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Berets and How to Form Them

  • Thread starter Thread starter PTE Gruending
  • Start date Start date
Hey! Want an EASIER one?

1) Take off beret from head
2) Undress
3) Enter shower
4) Wash beret with soap
5) Wash self with soap/bodywash etc
6) Wring out beret
7) Put beret on head
8) Reform head to fit beret.


There you have it....
 
Okay, it's oh-dark-stupid, I'm obviously not sleeping and now I have some really horrifying pictures in my head!!  :o

Outta my head, outta my head........ ;)
 
CDN Aviator said:
Guess you will drip-dry all over your appartment.........

Well if you wring out your beret... no drippage! Trust me :D done this MANY a times!  :nod:

PMedMoe said:
Okay, it's oh-dark-stupid, I'm obviously not sleeping and now I have some really horrifying pictures in my head!!  :o

Outta my head, outta my head........ ;)

:D awww come on! :) Why horrible images? You should ALWAYS think of yourself as beautiful  8)
 
MedTech said:
awww come on! :) Why horrible images? You should ALWAYS think of yourself as beautiful  8)

It wasn't me I was thinking about.... :-\
 
Here is an easy solution if you have clothing points thru Logistek Unicorp......

ORDER A NEW BERET!
It'll smell real nice!

You are entitled to order up to two berets each and every year.
 
Enough.

If you can't figure out how to form, wash or take care of a beret, after nine pages, you shouldn't be wearing one.

Locked

Milnet.ca Staff
 
Hello I was issued a Belgian Beret as part of my Bmq kit. I don't start Bmq till late Sept, But I am required to show up before then for a registration day in full uniform. How can I properly form the beret so I don't look like a chef?. Also how do you put the excess tie strings in the band?. Thanks for you help.
 
Cut the strings and remove the liner. Form it in the shower, carefully take it off and let it dry. Spray it with a clear hairspray.

Or see http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/16397.0
 
If it is a proper "Belgique" beret, it will shape very nicely without cutting out the liner.  You will, however, need to find a piece of plastic to use as a backing for your hatbadge.  I used the lid off a margarine container and cut it to shape of my badge. 

Strings don't need to be cut.  Just tuck them in under the beret. 

For more info on your beret follow the link provide in the previous post.........Standing in the rain while wearing your beret works very well too. 
 
I always tucked the stings up...that way  I could adjust the size if needed.  I soak mine in hot water, wring it out, and shape it.

I'd refrain from cutting the liner out of the beret BEFORE you are complete BMQ or until until your BMQ staff tell you its ok to cut them out.  I've seen it many times before were Johnny Recruit had to go buy a new beret for cutting the liner out before/on BMQ.

Hairspray ???  Never heard of that...if it works, sure but I don't want to smell like hairspray.  I'd also wonder what its like when all that crap strats running off it in the rain, etc, or have it running into my eyes if I was sweating.

Keep the liner in, don't cut the string and don't do the hairspray trick until you are on BMQ is my  :2c:.  Soak in hot water and start to form/shape it to your head.  Rule of thumb is the sweat band should be 2 finger widths above eyebrows.  That's a decent starting point.

Remember you will be shown how to do all this on BMQ.  The right way (*right* being defined as "the way your staff wants it done for your course").
 
I would not cut out the lining of the beret, especially if you are going on BMQ. You could get in trouble for damaging government property. The liner adds "body" to the beret.

Put your cap badge on the beret i.e. make the hole and put the badge in the correct position. Remove the badge. Soak the beret in very hot water, squeeze out all the water which concurrently reduces the size. Put the cap badge back on. Form the beret on your head and wear it inside your residence for several hours making sure the shape remains as you had formed it. This will ensure that the wet wool does not shrink so much that the beret is too small for your head.

Then carefully take it off and place on a flat surface. It will still be wet/damp. Get a hair dryer and carefully blow dry off and on over a couple of hours. Careful not to get to close or you will singe the material.

If you have access to a styrofoam head i.e. what a women's wig is put on, so much the better. You can form the beret and pin to the styroform head. If the head is too small wrap a small towel around it then pin the beret to it. Don't push the straight pins all the way in as they will leave very small depressions in the material that need to be brushed out.

After it is dry, brush with a stiff brush.

Remember you will be shown how to do all this on BMQ.  The right way (*right* being defined as "the way your staff wants it done for your course").

How true!
 
Thanks for all the use info. I want to wear my uniform with pride, and not be sloppy.
 
Now how about then plastic card inside the beret (pending removal of liner). Did anyone of you trim this plastic card/badge backing to the shape of the cap badge?
 
PrairieThunder said:
Now how about then plastic card inside the beret (pending removal of liner). Did anyone of you trim this plastic card/badge backing to the shape of the cap badge?

Of course.  Had to trace hatbadge and punch holes for pins.  Bambi wouldn't fit any other way.
 
George Wallace said:
Of course.  Had to trace hatbadge and punch holes for pins.  Bambi wouldn't fit any other way.

Wasn't sure if I was the only one. Looks much sharper without big bulky plastic visible outside the edges of the badge shape.
 
PrairieThunder said:
Wasn't sure if I was the only one. Looks much sharper without big bulky plastic visible outside the edges of the badge shape.

The RCEME metal capbadge is not so hard to just get a close shape that works.  And day to day many of us have cloth capbadges that takes care of this particular problem, but adds one of keeping the cloth capbadge relatively clean :-/

Jon
 
An old trick for metal cap badges with a crown was to put a couple of stitches of appropriate coloured thread through both arches of the crown to the beret. The stitches keep the top of the badge/crown against the beret so that the top of the beret does not droop back from the badge.

Also used hard, shaped plastic inside the beret to hold the metal badge tight to the beret.
 
Best way to form a beret is to take a shower with it (on your head) in REALLY hot water and as you are in the shower slowly form it by holding up your brass and pushing down from brass to the left over and over for about 10 minutes. Once you're done get out of the shower, inflate a balloon and carefully transfer the beret from your head to the balloon. Once you get it on the balloon put it in the freezer for a few hours and take the beret out. It will be frosty so let it de-frost on your head and BAM!!! (or cut the lining out really carefully and it will form no problem!) <-not advised because if you're caught with no lining you can get yourself into some serious doo doo.
 
RoyalCG said:
Best way to form a beret is to take a shower with it (on your head) in REALLY hot water and as you are in the shower slowly form it by holding up your brass and pushing down from brass to the left over and over for about 10 minutes. Once you're done get out of the shower, inflate a balloon and carefully transfer the beret from your head to the balloon. Once you get it on the balloon put it in the freezer for a few hours and take the beret out. It will be frosty so let it de-frost on your head and BAM!!! (or cut the lining out really carefully and it will form no problem!) <-not advised because if you're caught with no lining you can get yourself into some serious doo doo.

:o

And if you follow those instructions you will have a perfectly shaped beret that looks correct ONLY if you look in the mirror.


The rest of us have the beret 'falling' over our 'ARMY RIGHT' ear.    ;D
 
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