Washington — No retreat.
The Army says it will not back off from its decision to make black berets the standard headgear for soldiers, though it might postpone the June target date.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki
The timing concerns a fuss over buying berets from China.
When he announced last October that all soldiers except paratroopers and Special Forces soldiers would wear black berets traditionally the exclusive headgear of the elite Rangers Army chief of staff Gen. Eric Shinseki said the change would take effect on the Army's birthday, June 14.
That set a deadline, however, for acquiring 2.6 million berets that the Defense Logistics Agency said it could meet only by contracting with foreign manufacturers. When word got out that China was among those suppliers it created a problem on Capitol Hill.
At a joint Pentagon news conference on Friday, Shinseki and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz left open the possibility that the date could be moved if deemed appropriate to give the business to U.S. hat makers. They did not say how much delay might be necessary.
Wolfowitz said the entire matter is under review.
In a letter sent Friday to President Bush, 75 House members said the June 14 deadline does not give American manufacturers enough time to fill the Army's order.
"This seemingly arbitrary deadline for the new berets will cause U.S. firms to lose millions of dollars," the letter said, noting that a federal law known as the Berry Amendment requires the Pentagon to buy only American-made clothing. The Pentagon got a waiver of that requirement for the beret order.
In the meantime, the Army settled one source of controversy the fact that Rangers objected to Shinseki taking away their exclusive right to wear the black beret. The Rangers see it as a badge of honor that would be cheapened by making it a standard for the entire Army.
Shinseki said he had accepted a Ranger offer to switch from black to tan berets enabling them to keep an exclusive color. In any event, he said his original decision to put the rest of the Army in black berets will not be changed.
"The Army is going to change," he said. "Change, as all of us know, is difficult."
For years, the black beret has been the exclusive headgear of the Rangers, a small force with a glory-covered history. Currently, only three Army units are authorized to wear berets: Airborne units wear maroon berets, Special Forces wear green (and are known famously as the Green Berets) and Rangers wear black. The airborne units and the Green Berets will keep their exclusive colors.
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