Late last year, images appeared online showing a beret, unit Shoulder Sleeve Insignia and Combat Advisor Tab for the US Army’s 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade. The 1st SFAB is the first of six planned advisor units which will assist friendly armed forces.
The original beret color (above) was intended to be Olive but came across more green than intended, which caused some consternation among the Army’s Special Forces due to their unique Rifle Green Beret, awarded by President John F Kennedy over 60 years ago. Additionally, the unit patch used in arrowhead design like the SF SSI and the Combat Advisor tab seemed a little too close to the coveted Special Forces tab.
Consequently, the Army’s chief of staff, GEN Milley, clarified the beret color as a Brown shade and sent them back to the drawing board for some refinement. Earlier, today the Army released the new beret color, Distinctive Unit Insignia (commonly known as a unit crest), SSI and tab.
It is now more similar to the Vietnam-era Military Assistance Command Vietnam SSI than the original SFAB patch and tab, seen below.
