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The Guy who Killed the Red Berets still at it


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http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b1_3angels.6416221may20,0,5765985.story

 

Remember the beloved Red Berets? I do , I was a scout in the late 60's early 70's, or as I explain to the scouts in the troop I serve, after Brownsea island but before the demise of the red berets and this is the guy who killed them. Curtis Sliwa. Sliwa's vigilante group, known as the "Guardian Angels" were identified by a red beret, remarkably similar to the BSA boy scout red beret. Scouts quit wearing them so as not to be mistaken as a red beret wearing Guardian Angel, lets just say the BSA and the Guardian Angels have differing missions

 

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(This message has been edited by oldgreyeagle)

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Not everyone can wear a beret and make it work. It takes a certain je ne sais quoi, panache, or style much like with the knee socks and shorts.

 

One does have to take care an wear a properly sized beret least one end up looking like Ludwig Bemelmans' Madeline but thats just the kind of fashion risk I am willing to take, and carry off quite well I will have you know.

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I could never figure out the POINT of wearing a beret. It doesn't keep the sun out of your eyes nor off your neck on a sunny day and it only protects the very top of your head on a wet day. Not good field gear. I think that the red beret was the ill-advised "cherry on the top" of the French-designed parlor-uniform from which we're now finally moving away.

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My son's troop wears berets (green, embroidered with Troop #)

 

There is a definite cache attached to them! When we have new boys join, the first thing they want is that beret. When we go to summer camp the berets become a hot commodity for trading. If I hadn't seen it myself I would not believe it. But we've got 50 boys and they all proudly wear their berets.

 

On the flip side, a wool beret on a hot summer day is not always nice. They don't provide any shade. And you do have to shape them or else they tend to look goofy.

 

 

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Fashion is not for the weak or faint of heart. I think Tim Gunn said that.

 

Even steak can be ruined if not prepared correctly, consider the beret the same way. Properly trained there is nothing cooler than the beret, as Lisabob has so adroitly illustrated.

 

BTW Lisabob, make sure you give the youth in the troop you serve two HUGE thumbs up for having the style and panache to pull off the beret. Few of us can do it, but we are the elite!

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