Førstegangstjenesten

Førstegangstjenesten is a Norwegian comedy series airing on NRK, created and co-written by Herman Flesvig who also stars as the four main characters. Its setting is the recruit school of the Norwegian Armed Forces.

NRK released two pilot episodes in December 2019. Modestly received by critics, the series thus far was given a dice throw of 4 in VG and 3 in Dagbladet. However, in a matter of days, the two episodes had been streamed 370 000 and 335 000 times respectively. Thus, NRK booked a full first season, with ten new episodes to be aired in 2020.

A war enthusiast, a spoiled russ, a female male chauvinist and a white multicultural rapper. Are these the future protectors of Norway?

The Steel-Grey Beret of the Ukrainian S.O.F.

The Special Operations Forces are the special forces of Ukraine and one of the five branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with headquarters in Kyiv.

The SSO is a branch formed exclusively by Spetsnaz (special forces) units, with roles including various special forces-related duties such as direct action, special reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, sabotage and psychological warfare. The SSO was created in 2016, after various reforms of the Ukrainian Armed Forces due to failures in the War in Donbas.

Here Special Forces Weapons Sgt. Andriana Arekhta joins CNN’s Jim Acosta to discuss the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. And proudly displays a coin, made from the steel of a captured Russian tank.

The beret of the SOF is steel grey, fitted with a wolf badge. 

Merci Frans

Milton Berle

Comedian Milton Berle, wearing a beret, wig and overcoat, points to his shoe as he leaves a train car in New York City. May, 1937.

Berets Rock

Joni Mitchell

Rickie Lee Jones

Deborah Harry

Patti Smith

Alexis Carrel

French surgeon Alexis Carrel (1873 - 1944), circa 1930. 

He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1912 for his work on blood vessel transplantation. 

Tuileries Garden

1938

The Tuileries Garden is a public garden located between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. Created by Catherine de' Medici as the garden of the Tuileries Palace in 1564, it was eventually opened to the public in 1667 and became a public park after the French Revolution.

1960

Liverpool

Army games in the front garden for a young boy with his beret and Tommy Gun, violence and confrontation was evident in Liverpool, circa 1981. The 1980s saw the City of Liverpool's fortunes sink to their lowest postwar point. 

Although the 1970s, along with the rest of Britain, had brought economic difficulties and a steady rise in unemployment, the situation in Liverpool went from bad to worse in the early 1980s, with endless factory closures and some of the highest unemployment rates in the UK. An average of 12,000 people each year were leaving the city, and 15% of its land was vacant or derelict. Militant supporters were elected to key positions within the Liverpool Labour Party and, in 1983, the same year that Margaret Thatcher won her second general election by a landslide, Labour won the city council elections on a radical socialist manifesto. It immediately cancelled the 1,200 redundancies planned by the previous administration, froze council rents and launched an ambitious house-building programme targeting the city's most deprived neighborhoods. Former Grenadier Guardsman John Stoddart had returned to the City where he was born after leaving the army. His photographs from the early 1980s provide an important record of those troubled times, and for John Stoddart the city gave him many opportunities to practice his photography. In 1984 he moved to London where he worked as a freelance for magazines and newspapers for more than 35 years.

In Line for the Opera

British opera fans wait in line outside Covent Garden Opera House for a performance of 'La Boheme' starring Grace Moor, London, June 11, 1935. 

The performance for which they wait is 30 hours later(!) on the following evening. King George and Queen Elizabeth attended the show.

French Miners

Young miners in Northern France by David Seymour, 1935

Demonstration in the Department of Moselle during the strike of  miners, on March 28, 1963

 

Miners Family with Motorcycles 1954 

Navy Wife

Navy Wife is a 1935 American drama film directed by Allan Dwan and written by Sonya Levien and Edward T. Lowe Jr. 

It is based on the 1935 novel Beauty's Daughter by Kathleen Norris. The film stars Claire Trevor, Ralph Bellamy, Jane Darwell, Warren Hymer, Ben Lyon and Kathleen Burke. The film was released on November 29, 1935, by 20th Century Fox.

Che Tobacco

Che (In Chile known as El Che) is a Luxembourgish brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by "Landewyck Tobacco". The cigarettes are named after the Argentine Marxist revolutionary Ché Guevara.

Che was introduced in 2000 and has become a popular brand since its introduction. 

In 2012, Polish conservative parliament member Stanisław Pięta of the Law and Justice party announced he would file a lawsuit against Landewyck Tobacco for selling Che cigarettes in Poland. 

He said the Che cigarettes were "propaganda which is spreading a totalitarian ideology" and that "Polish law prohibits the propaganda of totalitarian ideologies, whether that be Fascist or Communist". 

For Stanisław Pięta it is inadmissible to turn "Communist assassins into pop culture icons." It would be something like "the marketing of tobacco packs with the effigies of Hermann Göring or Joseph Goebbels."

Berets from Somalia

 

Stevo the Ventriloquist

Friend and fellow boinero Stevo (real name Dr. med. Stefan Schüling, 1958) describes himself as a 'mild eccentric'.

Stevo is a retired orthopaedic surgeon whose passion for ventriloquism was roused by one  old Bergen/McCarthy movie he saw on TV as a teenager.

From the mid-1980's, Stevo performed as a ventriloquist in his own region of North-West Germany, but also internationally in Spain, Japan and the US. 

For 20 years, Stevo organized and presented an International Show at the annual International Ventriloquist ConVENTion in the USA.

Berets go back a long way in his biography, starting with a Baskenmütze as a student, followed by the blue beret of the Bundeswehr Sanitätstruppe during his national service and many varieties ever since.

Naturally, Stevo is only 50% of any performance. The other half was taken by illustrious characters such as Professor Freudstein, Fritz and (presently) Theo. 

Thanks Stevo

Protest in Algiers

Demonstrators wave flags and shout slogans outside the opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) party's headquarters in Algiers on January 22, 2011. 

Riot police clashed with protesters in the Algerian capital as they broke up a banned pro-democracy rally amid mounting public grievances that have fueled fears of Tunisia-style unrest. 

27th Regiment Chasseurs Alpins

French soldiers from the 27th Regiment Chasseurs Alpins with a land force helicopter training during an exercise near Annecy, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

The regiment trains in order to go to Tchad and Mali for the Barkhane Operation against terrorism and jihadists in Africa.

Boinero Croissant

It is amazing what designers and marketeers can come up with when exploring the cuddly toy market for children.

This bereted croissant sells at 9 euro at the Dutch HEMA department stores.

And, thanks to my brother Frans, I now have my own bereted croissant!

Thanks Frans

Côte d'Ivoire

Portrait of a fighter on the Western Front under the command of Sergeant Jean-Marie Toualy, nicknamed "Oula," who is the founder of the "Grand West Liberation Front" comprised of Liberian fighters opposed to President Taylor and Ivorians from the same ethnicity. 

Toualy's soldiers patrol the outlying villages around Toulepleu. This fighter is wearing a traditional wig under his beret,  often used in combat. 

Okwess International

Yende Balamba Bongongo

Jupiter Bokondji is a musician from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The band was created in 1990, and they toured the African continent. However, at the same time that their popularity grew, the civil war broke out in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some band members fled to Europe to escape violence, but Bokondji stayed in Kinshasa. As the war died down, his popularity grew again, and in 2006 he was featured in the documentary Jupiter's Dance. This brought him to the attention of U.K. producers and musicians, which led to him joining the African Express tour, the production of Hotel Univers, and performing at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival.

FREE BERETS!

SPECIAL of the week: FREE BERETS!

This week a very different SPECIAL - choose a Czech Mammoth or Roskam-Ox at no cost with any additional beret purchase! All you pay is $3.00 for added postage.

The Carpathian Mammoths originated from the wish to simply produce a beautiful beret of very high quality, extreme comfort and showing superior craftsmanship at an affordable price.

The Faldina 12" is TONAK-FEZCO's Super Lujo model; a generously sized beret in ultra soft, densely felted wool fitted with the traditional tartan lining.

Now from RRP $48.50/47.50 @ $0.00 (as long as stock lasts).