Bearskin, Beret, or Pickelhaube

[Mirc]

the bearskin wins for utter lack of practicality.

Actually any hat that has a large space for air above your head is probably the best kind of hat to withstand cold. It's not that uncomfortable really, I've tried a cheap one on and I liked it.

I still pick the Pickelhaube though.

 

[Verbose]

The original berets, the Chasseurs Alpins, AND the Pickelhaube:

As for the beret. The Chasserus Alpins used it first.
Iirc post WWI some unit or other of the British army though they looked snazzy, and the rest is history, including the "beret inflation" with every mickey mouse-outfit in the world laying claim to being "elite" enough to warrant one.

 

[Ecofarm]

the "beret inflation" with every mickey mouse-outfit in the world laying claim to being "elite" enough to warrant one.

Well, until the US army went with black berets, there were very few in the US.

Red - Airborne (1 Division)
Black (changed to Tan when the army went to black berets) - Ranger (1 Brigade)
Green - Special Forces (1 Battalion?)

And the Airforce has a handful.
http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0103/berets.html

Spoiler :

In 1951, the Marine Corps experimented with green and blue berets, but dismissed them because they looked too “foreign” and “feminine.”

The first widespread use of the headgear by U.S. forces came shortly after, when a new Army organization that was specially trained for insurgency and counterguerrilla warfare began wearing a green variety in 1953. It took another eight years for the Army’s Special Forces — the “Green Berets” — to win presidential approval from John F. Kennedy to make their headgear official.

In the 1970s, Army policy allowed local commanders to encourage morale-enhancing uniform distinctions, and the use of berets boomed. Armor personnel at Fort Knox, Ky., wore the traditional British black beret, while U.S. armored cavalry regiments in Germany wore the black beret with a red and white oval.

Troops of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., started wearing the maroon beret in 1973, while at Fort Campbell, Ky., the trend exploded, with post personnel wearing red, military police donning light green, and the 101st Airborne Division taking light blue as their color. In Alaska, the 172nd Infantry Brigade began using an olive green beret.

In 1975, the Airborne Rangers got approval from the Army Chief of Staff to use the black beret as their official headgear.

Over the next few years, the whole thing got out of hand, and in 1979 senior Army officials put on the brakes, Bradford said. The leadership allowed the Rangers to keep their black berets and in 1980, agreed to allow airborne troops to continue wearing the maroon version. But all others varieties were declared off-limits.

http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/generalinfo/a/berethistory.htm

The article was before the army went with black berets and Rangers changed to tan.

Red berets mean Airborne in many (all?) countries.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

I do like the beret in many forms, but for sheer awesomesauce I have to go with the pickelhaube.

 

[soul_warrior]

berets for that practical slant.
bearskins for Dress Uniforms!!

 

[Cutlass]

They all suck. But the beret is the least idiotic looking.

 

[Rossiya]

Bearskin I hate because it's associated with the queen.

 

[Masquerouge]

Pickelhaube has the coolest name by far. But for sheer looks, beret.

 

[echinococcus]

Kaiserhaube

 

[raketooy]

Bearskin is so underrated.

 

[Dachs]

I do like the beret in many forms, but for sheer awesomesauce I have to go with the pickelhaube.

What he said.

 

[RoboPig]

Berets look OK most of the time, but sometimes they look completely ridiculous and effeminate.
Observe:

Pickelhaubes on the other hand, always look cool! Even their name is amazing!

I hate ever picking something German over its French counterpart, but pickelhaube.

The Internet is flooded with Anti-Germanism!

 

[Masquerouge]

Robopig where did you get that picture? What is it?

 

[Onionsoilder]

Beret: French. 'nough said

The baseball cap and bikini and also French. More emphasis on the bikini.

 

[Godwynn]

Robopig where did you get that picture? What is it?

Russian Paratroopers, from wiki.

 

[RoboPig]

Robopig where did you get that picture? What is it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Russian_paratroopers_9_may_2005_a.jpg

Its from the Russian Airborne Troops Wiki page

 

[Huayna Capac357]

Pickelhaubes are the definition of pwnage.

 

[Masquerouge]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Russian_paratroopers_9_may_2005_a.jpg

Its from the Russian Airborne Troops Wiki page

Wow. I thought it was a joke. The shirt with white and blue stripes... come on!

 

[holy king]

bärenfut, of course.

 

[West 36]

Mortarboard

There is nothing better than celebrating the culmination of several successful years of hard work and learning than looking like a complete dumbass in front of your peers, family, faculty, and a few hundred other people who don't want to be there.