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Epaulette (; also spelled epaulet) is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of military rank by and other organizations. Flexible metal epaulettes (usually made from brass) are referred to as shoulder scales.
In the French and other armies, epaulettes are also worn by all ranks of elite or ceremonial units when on parade. It may bear rank or other insignia, and should not be confused with a shoulder mark – also called a shoulder board, rank slide, or slip-on – a flat cloth sleeve worn on the shoulder strap of a uniform (although the two terms are often used interchangeably).“Uniform Dress Guidelines”. Canadian Coast Guard. ver 26 06/27/08, p. 7
From the 18th century on, epaulettes were used in the French and other armies to indicate rank. The rank of an officer could be determined by whether an epaulette was worn on the left shoulder, the right shoulder, or on both. Later a "counter-epaulette" (with no fringe) was worn on the opposite shoulder of those who wore only a single epaulette. Epaulettes were made in silver or gold for officers and in cloth of various colors for the enlisted men of various arms.
Apart from that, flexible metal epaulettes were quite popular among certain armies in the 19th century, but were rarely worn on the field. Referred to as shoulder scales, they were e.g. an accoutrement of the US Cavalry, US Infantry and the US Artillery, from 1854 to 1872.
By the early 18th century, epaulettes had become the distinguishing feature of commissioned rank. This led officers of military units still without epaulettes to petition for the right to wear epaulettes to ensure that their status would be recognized.Wilkinson-Latham, R: The Royal Navy 1790–1970, page 5. Osprey Publishing, 1977 During the Napoleonic Wars and subsequently through the 19th century, grenadiers, light infantry, voltigeurs and other specialist categories of infantry in many European armies wore cloth epaulettes with wool fringes in various colors to distinguish them from ordinary line infantry. Horse artillery wore epaulette-esque shoulder pads. Heavy artillery wore small balls representing ammunition on their shoulders.
An intermediate form in some services, such as the Russian Army, is the shoulder board, which neither has a fringe nor extends beyond the shoulder seam. This originated during the 19th century as a simplified version for service wear of the heavy and conspicuous full dress epaulette with bullion fringes.
From the shoulder board was developed the shoulder mark, a flat cloth tube that is worn over the shoulder strap and carries embroidered or pinned-on rank insignia. The advantages of this are the ability to easily change the insignia as occasions warrant.
Airline pilot uniform shirts generally include cloth flattened tubular epaulettes having cloth or bullion braid stripes, attached by shoulder straps integral to the shirts. The rank of the wearer is designated by the number of stripes: traditionally four for a captain, three for senior first officer or first officer, and two for either a first officer or second officer. However, rank insignia are airline specific. For example, at some airlines, two stripes denote junior first officer and one stripe second officer (cruise or relief pilot). Airline captains' uniform caps usually will have a braid pattern on the bill. These uniform specifications change depending on the company's policy.
Military-inspired civilian clothing became popular in the first decade of the 2000s, including epaulettes on shirts.
After the unification of the Forces, and prior to the issue of the distinctive environmental uniforms, musicians of the Music Branch wore epaulettes of braided gold cord.
In the modern French Army, epaulettes are still worn by those units retaining 19th-century-style full dress uniforms, notably the ESM Saint-Cyr and the Garde Républicaine. The French Foreign Legion continued to wear their green and red epaulettes, except for a break from 1915 to 1930. In recent years, the Marine Infantry and some other units have readopted their traditional fringed epaulettes in various colours for ceremonial parades. The Marine nationale and the Armée de l'Air do not use epaulettes, but non-commissioned and commissioned officers wear a gilded shoulder strap called attentes, the original function of which was to clip the epaulette onto the shoulder. The attentes are also worn by Army generals on their dress uniforms.
During the period 1919–1945, German Army uniforms were known for a four cord braided "figure-of-eight" decoration which acted as a shoulder board for senior and general officers. This was called a "shoulder knot" and was in silver with the specialty color piping (for field officers) and silver with red border (for generals). Although it was once seen on US Army uniforms, it remains only in the Mess dress. A similar form of shoulder knot was worn by officers of the British Army in full dress until 1914 and is retained by the Household Cavalry today. Epaulettes of this pattern are used by the Republic of Korea Army's general officers and were widely worn by officers of the armies of Venezuela, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Ecuador and Bolivia; all of which formerly wore uniforms closely following the Imperial German model. The Chilean Army still retains the German style of epaulette in the uniforms of its ceremonial units, the Military Academy and the NCO School while the 5th Cavalry Regiment "Aca Caraya" of the Paraguayan Army sports both epaulettes and shoulder knots in its dress uniforms (save for a platoon wearing Chaco War uniforms). Epaulettes of the German pattern (as well as shoulder knots) are used by officers of ceremonial units and schools of the Bolivian Army.
1. Infantry
1a. Subaltern-officer, here: poruchik of the 13th Life Grenadier Erivan His Imperial Majesty's regiment
1b. Staff-officer, here: polkovnik of the 46th Artillery brigade
1c. General, here: Field marshal of Russian Vyborg 85th infantry regiment of German Emperor Wilhelm II.
2. Guards
2a. Subaltern-officer, here: captain of the Mikhailovsky artillery school
2b. Staff-officer, here: polkovnik of Life Guards Lithuanian regiment.
2c. Flagofficer, here: Vice-Admiral
3. Cavalry
3a. Of the lower ranks, here: junior unteroffizier (junior non-commissioned officer) of the 3rd Smolensk lancers HIM Emperor Alexander III regiment
3b. Subaltern-officer, here: podyesaul of Russian Kizlyar-Grebensky 1st Cossack horse regiment.
3c. Staff-officer, here: lieutenant-colonel of the 2nd Life Dragoon Pskov Her Imperial Majesty Empress Maria Feodorovna regiment
3d. General, here: General of the cavalry.
4. Others
4a. Subaltern-officer, here: Titular councillor, veterinary physician.
4b. Staff-officer, here: flagship mechanical engineer, Fleet Engineer Mechanical Corps.
4c. General, here: Privy councillor, Professor of the Imperial Military medical Academy.
Epaulettes were discontinued on the field uniform in the mid-19th century, switching to rank insignia on the collar of the uniform jacket. Epaulettes were discontinued when they were removed from the general issue dress uniform in the 1930s. They are, however, still worn by the Royal Lifeguards and by military bands when in ceremonial full dress.
In 1855, army officers' large, gold-fringed epaulettes were abolishedMajor R.M. Barnes, page 260 "A History of the Regiments and Uniforms of the British Army", First Sphere Books edition 1972 and replaced by a simplified equivalent officially known as twisted shoulder-cords.Section 24 "Dress Regulations for the Army 1900 These were generally worn with full dress uniforms. Naval officers retained the historic fringed epaulettes for full dress during this period. These were officially worn until 1960 when they were replaced with shoulder boards. Today, only the officers of the Yeomen of the Guard, the Military Knights of Windsor, the Elder Brethren of Trinity House and the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports retain fringed epaulettes.
British cavalry on active service in the Sudan (1898) and during the Boer War (1899–1902) sometimes wore epaulettes made of chainmail to protect against sword blows landing on the shoulder. The blue "Number 1 dress" uniforms of some British cavalry regiments and yeomanry units still retain this feature in ornamental silvered form.R.M. Barnes page 316 "Military Uniforms of Britain and the Empire", Sphere Books 1972
With the introduction of khaki service dress in 1902, the British Army stopped wearing epaulettes in the field, switching to rank insignia embroidered on the cuffs of the uniform jacket. During World War I, this was found to make officers a target for snipers, so the insignia was frequently moved to the shoulder straps, where it was less conspicuous.
The current multi-terrain pattern (MTP) and the older (DPM) have the insignia formerly used on shoulder straps displayed on a single strap worn vertically in the centre of the chest. Earlier DPM uniforms had shoulder straps on the shoulders, though only officers wore rank on rank slides which attached to these straps, other ranks wore rank on the upper right sleeve at this time though later on regimental titles were worn on the rank slides. This practice continued into later patterns where rank was worn on the chest, rank was also added.
In modern times, epaulettes are frequently worn by professionals within the ambulance service to signify clinical grade for easy identification. These are typically green in colour with gold writing and may contain one to three pips to signify higher managerial ranks.
Epaulettes were specified for all United States Army officers in 1832; infantry officers wore silver epaulettes, while those of the artillery and other branches wore gold epaulettes, following the French manner. The rank insignia was of a contrasting metal, silver on gold and vice versa.
In 1851, the epaulettes became universally gold. Both majors and second lieutenants had no specific insignia. A major would have been recognizable as he would have worn a senior field officer's more elaborate epaulette fringes. The rank insignia was silver for senior officers and gold for the bars of captains and first lieutenants. The choice of silver eagles over gold ones is thought to be one of economy; there were more cavalry and artillery colonels than infantry, so replacing the numerically fewer gold ones was cheaper.
Shoulder straps were adopted to replace epaulettes for field duty in 1836.
Licensed officers of the U.S. Merchant Marine may wear shoulder marks and sleeve stripes appropriate to their rank and branch of service. Deck officers wear a foul anchor above the stripes on their shoulder marks, and engineering officers wear a three-bladed propeller. In the U.S. Merchant Marine, the correct wear of shoulder marks depicting the fouled anchor is with the un-fouled stock of the anchor forward on the wearer.
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