The Little Hat For soldiers who have to get in
and out of tanks, who have head-phones more or less continuously clamped to their ears or who jump out of aeroplanes wearing parachutes, the beret is a sensible thing to wear. For the rest of the Army it always strikes me as both unbecoming and impractical. . No hat does less to keep the sun out of your eyes or the rain from trickling down the back• of your neck; no hat looks sloppier if worn by a sloppy man. This summer it has revealed a fresh and unsuspected disadvantage. The command " Remove head-dress ! " is given before troops on parade are ordered to give three cheers for their Sovereign; this, of course, can be easily executed by soldiers wearing berets. But when the cheers have been .given the command is " Replace head-dress ! ", and this is an order which it is almost impossible for them to obey in a soldierly manner. The choice lies between what may be called the tea-cosy technique of trying to ram the beret on to the skull with the left hand, or putting it on properly with both hands, which involves holding your rifle between your knees while you do it. It must however be admitted that many are devoted to these quaint little hats.
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