This light-blue cord hat cord is designed for wear with the Campaign Hat, headgear that was sporadically authorized for wear by both Officers and Enlisted men throughout the last quarter of the 19th century through the end of World War II.
Sometimes called the “Round Brown” or a “Montana Peak” (the latter is actually the name for a method of shaping the hat’s crown with indentations), the Campaign Hat spent a couple of decades on hiatus until the Army revived it for wear by Drill Sergeants in the mid-1960s. In 2008, the Army announced that it was replacing Drill Sergeants at Advanced Individual Training (the next phase of training after boot camp) with Platoon Sergeants, and consequently the iconic Campaign Hat was once again shelved.
But in 2018 the Army announced it was bringing back Drill Sergeants to train Soldiers during Advanced Individual Training (AIT)—and with their return comes their signature Campaign Hats. With the change in training personnel, Army Drill Sergeants will join Marine Corps Drill Instructors (DIs) and Coast Guard Company Commanders in wearing the distinctive headgear.
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