Despite the United States Army's problems relative to the foreign production of the Black Beret and their requiring the Defense Logistics Agency to break the law (the Berry Amendment) in order to fulfill its needs, it was reported that there is no shortage of Black Berets in the Ft. Bragg area. Throughout the rest of the Army there are great shortages of Black Berets as most of the Berets have been returned, either due to poor quality or because they were made in Communist China.
Since Ft. Bragg is where the most intense opposition exists among soldiers to General Shinseki's plan to steal the heritage of the United States Army Rangers by issuing the Black Beret to the entire United States Army, it makes sense for him to direct the Army to increase the availability of berets in Ft. Bragg, NC. That is after all, the largest concentration, be they Paratrooper or Special Forces soldiers, of beret wearing soldiers in the United States Army.
History will have a special place for General Shinseki. He won't be remembered as the Chief of Staff who 'Transformed the Army' from the cold war era to some future force, after all, there are others with a similar vision and progress marches forward no matter who sits in the Army's top position. Soon enough the Secretary of Defense will be telling General Shinseki what he can and can't do in regards to Transformation anyway as part of his defense review process. Where issues of spending Billions of Dollars are at stake, there is political control, at least budgetary control, of our Military. The Chiefs of each service resent this, as they feel they should have a free hand to direct their services without political or civil control.
Brazenly stealing the heritage of the Black Beret, earned by Rangers through a rigorous selection process, training, standards, and combat might cost only 'Millions' of dollars, at least for the Berets. That is something that surely a Chief of Staff ought to be able to do. The only problem with it, is that General Shinseki has lied to the American people, the Congress and to every soldier who serves on the front lines of our Army in order to accomplish his goal.
The Black Beret being issued to the entire Army is not going to enhance it's performance, for there are no performance enhancing standards behind it. Having a symbol without something tangible behind it leaves the symbol wanting for some claim to credibility as to stature. It's simply not there. We know this and the American people know this also. Repeating the lie will not make it true, no matter how many times the Chief of Staff or his supporters do so.
So, back to the special place that history might have for General Shinseki. Now that he has hung his career on a hat, he has seriously degraded his own credibility amongst his peers, his subordinates, the congress and the American people. It was necessary for the Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz to attend a press briefing to support the General, due to the flawed logic of his assertions of a connection between the issuing of the Black Beret and Transformation. Well informed media persons took him to task and it wasn't pretty. They know a lie when they hear one and they know faulty logic when they see it.
By Veterans of the 75th Ranger Regiment