The US Army is ordering 3.7 million berets for $24 million for the new look in combat fashions. (National Guard units, and even State Guard units, are also adopting the beret, although no one under the rank of general seems to think it's a good idea.) The problem is that only one US company makes berets (Bancroft Cap of Arkansas) and it can only deliver about one million in time. The rest will come from South Africa, Romania, Sri Lanka, India, Canada, and China. (The Chinese, which General Shelton said could become "a 21st century version of the Russian bear", will provide 309,000 berets.)--Stephen V Cole