Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles), 6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles, 7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles, 10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles Black — all Royal Armoured Corps regiments in World War II (other than officers in Inns of Court Regiment), Royal Observer Corps, Westminster Dragoons Maroon — Glider Pilot Regiment and glider-borne units Green — Women's Royal Army Corps, women in Officers Training Corps (now wear dark blue), officers in Inns of Court Regiment Brown with a broad crimson headband and NO hat badge - 11th Hussars (PAO) United States Berets were originally worn by select forces in the United States Army. The first were worn during World War II, when a battalion of the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment were presented maroon berets by their British counterparts. Though unofficial at first, the green beret of the US Army Special Forces was formally adopted in 1961. Maroon airborne and black US Army Ranger berets were formally authorized in the 1970s. "D" Troop 17th Cavalry were authorized a maroon beret in Vietnam. After the Vietnam War, morale in the US Army waned. In response, from 1973 through 1979 HQDA permitted local commanders to encourage morale-enhancing uniform distinctions, however these distinctions were only allowed to be worn on the post. Consequently, many units embraced various colored berets, for example Armor and Armored Cavalry units often adopted the black beret. Similarly many other units embraced various colored berets in an attempt to improve dwindling morale. In particular, the First Cavalry Division assigned various colored berets to its three pronged TRICAP approach. In this implementation, Armored Cavalry, Airmobile Infantry units, Air Cavalry units, Division Artillery units, and Division Support units all wore different colored berets, including black, light blue, kelly green, and red. The 101st Airborne Division was authorised a dark blue beret. In 1975 all female soldiers of the Women's Army Corps were authorized to wear a black beret variant as standard headgear for the service uniform. In 1975 the 172nd Light Infantry Brigade at Fort Richardson & Fort Wainwright, Alaska wore Olive Drab Berets. In 2001, Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki ordered the black beret worn as standard headgear army-wide, a controversial decision because it was previously reserved for the Rangers. The Rangers were then authorized to wear a tan beret, exclusive to them. The decision was implemented in hopes of boosting morale among conventional units. However, many soldiers began