Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike_2817
It is not till you see a Black & Dark Navy Blue Beret next to each other that you really see the difference!
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I've seen them both side by side Mike. At RAC Trg Regt we Irish Hussars were issued with dark blue berets instead of the rifle green ones with silk banding which we got when reporting for RD. This was common with some regiments like us, RSDG, RH etc. RTR chaps on the other hand got their black berets straight away. So we were very adept at spotting the difference.
This is why I was surprised to see old Korea hands from the 8th wearing black berets and why I asked them about it.
Of course the link I gave is a confirmation, one amongst many, that the entire RAC wore a black beret from 1940 onwards. It wasn't until post 1945 that the RTR laid claim to the black beret as the distinction it had been pre war but even then it's not exclusive in the army as I've shown.