The green beret was originally designated in 1953 by Special Forces Maj. Herbert Brucker, a veteran of the OSS. Later that year, 1st Lieutenant Roger Pezelle adopted it as the unofficial headgear for his A-team, Operational Detachment FA-32. They wore it whenever they went to the field for prolonged exercises. Soon it spread throughout all of Special Forces, although the Army refused to authorize its official use. Finally, in 1961, President Kennedy planned to visit Fort Bragg. He sent word to the Special Warfare Center commander, Brigadier General William P. Yarborough, for all Special Forces soldiers to wear their berets for the event. President Kennedy felt that since they had a special mission, Special Forces should have something to set them apart from the rest. Even before the presidential request, however, the Department of Army had acquiesced and teletyped a message to the Center authorizing the beret as a part of the Special Forces uniform.

When President Kennedy came to Fort Bragg October 12, 1961, Gen. Yarborough wore his green beret to greet the commander-in-chief. The president remarked, "Those are nice. How do you like the green beret?" General Yarborough replied: "They're fine, sir. We've wanted them a long time." A message from President Kennedy to General Yarborough later that day stated, "My congratulations to you personally for your part in the presentation today ... The challenge of this old but new form of operations is a real one and I know that you and the members of your command will carry on for us and the free world in a manner which is both worthy and inspiring. I am sure that the green beret will be a mark of distinction in the trying times ahead." In an April 11, 1962, White House memorandum for the United States Army, President Kennedy showed his continued support for the Special Forces, calling the green beret "a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom." To honor his memory, Special Forces soldiers pay their respects to late President Kennedy by laying a wreath and green beret on his tomb every November twenty-second, the date of his assassination.

I'll probably get shunned by the military collector's community for saying this, but Toy Soldier SUCKS!  Toy Soldier, as cool and as fast as they can put out various military outfit sets, has a really poor quality control assessment.  Out of all the Toy Soldier accessory sets I own (which is quite a lot), about 80% of them are messed up.  The buckles break after a light tug, the velcro starts to fall apart after several opening and closing, the glue on their radio starts to wear out, the boots are undersized and look, well, like toys.  I do give them credit for putting out outfit sets pretty quick though.  Toy Soldier puts out like a new set each and every month.  Perhaps that is why their quality sucks balls.  I think I see a connection now.

That brings us to the outfit set at hand.  This is the newly released ACE "Green Beret" set.  For roughly $55, you have everything minus the nude figure.  Not bad considering a boxed figure like this would probably sell for $80 or so bucks.  ACE don't put out stuff quite as often as Toy Soldier, but when they do, they rule.  Except for the boots, which I replaced their standard boots with BBI's Bobcat boots, the knee pads, which came from a Toy Soldier set, and the custom tactical glasses I made, all the gear on Russo comes with the Green Beret set.  I don't know much about military gear, so ACE's set is a godsend for me.  You don't have to worry about whether this outfit should go with that vest, etc.  Everything is there and ready and is waiting for you to put it all together.

The nude figure is another Dragon World War II figure I pulled from my box of nude figure.  He was originally blonde and had blue eyes.  I sculpted the goatee and slick back hair on him with Apoxie clay and painted him up.  Once I completed the paint job, he looks a whole lot like Robert Deniro from Heat.  I didn't intend it to have that effect, but it just so happens the sculpt turned out that way.  All that much more cool I guess.  Next, I weathered up all of his clothing, weapons, vest, etc. with acrylic paint and pastels.  The glasses are made with styrene and fiberglass.  This was my first experimentation with making tactical glasses with this sort of material and it didn't turn out too bad.  The only problem was the frame looked a little thick, but I since made the frames a little smaller with smaller gauge styrene.  Cutting and sanding the actual lens is a nightmare though.  Only tip I can give you is to be sure and wear a breather mask, some goggles, and lots of protective gloves and clothing.  The sanddust from fiberglass can cause some major health problems.