Mountain Troops Berets

The Tarte of the Chasseurs Alpins was one of the first Basque berets I wore and still among my favourite berets. 

It is interesting to see that many mountain troops adopted the beret as their headgear, but not many seemed to see the advantages of the very large diameter (perfect protection from snow and sun, big enough to keep soldiers' feet dry while on guard duty).

The Romanian 10th Mountain Troops Battalion are an exception (above). 

The Spanish have taken to a standard size green beret, while the Belgian Chasseurs Ardennais, while not exactly a mountain regiment, did go the whole way and wear large diameter green berets (with txortena!). Interestingly, they wear Blancq-Olibet's top quality Vrai Basque berets.