Scoutldr is right, you need short hair to make it look good. When I was a kid living overseas, I remember seeing a Dutch soldier wearing one (they could wear their hair long, with a beard) and it looked ridiculous. Reminded me of Che Guevara.

[VentureScoutNY]

 

The wearer must have short hair to make it look sharp. I have a few red berets in my collection. They are great hats for a dress uniform. In the field? Not so great. Similar to the overseas hat they are both not very practicle hats. But they both sure do look sharp. The beret looks great with the Red Jac-Shirt.

[Stan Riddle]

I too remember when the berets came out. I was about 11, a little heavy, and hair about to my shoulders. I looked a little like a red-topped mushroom, because I had no idea how to shape one. I'm now older, leaner, grayer, and have a flat top, and recently purchased one off Ebay. I found directions on the internet on how to shape one, and it looks much better on me than it did 30 years ago. I love it in the winter. But other than that, it has no use. It's hot, it doesn't shed water or shield sun...

but it DOES look really cool:)

[OldGreyEagle]

Always thought the Red Berets went out because Curtis Sliwa and the Guardian Angels made their uniform a red beret and the BSA didnt want anyone confusing a scout as a Guardian Angel.

 

The troop I was in had a patrol for Gung Ho guys, and only those in the patrol could wear the red beret, made for quite the espirit the core

 

My son wore one for awhile, he made it his trademark, it was always easy to spot him with that red cap on. Then someone else wore one and he took his off, never to wear it again.

 

I like them, not practical but then how often does the saber in the dress marine uniform get used? legally?

[Yak_Herder]

I once heard someone say there is only one article of official uniforming that is no longer acceptable to wear: the red beret.

 

The claim that was made went like this: The red beret was deemed a safety issue because of the possible confusion with the Guardian Angels.

 

Anyone have anything in writing that would support that?

[OldGreyEagle]

At the 2001 National Jamboree, there was one troop there outfitted in the old berets, they were all obtained off Ebay. It could have been an issue at one time, as I understood it to be, but it didnt seem so in 2001.

 

I love this esoteric scouting stuff

 

(sorry Barry)

[scottahicks]

I wore the beret and mine with the string centered in back the patch was over the eye not centered. My troop was revered everywhere we went. by the time we were wearing them I think they were getting ready to discontinue them or already had. Our troop Troop 42 of Buellton, CA was deffinatly top notch and allways looked sharp in our berets. My son is now 8 yrs old and a cub scout and I am already looking for as many original berets as I can get my hands on so when he becomes a boy scout I indend to become a scoutmaster again and have his troop wear the berets. so if anyone out there has a beret they want to donate to keep the beret alive email me at scottahicks@yahoo.com

 

Scott (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

[emb021]

When I joined scouts back in the 70s, my troop wore the red beret, so I got one. Like a lot of kids of my time, we had seen berets worn on tv & the movies. Sadly, as others have pointed out, the way the BSA's beret was manufactored made it difficult, if not impossible, to wear the BSA red beret in the same way. (wonder if that was on purpose). Thus it looked dorky. Plus, being in hot Florida, it wasn't very practical. A baseball hat or the current expedition hat was better. When I got backed involved as an adult in the mid 80s or so, I went to wearing baseball-style hats and that was it for the berets.