Now, the Army Chief of Staff wants to take this beret, which many of us hold sacred, and give it to the rest of the regular Army personnel in the name of increasing their self-esteem and building their morale. I find this reprehensible. By taking a symbol of this sacrifice and cheapening it in this way, the Army is betraying not only those who currently wear the beret with pride, but all of us who have worn the beret in the past. Calif. Giving the black beret to all the troops will not raise their motivation, dedication and esprit de corps one iota. That comes from within, and a hat, of whatever shape or color, will never change it.
Berets do look good, though.
Next year when I'm down at clothing sales buying my new beret I think I'll pick up a Combat Infantry Badge too. They look cool, I've always wanted one and wearing it will sure improve my morale and esprit de corps. I didn't earn it, any more than I earned the black beret, but that seems to be beside the point these days. I feel sure the ARCO team was devastated by this unfortunate situation. Even though as I understand from the media it was ARCO's personnel and equipment that cut the line, there is plenty of blame to go around, which includes engineers, the phone company and all forms of government too numerous to mention.