United States Army Special Forces in popular culture Members of the U . S . Army Special Forces will emphatically assert that the " Green Beret " is a hat and not the man who wears it . Nevertheless , for a time in the 1960s the Green Berets and the men who wore them became a national fad emerging in a wide variety of popular culture referents . After a decline in popularity during the 1970s — coinciding with the American public ' s backlash against the Vietnam War — the Green Berets gripped the popular imagination again beginning with the Rambo film franchise in 1982 . They continue to appear as both major and minor referents in popular culture — especially in movies and television — often serving as a shorthand signifier for a shady or covert military background for a fictional character . As a dramatic device , this can cut both ways — i . e . , lead an audience to either admire or fear ( or both ) a character . Soldiers of the " New Frontier " . Although the U . S . Army Special Forces were created with a low profile in 1952 , and the green beret was not officially authorized , things changed dramatically with President John F . Kennedy . He wanted to challenge Communist influence and wars of liberation in the recently decolonized Third World , and bolster pro - American regimes with the U . S . Army ' s own special forces and counter - guerrilla fighters . On 12 October 1961 , Kennedy visited the U . S . Special Warfare Center , where his aide , Major General Chester V . Clifton ( and friend of the SWC Commander , BG William P . Yarborough ) informed Yarborough that the President was keen on the Special Forces — but would not visit the SF base unless they were wearing their green berets . The Army , having previously forbidden the green beret , allowed the soldiers to wear them , lest JFK not visit . The Special Forces displayed their capabilities , impressing the President ; so often , in the next years , that they referred to it as " Disneyland . " President Kennedy ' s visit was topped with a Bell Aircraft pilot ( dressed in Army fatigues ) flying with a rocket belt to the President , and saluting him . Kennedy approved of the Green Beret , and the U . S . Army authorised it . In 1962 , he called the green beret , " a symbol of excellence , a badge of courage , a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom . " Special Forces soldiers in berets and dress Greens were President Kennedy ' s cortege in 1963 . An SF beret was photographed atop his grave at Arlington National Cemetery . Earliest media . The 1st Special Forces Group on Okinawa provided a number of troopers to act as extras in director Samuel Fuller ' s " Merrill ' s Marauders " ( 1961 ) and were credited at film ' s start . On U . S . television , a March 1962 episode of " Surfside 6 " titled " The Green Beret " featured SF training . Henry Fonda appeared in , and narrated , a 1962 " Special Forces " episode of " The Big Picture " series of U . S . Army - produced films that found their way to U . S . television . In 1963 , a Green Beret appeared in the episode " In Praise of Pip " of " The Twilight Zone " though the U . S . Army told the CBS television network to not name the Southeast Asian country where the story occurred . The Green Beret ' s first Hollywood appearance is in the futuristic thriller film " Seven Days in May " ( 1963 ) wherein Andrew Duggan is a Special Forces officer loyal to the U . S . President , not the traitorous JCS Chief Burt Lancaster ; the film also gave the U . S . filmgoer a first glimpse of the M16 rifle . Mattel toys made " Guerrilla Fighter " playsets in 1962 containing a commando green beret with an interesting tin " Guerrilla Fighter " badge depicting the crossed arrows insignia of the Special Forces , ( formerly worn by the 1st Special Service Force , and before that the U . S . Army Indian Scouts ) and a jungle knife in front of a parachute . The set also contained the Mattel Dick Tracy automatic cap firing " tommy gun " or " Scattergun " ( the Dick Tracy cap firing but no longer water firing riot shotgun ) toy weapons , both now in military camouflage plastic , a military camouflaged poncho , and in some sets , a rubber Ka - Bar knife and a tripwire booby trap . Mattel later made the " M - 16 Marauder " , in 1966 , which appeared in " The Green Berets " film wherein an enraged John Wayne smashes one against a tree . The public was fascinated with this new type of soldier of the New Frontier , and the Army reluctantly gave journalists ' access to many of Special Forces often top secret missions . One writer was Robin Moore , who used his connections with Harvard University classmate Robert F . Kennedy to write a book about the Special Forces . The U . S . Army agreed on the condition that Moore ( then 38 years old ) complete the Basic Airborne Course and SF training before being allowed to visit the Special Forces in South Vietnam . Saturation . Robin Moore successfully completed the courses and was allowed to live with the soldiers in Special Forces and their South Vietnamese , Montagnard , and Nung allies . His book , " The Green Berets " , was published in 1965 , but , because he mentions the American presence in North Vietnam and Cambodia , he published " The Green Berets " as a novel . The U . S . Army was upset by the book ; the reading public was not and it became a best selling book , especially its paperback edition in 1966 . At the time of Moore ' s book and the increasing U . S . Military involvement in the Vietnam War , Special Forces Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler wrote a song with Robin Moore and recorded it under the title the " Ballad of the Green Berets . " It became the number - one - single - record in the U . S . in 1966 . In addition to the single , Sadler released an album " Ballads of the Green Berets " with Sadler ' s photograph of him in a green beret appearing on the single , the LP , and on the paperback cover of Moore ' s " The Green Berets " . SSgt . Sadler later recorded an additional , but lesser , song " The A - Team " and released two more long - playing albums , then wrote his autobiography , " I ' m A Lucky One " . " Ballad of the Green Berets " had many cover versions ranging from Ennio Morricone and Duane Eddy to " drugstore records " on labels such as Diplomat and Wyncote records . Hanna - Barbera Records released a children ' s LP " The Story of the Green Beret " available to members of the G . I . Joe club . The album was a tie - in with the release of the G . I . Joe Green Beret " action figure " ( doll ) that had appeared in 1966 . The record had an album cover of Special Forces in action and a picture of the Medal of Honor . The record started off with a cover version of " Ballad of the Green Berets " but was a spoken account with sound effects of Colonel Pat Lawrence ( Mike Road ) taking two small boys ( Andy and George ) to visit Fort Bragg , North Carolina , to learn about the training and capabilities of " The Green Berets " . The album then featured an exciting account of the Battle of Nam Dong where Captain Roger Donlon received the first Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War . A less successful song was Nancy Ames ' " He Wore The Green Beret " with a flip side of " War is a Card Game " . Dickie Goodman pitted the two fads of 1966 against each other in " Batman & His Grandmother " where the Caped Crusader went up against the Green Beret . Robin Moore also wrote a 1965 " Tales of the Green Beret " newspaper comic strip with artwork by comics Joe Kubert that was also published in paperback . It later became a Dell Publishing American comic book in 1967 replacing their earlier " Jungle War Stories " and " Guerrilla War " comics . When DC Comics ' s Larry Rock ( brother of the Sergeant ) , the replacement in " Our Fighting Forces " for the Marines Gunner and Sarge and their dog Pooch proved unpopular , DC replaced him with a Green Beret named Captain Hunter in 1966 . Captain Hunter ' s adventures featured him hunting for his twin brother , a pilot shot down and captured by the Viet Cong . Other war comics put in their own Green Beret characters , such as Lightning Comics ' " Todd Holton - Super Green Beret " ( 1967 ) . Children could also enjoy Philadelphia Gum " Men of the Green Beret " trading cards of photographs of the Special Forces in action with a stick of bubble gum . The artwork on the box was by artist Norm Saunders of " Mars Attacks " fame . Aurora Models came out with a model of a Green Beret soldier . Feature films . With all the interest in the men of the Green Berets , a film version seemed a long time in coming . Columbia Pictures had bought the film rights to Robin Moore ' s book before publication , using the title , " The Green Berets " , for a screenplay about the training of an SF Team and their deployment in Southeast Asia , but dropped the idea , because of the U . S . Army ' s many conditions and the U . S . public ' s dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War . Producer David L . Wolper then bought the rights to " The Green Berets " , and dropped the idea for reasons like Columbia Pictures . A screenplay was written by George Goodman who had served with the Special Forces in the 1950s as a military intelligence officer and had written a 1961 article about the Special Forces called " The Unconventional Warriors " in Esquire Magazine . Columbia sent Goodman to South Vietnam to research the screenplay . Wolper later produced " The Devil ' s Brigade " ( 1968 ) with Utah - based National Guard SF soldiers as extras , wearing attractive , but imaginary red beret s . Thus , it fell to John Wayne to buy the rights and ask President Lyndon Johnson ' s help in obtaining the assistance and cooperation of the Pentagon in filming the book . The Army set strict conditions , forbidding Moore to work on or be associated with the film , though the film trailer has the caption " TOLD TOUGH - LIKE THE BOOK " . Despite Wayne ' s box office prestige and public interest in " The Green Berets " , the film was rejected by Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures . Wayne ' s preferred film composer , Elmer Bernstein , refused to write the score . Wayne used his Batjac Productions money to make the film , which Warner Bros . profitably released to some public protest . John Wayne ' s version of Robin Moore ' s " The Green Berets " begins with a choral version of the " Ballad of the Green Berets " heard behind Wayne Fitzgerald ' s titles that segue to an SF A - Team putting on a " Disneyland " show for journalists , including skeptical David Janssen . From SF Colonel John Wayne , reporter Janssen wangles a trip to the Vietnam War , and , eventually , participates in a large - scale battle , based on the Battle of Nam Dong . In the end , Janssen tells Wayne " If I write what I feel , I ' ll be out of a job " . Wayne tells Janssen he ' ll always have one with them . The last third of the film is Green Beret expertise in a commando mission to abduct a North Vietnamese General who has been seduced by the sister - in - law of an ARVN Special Forces Colonel ( played by Jack Soo ) . The climax is a superb demonstration of combatives by former - Tarzan Mike Henry killing a horde of Viet Cong who attack him , even impaling one on a low tree branch . The martial arts inspired many film producers . Tom Laughlin made a highly profitable American International Pictures film called " The Born Losers " ( 1967 ) featuring Billy Jack , a half - American Indian former Green Beret Vietnam War veteran using his martial arts on a motorcycle gang . The 1971 American International Pictures film " Chrome and Hot Leather " features SF men Tony Young , Peter Brown , and Marvin Gaye using their training and Vietnam War experience to avenge the murder of Young ' s girlfriend by William Smith ' s motorcycle gang . The film ' s poster shows a uniformed Green Beret using a biker as a sub - human punching bag with the tagline : " DON ' T MUCK AROUND WITH A GREEN BERET ' S MAMA ! HE ' LL TAKE HIS CHOPPER AND RAM IT DOWN YOUR THROAT ! " Decline . Disenchantment . As the public wearied of the Green Berets , so did the American Regular Army . The 1969 " Green Beret Murder Case " in which Colonel Robert Rheault and several of his men were tried for assassinating a Communist spy was used as a discrediting tactic against the Special Forces . The case also contributed to the plot of the movie " Apocalypse Now " in which a Green Beret Colonel accused of the same offence has gone rogue . Rambo . In 1972 , author David Morrell published " First Blood " , a novel that features a former member of the Army Special Forces named John Rambo . The novel focuses on the struggle Rambo faces when he attempts to return to civilian life following the end of his tour of duty in Vietnam , and he eventually turns to violence . In 1982 , a film adaptation of the novel was released , starring Sylvester Stallone . The film altered many aspects of the novel , including excising the self - loathing characteristics the protagonist possesses in the novel . The film was a box office success , and spawned a series of three additional films .