Subjective. I think headdress overall is ridiculous.
We need to start with enforcement of physical fitness and appearance, far too many fatties in uniform. The hair color and ball caps are just distractions.
Everything is subjective. The beret is a 'business casual' type of head dress, which can be worn down into work dress (as it was originally intended) and up to 3B. The baseball cap is a sub-casual form of dress. You do not attend a professional work environment wearing it - unless your profession is in the trades. See the next sentence. I have no issue whatsoever with a baseball cap or something similar (perhaps the old field cap?) be authorised for dirty work, but there is a distinction between garrison dress and work/field dress. This is why we have coveralls - for work. This is also why our combats should not be normal garrison dress - they are extremely expensive, but they also look sloppy and slovenly. The last thing we need to do is make them even more so with a baseball cap.
Secondly - I am fairly certain that with the high quality, and more importantly, high number of (especially) officers and NCOs in the Canadian Armed Forces, we will be capable of both making relatively quick decisions on uniform matters, and also addressing the poor physical fitness standards of the CAF. I'll take this further - there is no reason we cannot do both, and neither take away from each other, at all. In fact, they are completely unrelated, and this is a bizarre non-sequitur.
Nobody outside the army thinks the beret looks "professional", it's a silly hat that serves no purpose apart from filling the roll of hat that is easy to store in a pocket. It doesn't protect from the weather, and often times is formed poorly, or faded so badly it looks worn-out.
Ball caps look professional to most people, particularly when paired with a working uniform.
The CAF needs to stop pretending our working uniforms are also parade uniforms. If we want fancy clothes for parades, go all-in, but working uniforms should be comfortable and practical. Know anyone who wears a beret for comfort or practicality?
Since we are in the realm of subjectivity, I think there are a great many people who do think the beret is a professional head dress for armed forces, which is why many armed forces in the world do so.
See above - I do not believe that baseball caps look professional in anything other than a trades environment, which we have in the CAF and which I have no issues with something similar being authorised. I have worn baseball - in a work and field environment. It makes a nice alternative to the bush cap, which isn't always suitable and which unfortunately also looks quite silly.
Regarding work uniform, I agree. However, given that the majority of the CAF is not doing work that requires such a heavy duty work uniform except on rare occasions (Crewmen, RCEME et al excepted of course - though even then not every day) perhaps we ought to have something 'in the middle' that is not ceremonial, that is comfortable and machine washable but also presents a smart appearance, and we keep combats et al for the purpose they were designed for - in the field.
www.cranbrooktownsman.com
