It's my understanding that British SAS wear a tan beret, as do the SAS regiments of Australia and New Zealand, and maybe Canadians, too.

Our Rangers now wear berets of the same color. They wore black ones for the longest time. An Army chief of staff decided Rangers looked sharp in their black berets and all soldiers who had completed their initial training and had moved on to their units should begin wearing black berets. That POed the Rangers, and so they started wearing "SAS" berets. They concocted some story about how they had earned the right to now wear the new color, just as they had earlier concocted some story about how they had earned the right to wear black berets. I say concocted as to my mind the myths about the colors of US Army berets don't hold up on close examination. The myths are rooted in things that supposedly happened in Britain in WW2. Why American forces need to copy Brits is beyond me. At the end of my service I wore the standardized black beret as required,, and have a Ranger connection I have heard the black beret story many times.

I sometimes wear an Army black beret without devices and no one has called me out. I also have two maroon berets that I also wear, and neither is a US Army item of uniform although they look it from a little distance.

I doubt anyone could rightly criticize someone wearing a beret in US Army colors as long as it were worn without devices. Likewise wearing a bonnet of any military color should pass muster. Put whatever you want on your head. The Martial of Dodge City, Kansas wears a Stetson with his kilt, but then he wears the fanciest pair of custom cowboy boots I've ever seen with it, too.


Quote Originally Posted by FossilHunter View Post
I'm curious how far this goes though. What if a unit just happens to wear a beret in a common balmoral color?

The Australian SAS appears to wear a beret in a color very similar to fawn:



I though green was a pretty traditional color for balmorals but now I wonder how far someone is expected to go to avoid being seen as "dressing in another's uniform."

Or does this all just apply to Scottish units that actually wear balmorals, toorie and all?