Army's Green Beret Hat Hits Fifty Year Anniversary

(The Blaze/AP) — Dozens of Green Berets, current and former, descended on Washington on Thursday to mark the 50th anniversary of the green beret hat itself — a distinctive part of the Special Forces uniform that now serves as a nickname.

The soldiers laid a wreath at the grave of President John F. Kennedy, who helped make Green Berets a permanent part of the U.S. military landscape. The Special Forces were established in 1952, but Kennedy approved the namesake cap in 1961.

Kennedy saw the Green Berets as key to his battle against communism, using "unconventional warfare" — teaching local forces to overthrow the local government or leader, fighting alongside them to provide expertise, intelligence and logistical support.

Civilians and the media often incorrectly refer to other military units as "Special Forces."

Despite overuse of the term in the media, only those in the army who wear the 50-year old green beret as part of their uniform are accurately called "Special Forces."

Sometimes, they get annoyed when so many people get their name wrong.

Since the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan earlier this year, even the commander-in-chief has used "special forces" to refer to all special operations forces — from SEALs to Army Rangers to Air Force Special Operations troops. Many inside the Pentagon don't know the difference.

This has occurred during a time when the Special Forces' mission of training foreign forces to fight America's enemies overseas remains a critical and highly specialized skill set.

An in a climate of shrinking budgets, it is important to note that Green Berets remain the go-to force for counterinsurgency. The Green Berets can do the job with fewer troops than conventional forces.

As the Pentagon divvies up money and missions, the Green Berets want to make sure their mission set isn't handed off because the public isn't aware of what 'Special Forces' really means.

Already, Green Berets are heavily involved in current wars abroad. Some 87 percent of the deployed force is in the general area of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the Pentagon has ordered their 8,500-strong force expanded by 1,000 over the past four years because they are so much in demand, Brig. Gen. Ed Reeder, the Special Forces commander, told the AP.

When the U.S. responded to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Green Berets were the first military forces deployed, Reeder said, together with CIA operatives. They provided Afghanistan insurgents firepower, direction and intelligence to help unseat the Taliban in just 43 days.

More recently in Afghanistan, Green Berets employed their other skill of "foreign internal defense," in this case by helping the local forces support the U.S.-backed Afghan government.

That fit into the larger strategy of protecting the local population and fostering local government. While popular mythology credits the creation of counterinsurgency strategy to now-retired-Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq, Green Berets will tell you they have been practicing it for decades and doing it with fewer forces.

The Green Beret small-footprint counterinsurgency is being discussed as a possible exit strategy for the White House as it seeks a way to shrink the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan. The Green-Beret-designed program to secure remote Afghan areas — called Village Stability Operations — is being touted as the way to keep the Taliban out, with far fewer U.S. troops.

The Pentagon's top officer, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Gen. Martin Dempsey, has even said the practice of training and working with local forces should be farmed out to regular troops.

"What frustrates me is when people say (regular) troops could replace special operations, and it would be cheaper," said retired Special Forces Col. David Maxwell, who now teaches at Georgetown University's foreign service school.

"Not everyone has the skills or aptitude to work in small teams in remote areas with indigenous forces," he said.