basis over the course of their entire career. The initial formal training program for entry into Special Forces is divided into four phases collectively known as the Special Forces Qualification Course or, informally, the "Q Course". The length of the Q Course changes depending on the applicant's primary job field within Special Forces and their assigned foreign language capability, but will usually last between 55 and 95 weeks. After successfully completing the Special Forces Qualification Course, Special Forces soldiers are then eligible for many advanced skills courses. These include, but are not limited to, the Military Free Fall Parachutist Course (MFF), the Combat Diver Qualification Course, the Special Operations Combat Medic course, the Special Forces Sniper Course (SFSC), among others. Special Forces MOS descriptions 18A – Special Forces Officer 180A – Special Forces Warrant Officer 18B – Special Forces Weapons Sergeant 18C – Special Forces Engineer Sergeant 18D – Special Forces Medical Sergeant 18E – Special Forces Communications Sergeant 18F – Special Forces Intelligence Sergeant 18X – Special Forces Candidate (Active Duty and National Guard Enlistment Option) 18Z – Special Forces Operations Sergeant Uniforms and insignia Green beret U.S. Army Special Forces adopted the green beret unofficially in 1954 after searching for headgear that would set them visually apart. Members of the 77th SFG began searching through their accumulated berets and settled on the rifle green color from Captain Miguel de la Peña's collection. Captain Frank Dallas had the new beret designed and produced in small numbers for the members of the 10th & 77th Special Forces Groups. Their new headdress was first worn at a retirement parade at Fort Bragg on 12 June 1955 for Lieutenant General Joseph P. Cleland, the now-former commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps. Onlookers thought that the operators were a foreign delegation from NATO. In 1956 General Paul D. Adams, the post commander at Fort Bragg, banned the wearing of the distinctive headdress, although members of the Special Forces continued to wear it surreptitiously. This was reversed on 25 September 1961 by Department of the Army Message 578636, which designated the green beret as the exclusive headdress of the Army Special Forces. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy authorized them for use exclusively by the U.S. Special Forces. Preparing for a 12 October visit to the Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the president sent word to the center's commander, Colonel William