Female drill sergeants will begin wearing the same distinctive campaign hats as their male counterparts, an Army spokesperson confirmed on Monday.
Any soldier who has gone through initial entry training will instantly recognize the broad-brimmed campaign hats currently worn only by male drill sergeants, which bear more than a passing resemblance to Smokey the Bear’s headgear.
Task & Purpose has confirmed that both active-duty and Reserve female drill sergeants will start wearing the campaign hat on Jan. 2. The change was prompted by difficulties with vendors meeting Army standards for quality when producing the female drill sergeant hat, said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, due to the federal government shutdown.
The Army has considered having male and female drill sergeants wear the same hat for some time. In two separate surveys conducted in 2023 and 2024, female drill sergeants voted overwhelmingly to adopt the campaign hat to stress uniformity among soldiers, the official said.. Respondents also found that the campaign hat looked more professional than the female drill sergeants’ headgear.
The news that female and male drill sergeants would wear the same hat was first revealed in a message posted on the unofficial Army subreddit page on Sunday.
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First introduced in 1883, the broad-brimmed campaign hat has become “a proud symbol of the drill sergeant,” according to the Army.
Over the years, the hat has evolved. It went from having an upturned brim to a flat brim, which the Army adopted for wear in 1911. The service stopped using the hat in 1942, but it was reintroduced in 1964.
The female drill sergeant hat dates back to 1972, when six noncommissioned officers from the Women’s Army Corps at Fort McClellan, Alabama, became the first women to wear it, according to the Army. The prior year, Army Chief of Staff Gen. William Westmoreland had granted permission for women to enroll in drill sergeant training.
Designed by Brig. Gen. Mildred C. Bailey, the female drill sergeant hat was based on the Australian bush hat. The hat was initially beige, but in 1983 its color was changed to green.
The Army’s effort to adopt one hat for male and female drill sergeants predates the service’s recent adoption of “sex-neutral” fitness standards mandated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
