I'll be a bit contrary here.
When I joined in 1965, like Old Sweat before me, I was issued a blue beret and wore the gunner cap badge with a piece of red backing felt. Once I completed my gun number's training I was issued the blue forage cap with a red band and my white lanyard. Both were symbols of pride that distinguished me as a young gunner from the hoi polloi of infantry and service corps that populated my armory. It was never so much the blue of the beret that was important but the red patch behind the badge and the red band on the forage cap that made us gunners. In fact my understanding at the time was that the dark blue was the default generic army colour and nothing special for the gunners.
The blue beret only became important to me when they took it away and replaced it with that generic piece of green crap that came with the green bus driver's uniform. I had gone regular army at exactly that point in time where the uniform changed. As officer cadets we wore battle dress and OR Tropical Worsted with the blue and red forage cap but at graduation, instead of getting officer's TWs, we were given a $600 clothing allowance to buy the newly issued green cloth and have two sets of uniform made (one summer weight and one winter weight - they still weren't available for issue at clothing stores). I still recall my first parade ever with 3 RCHA where the entire regiment paraded in TWs except for two of us, the regimental photographer who was a sailor and wore the old pattern navy rig and me, who was front and centre in his greens. Guess who pissed the RSM off more?
I was even more upset when they took away my Robin Hood combat cap and told me to wear my crappy green beret in the field. (actually they never took it away; they just ordered me never to wear it again--it's still in a box in my basement)
We universally hated unification and integration. The idea that we would be indistinguishable from other regiments, and even worse, sailors and pilots, was abhorrent. There was a great fear at the time that even our cap badges would be replaced by the corn flake badge.
I fully appreciate that this was over half a century ago and that there are many now that are going through the same angst. The big difference is that back then our individuality was being taken away while now it is being given back. I also understand how the thing is complicated by what are now the purple trades and the degree of integration that has by necessity taken place. But, I do think that initiatives that bring back or increase esprit d'corps are well worth it.
Every tradition has a day one. Just as we old buggers got used to the green stuff that they made us wear to the point where the new sprouts are now defending it, you'll get over the reinventing that's going on now. Stop sweating the little stuff. What you should be worrying about is whether or not the Adoptive Dispersed Operations concept will really keep the Russians from wiping you out and, if not, what to do about it. ;D
:cheers:
