Green Beret

Jackspeak - A guide to Royal Navy and Royal Marines Slanguage.

The Green Beret, awarded to those who have successfully completed the Commando Tests. The locations for the tests have changed over the years but the distances and times required have not.

Lord Lovatt founded a Commando base at Spean Bridge during WW2, hence the Commando Memorial. All ranks continued to wear their original headgear, in No.1 Commando there were 79 different hats/bonnets/berets. Lovatt decided a unifying beret was needed. The Paras had chosen red, the Tank Regt had selected black, so Lovatt tasked a local firm of Tam-O-Shanter makers in Irvine, Ayrshire, to produce a beret made from the green cloth of the colour worn today; the colour reflected the green salamander going through fire which was No.1 Commando's flash.

This is my last one. Now slightly moth eaten it still represents to me everything I set out to do many years ago. The lining is often removed, as in this case so that the beret may be shaped into a more 'cowboy' style than that required by regulations. A spare was always available for those occasions when authority might leap up and down on you.

If you have a spare six minutes grab a 'wet' (Tea/coffee) and feel the pain.


Commando Tests