Current insignia
| Pay grade |
O-1 |
O-2 |
O-3 |
O-4 |
O-5 |
O-6 |
O-7 |
O-8 |
O-9 |
O-10 |
Special ¹ |
| Insignia |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
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| Title |
Second Lieutenant |
First Lieutenant |
Captain |
MajorIn the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, major is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. It is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant commander in the other uniformed services.The pay grade for the rank of major...
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Lieutenant ColonelIn the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, lieutenant colonel is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel. It is equivalent to the rank of commander in the other uniformed services....
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ColonelIn the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, Colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and just below the rank of Brigadier General. It is equivalent to the naval rank of Captain in the other uniformed services...
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Brigadier General A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed services.-...
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Major General In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general. Major general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the...
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Lieutenant GeneralIn the United States Army, the United States Marine Corps and the United States Air Force, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general. Lieutenant general is equivalent to the rank of vice admiral...
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General In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, general is a four-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force; the Marine Corps does not have an...
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General of the Air Force |
| Abbreviation |
2d Lt |
1st Lt |
Capt |
Maj |
Lt Col |
Col |
Brig Gen |
Maj Gen |
Lt Gen |
Gen |
GOAF |
No periods are used in actual grade abbreviation, only in press releases to conform with AP standards. |
| NATO Code |
OF-1 |
OF-2 |
OF-3 |
OF-4 |
OF-5 |
OF-6 |
OF-7 |
OF-8 |
OF-9 |
OF-10 |
- ¹ Honorary/War time rank.
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This chart displays the
United States Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare branch of the U.S. armed forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947 - 80 P.L....
officer rank insignia. The ranks are divided into three sections: company grade, field grade, and general officers. Company grade officers are those officers of grades O-1 to O-3. Field grade officers are those of grades O-4 to O-6. General officers are those of O-7 and above.
Currently, promotion from Second Lieutenant to First Lieutenant is virtually guaranteed after two years of satisfactory service. The promotion from First Lieutenant to Captain is competitive after successfully completing another two years of service. Promotion to Major and above is through a board process. An officer's record is reviewed by a selection board at the Air Force Personnel Center at
Randolph Air Force BaseRandolph Air Force Base is a base of the United States Air Force located in Universal City, Texas, near San Antonio. Dedicated June 20, 1930, as a flying training base, it continues with that mission today....
in San Antonio, Texas. This process occurs approximately between the nine- and eleven-year mark, where a certain percentage of Captains will be selected for Major. This process will repeat at the 13-16 year mark for promotion to Lieutenant Colonel and then around the twenty-year mark for promotion to Colonel.
Wear of insignia
On the Air Force
Mess DressMess dress is the military term for the formal evening dress worn in the mess or at other formal occasions. It is also known as mess uniform and mess kit...
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 UniformA flight suit is a full body garment, worn while flying an aircraft such as military airplanes, gliders and helicopters. These suits are generally made to keep the wearer warm, as well as being practical , and durable . Its appearance is usually similar to a jumpsuit. A military flight suit may...
(FDU) features subdued cloth rank insignia sewn onto the shoulders. The Air Force
flight capA garrison cap, garrison cover, wedge cap, flight cap, side cap, forage cap, overseas cap, piss-cutter cap, or cunt cap is a foldable cap with straight sides and a creased or hollow crown sloping to the back where it is parted.It is a variant of the Glengarry, being distinguished by a lack of...
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 UniformBattle Dress Uniform is the name of the military uniform that the armed forces of the United States have used as their standard uniform for combat situations since September 1981. It has either been replaced or is in the process of being replaced in every branch of the U.S. Military, though the...
(BDU) and
Airman Battle UniformThe Airman Battle Uniform is the new service-distinctive camouflage battledress uniform for the United States Air Force. It is currently in full production and is expected to completely replace the Battle Dress Uniform by Fiscal Year 2011....
(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
beretA beret is a soft round cap, usually of wool felt, with a flat crown, which is worn by both men and women and usually associated with France although it is also the traditional headgear of Northern Spain...
s (including
Security ForcesUnited States Air Force Security Forces , formerly named Air Police , then Security Police are the military police and the air base ground defense forces of the United States Air Force...
, 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 InvestigationsThe Air Force Office of Special Investigations , or OSI, is a Field Operating Agency of the United States Air Force that provides professional investigative services to commanders throughout the Air Force...
who are officers 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.
Past insignia
The current Air Force officer rank names and insignia were borrowed from the
ArmyThe United States Army is the branch of the United States Military responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military and is one of seven uniformed services...
upon the establishment of the Air Force as a separate service in 1947. This explains why the Air Force has
brigadier generalsBrigadier General is the lowest ranking General Officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of Colonel and Major General.The rank can be traced back to the militaries of Europe where a brigadier general, or simply a brigadier, would command a brigade in the field...
but no
brigadeA brigade is a military unit that is typically composed of two to five regiments or battalions, depending on the era and nationality of a given army. Usually, a brigade is a sub-component of a division, a larger unit consisting of two or more brigades; however, some brigades are classified as a...
s. The insignia have been essentially unchanged since then, except for a brief period during the 1990s.
The Army origin explains why the color silver outranks gold in Air Force officer insignia. In the early 19th century, Army infantry colonels wore gold eagles, while all other Army colonels wore silver eagles. When the Army later decided to adopt a single color of eagles for all colonels, that single color was silver, apparently because more silver eagles than gold eagles were already in use. Lieutenant colonels received silver oak leaves next, to match the silver eagles of full colonels. Majors were then given gold oak leaves to distinguish them from lieutenant colonels. Once the precedent of silver outranking gold was set, it was followed when gold bars were later created for second lieutenants, who had no grade-specific insignia until the early 20th century.
During the 1990s,
Air Force Chief of StaffThe Chief of Staff of the Air Force is the senior uniformed officer in United States Air Force and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The CSAF heads the Air Staff and reports directly to the Secretary of the Air Force on matters of the Air Force...
General
Merrill A. McPeakMerrill Anthony "Tony" McPeak is a former Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. He retired from the service on November 1, 1994.-Education:...
redesigned the service dress uniform to give it a more distinctive look. His redesign replaced the metal rank insignia for officers with silver braid on the sleeves, similar to the
NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
's
officer rank insigniaIn the United States Navy, officers have various ranks. Equivalency between services is by pay grade. In the Navy pay grades for officers are:*W-2 to W-5 for Chief Warrant Officers...
. This was done in the
traditions-Origins:Lieutenant-General David Henderson originally proposed that Royal Air Force officers use a combination of British Army and Royal Navy ranks...
of the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
, and the
Canadian ForcesThe Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
. The "McPeak uniform" was very unpopular, drawing comparisons to the jackets worn by airline pilots, and the traditional rank insignia were reinstated shortly after General McPeak's retirement in 1994.