Green beret
U.S. Special Forces wear the green beret as a distinction of excellence and uniqueness within the Army.
Special Forces (United States Army)
Forrest Lindley, a writer for the newspaper "Stars and Stripes" who served with Special Forces in Vietnam said of Kennedy's authorization: "It was President Kennedy who was responsible for the rebuilding of the Special Forces and giving us back our Green Beret. People were sneaking around wearing [them] when conventional forces weren't in the area and it was sort of a cat and mouse game. Then Kennedy authorized the Green Beret as a mark of distinction, everybody had to scramble around to find berets that were really green. We were bringing them down from Canada. Some were handmade, with the dye coming out in the rain".