In March, 2016 the US Army’s 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) will hold a ceremony at their home on Fort Campbell, Kentucky to formally transition their beret flash from the current Black version to a type initially adopted during the Viet Nam war. The flash they will begin using again features a Yellow Band with three Scarlet Bands. The 5th Group Flash has always featured a Black background, going back to 1961 when the unit was stood up. In 1962 a White border was added and remains today. In 1964 the flash was redesigned, adding the bands. In December 1984, 5th Group commander COL Jim Guest, requested the Group revert to the older variant in order to disassociate the unit with Viet Nam. Specifically, Guest wrote, “The colors of a foreign flag should not be incorporated into a US Army beret flash.” In his request he went on, “The Republic of Viet Nam and the original purpose for having the Vietnamese colors in the flash no longer exist.” That request was approved on 16 January, 1985 by the Director, Institute of Heradlry although I recall still seeing 5th Group members wearing the “Viet Nam” flash into 1987 while TDY away from Fort Bragg.
While the official story is that these Yellow and Red affectations represent the 1st and 7th Groups which provided augmentation to 5th Group in Viet Nam, it’s impossible to deny that these colors are also from the flag of the Republic of Viet Nam. Isn’t it odd that the color bands perfectly replicate the RVN flag? If they were simply meant to honor the other groups, as in the case of the 3rd Group flash, wouldn’t there just be two stripes?
Naturally, like the decision that switched the flash during the mid-1980s, the move back is not popular with everyone. Reportedly, some Veterans of the “Legion” as it is known, don’t feel a connection to the Group’s Viet Nam roots and have questioned the change. The same thing probably came up in 1964 when they added the bands to the Black flash. No doubt, we’ll see 5th Group members continuing to wear the “war on terror” flash for many years to come.
