United States Air Force Officer Rank Insignia - Wearing of Insignia

Wearing of Insignia

On the Air Force Mess Dress uniform, officer rank insignia are embroidered in silver or gold thread on detachable shoulder boards which are attached to the mess dress jacket. No rank insignia are worn on the mess dress shirt.

On the service dress uniform, metal rank insignia pins are worn on the epaulets of the Air Force Blue service dress jacket. Rank insignia are embroidered in silver or gold thread on Air Force Blue epaulets which slide onto the epaulet loops on the light blue shirt. The slide-on epaulet for field-grade officers' shirts has a single line of silver piping toward the outer edge of the epaulet. The slide-on epaulet for general officers' shirts has silver piping on both the inner and outer edges of the epaulets. These slide-on epaulets are also worn on the cardigan and pull-over uniform sweaters.

The Flight Dress Uniform (FDU) features subdued cloth rank insignia sewn onto the shoulders. The Air Force flight cap is worn with the FDU and service dress uniforms. The flight cap is solid Air Force Blue for enlisted personnel, but features a solid silver edge braid for general officers, and an edge braid in a silver and blue diamond pattern for other officers. Officers wear a bright metal rank insignia toward the front edge of the (wearer's) left side of the flight cap.

The Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) and Airman Battle Uniform (ABU) feature subdued cloth rank insignia worn on both sides of the collar. The BDU cap features a rank insignia centered on the front of the cap, above the bill, which may be a subdued cloth insignia or subdued metal pin-on insignia, MAJCOM commanders may authorize wear of the bright non-subdued grade insignia by officers on BDU caps while in garrison. Air Force officers authorized to wear berets (including Security Forces, Special Tactics Officers, and Combat Weather) wear a bright metal rank insignia on the beret's flash.

Subdued rank insignia, as worn on the BDU and FDU, are designed to reduce visibility of the wearer under field conditions. The subdued versions of silver insignia are embroidered in dark blue thread on an olive-drab backing. The subdued versions of gold insignia are embroidered in brown thread on an olive-drab backing. On desert uniforms, tan backing replaces the olive-drab backing (with black thread in place of dark blue thread). Subdued metal insignia are black and brown in place of silver and gold, respectively. General officers wear black stars as subdued rank.

Agents of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations normally do not wear uniforms while on duty, but even when in uniform they often do not wear rank insignia. However, when attending Professional Military Education courses, they do wear rank insignia. Chaplains wear normal rank insignia reflecting their military rank, except that chaplains may wear a chaplain badge in lieu of rank insignia on the BDU cap.