Today the Army has adopted

Today the Army has adopted the black beret as part of the standard uniform. This, despite the protest of many Rangers who used to be distinguished by black berets - they now get to wear tan ones.

Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army chief of staff, said that the new berets will unify the force as it is reshaped to respond to a world without a Cold War and a clear enemy. Apparently he developed the idea while attending a ceremony attended by "smartly dressed Army Rangers."

Now personally I don't really care one way or the other about the uniforms but that whole beret thing sounds totally bogus to me. Obviously it's a morale boosting thing - the cool guys (used to) wear black berets, so lets everyone have one and they'll all feel special. It's a bit like giving every participant at a competition a medal - it becomes meaningless when it no longer distinguishes. And how is it going to "unify the forces" if some some groups (rangers, special forces) wear different colored berets?
I guess the Army figured that this is a cheaper morale booster then giving the soldiers a pay raise...