Army not ready to don berets yet

By William Cole
Military Affairs Writer

Hawai'i-based soldiers won't be donning the controversial new black beret Thursday for the service's 226th birthday, a goal Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki had set in October, as the service continues to pin down supplies.

Master Sgt. Roger S. Morgan of the 9th Regional Support Command displays the new Army beret. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

An Army "birthday ball" will be at the Hilton Turtle Bay resort Friday.

Army officials said the black berets, intended to symbolize the service's transformation into a lighter, faster, more deployable force in the 21st century, will be worn when the headgear is available for all Pacific forces, including Reserve and National Guard units.

"Everybody's been asking — where are these black berets?" said Lt. Col. Howard Sugai, spokesman for the Army Reserve in the Pacific. "I would have to say there is a great anticipation of donning our new headgear that will symbolize our transformation into the Army Gen. Shinseki envisions."

Soldiers in Hawai'i are not alone.

Army logistics and operations officials say 336,380 black berets will have been issued worldwide by Thursday — enough for less than one-third of the soldiers in the active Army, Army National Guard and Reserve.

After making a policy decision not to issue berets produced in China, followed by three companies defaulting on their beret delivery, the Army has found itself at a loss to equip its soldiers with the elusive black caps.

Once units receive the berets, the decision on when to don them will be left up to base commanders, said Maj. Ryan Yantis, an Army spokesman in Washington D.C.

The 25th Infantry Division (Light) last month said it was expecting its 17,000 berets to be shipped in August. Army spokesman Joseph Bonfiglio said soldiers will don the black berets "as soon as they are available to us."

The Hawai'i Army National Guard is expecting shipment of its black berets in mid-October, said spokesman Maj. Chuck Anthony. Approximately 3,000 Army National Guard soldiers are stationed in Hawai'i, most of them on O'ahu.

Some 3,400 of the new berets were shipped to Hawai'i in April for Army Reservists. Of those, about 432 identified as having been made in China were shipped back to Fort Dix, N.J., Sugai said.

Army officials in Washington, D.C., meanwhile, were scrambling late last week to get a handle on procurement figures for the new headgear.

The Defense Logistics Agency originally contracted with seven companies to produce 4.8 million berets at a cost of $29.6 million. But supplies lagged after defense officials learned that British firm Kangol Limited, with an order to produce 618,000 black berets, had subcontracted to produce the caps in China.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz issued a May 1 statement saying, "the Army chief of staff has determined that U.S. troops shall not wear berets made in China or berets made with Chinese content," and a recall was issued. The returned caps are expected to be sold as surplus.

Three contracts also were canceled with U.S. companies with beret factories in Romania, South Africa and India after the logistics agency found "production and quality problems."

More recently, Bancroft Cap Co. in Cabot, Ark., contracted to produce 1.3 million berets, came under scrutiny because two of its suppliers provided foreign wool and lambskin from Pakistan.

Dorothea Knitting in Canada is under contract to produce 1.1 million berets, while C.W. Headdress, a British company, is expected to produce 240,000 of the black berets.

Shinseki said at a May 2 House Small Business Committee hearing that the black beret was about building cohesiveness among Army units, but found himself questioned by one representative about an apparent Army requirement for a seamless beret instead of a two-piece design — which many U.S. small businesses could have manufactured.

The beret plan also came under fire early on from the Army's elite Rangers, who have traditionally worn black berets.

The decision was made to issue tan berets to Rangers. Special Forces troops will continue to wear green berets and Airborne soldiers will keep their maroon berets.