Uniforms, Awards & Customs

The Army runs a small number of uniforms with clear roles. The confusion is almost always about the middle of the range, where the service uniform and the dress uniform overlap, and about which configuration of a uniform is required for a given event. AR 670-1 authorizes the uniforms and their components; DA PAM 670-1 illustrates them. The commander sets the uniform of the day, and the invitation or the operation order sets it for an event.

• AR 670-1 applies to the Regular Army, the Army National Guard, and the Army Reserve alike.
• Commanders may prescribe the uniform of the day and may restrict optional items, but they may not authorize a uniform or an item that AR 670-1 does not authorize. There is no such thing as a local uniform variation.
• A Soldier is responsible for wearing the complete uniform. Mixing components across uniforms is not authorized.
• Headgear is worn outdoors while in uniform unless the commander or the situation directs otherwise, removed indoors unless the Soldier is under arms in an official capacity, and not worn inside a privately owned vehicle.

Boards ask about rank because it is the vocabulary of everything else. The places Soldiers get caught are the two grades at E-4, the difference between a first sergeant and a master sergeant, the difference between a sergeant major and a command sergeant major, and the warrant officer bars.

The Army Green Service Uniform is the Army's everyday service uniform. It is modeled on the World War II era service uniform commonly called pinks and greens, and it took over the daily service role from the blue Army Service Uniform, which moved back to being a dress uniform. Soldiers now hold both: the AGSU for daily official business, the blue ASU for ceremonies and formal occasions.

• The uniform is worn in a coat configuration and a shirt configuration. With the coat, the full array of ribbons, badges, and insignia is worn as the pamphlet prescribes. Without the coat, a reduced array is worn on the tan shirt.
• Insignia of grade, branch insignia, the U.S. insignia, nameplate, ribbons, badges, service stripes, and overseas service bars all have exact placements in DA PAM 670-1. Build the uniform with the pamphlet open.
• Service stripes are worn on the lower left sleeve of the coat, one for each three years of honorable service. Overseas service bars are worn on the lower right sleeve, one for each six months of federal service in a designated hostile fire or imminent danger area.
• The AGSU is a purchase item for enlisted Soldiers through the clothing allowance. The Army has set a mandatory possession date and has adjusted it more than once, so confirm the current date rather than relying on a remembered one.

The Army Combat Uniform in the Operational Camouflage Pattern is the working uniform and the one most Soldiers wear most days. Because it is worn constantly, it drifts. Most on-the-spot corrections are for the same handful of things: sleeves, blousing, hands in pockets, and insignia that was never sewn on correctly in the first place.

• The uniform is worn as a complete set: coat, trousers, tan T-shirt, tan or coyote boots, and the headgear the commander prescribes, normally the patrol cap or an authorized beret.
• The coat is worn outside the trousers and closed. Trousers are bloused into the boots or held with a blousing device.
• The U.S. flag is worn on the right shoulder in the reverse field orientation, star field toward the front, so the flag appears to stream backward as the Soldier moves forward.
• The shoulder sleeve insignia of the Soldier's current organization is worn on the left shoulder. The shoulder sleeve insignia for former wartime service, the combat patch, is worn on the right.
• Tabs are worn on the left shoulder above the shoulder sleeve insignia. When more than one is authorized, the order from the top down is Special Forces, Ranger, then Sapper, and no more than three are worn at once.
• Rolling or cuffing the sleeves is at the commander's discretion. When the sleeves are cuffed, the camouflage pattern stays on the outside.
• Hands stay out of the pockets except momentarily to place or retrieve an object.
• Soldiers do not walk in uniform while eating, drinking, smoking or vaping, or using a cell phone, because those activities interfere with rendering the salute and the proper courtesies.

Appearance standards exist so that Soldiers look like they belong to the same organization. They are also the part of AR 670-1 that changes the most often, almost always by Army directive rather than by a new edition of the regulation. Before you correct a Soldier on a detail, confirm the current directive. Being confidently wrong about a grooming standard in front of a Soldier is worse than not knowing.

Male hair

Neatly groomed and tapered on the top of the head, with bulk not exceeding two inches. Hair does not fall over the ears or eyebrows and does not touch the collar. Sideburns are neatly trimmed, not flared, and do not extend below the bottom of the ear opening.

Female hair

Standards were substantially revised by Army directive in 2021. Multiple hairstyles, including ponytails and braids, are authorized within limits on bulk, on interference with headgear and equipment, and on appearance. The January 2021 edition of AR 670-1 does not capture all of it, so work from the current directive.

Facial hair

Soldiers keep their faces clean shaven in uniform and in civilian clothes on duty. The exceptions are an approved religious accommodation and a shaving profile issued by a medical provider. Shaving profile policy has been tightened by directive since 2021.

Mustaches

Neatly trimmed, tapered, and tidy. No portion may cover the upper lip line, extend sideways beyond a vertical line drawn upward from the corner of the mouth, or extend above a line parallel to the lowest portion of the nose. Handlebar mustaches, beards, and goatees are not authorized.

• No more than two rings at one time. A wedding set counts as one ring.
• One conservative wrist watch and one conservative identification bracelet, plus authorized medical alert and prisoner of war or missing in action bracelets.
• Necklaces may be worn but must not be visible.
• Body piercing that is visible while in uniform is not authorized, and ear gauging is prohibited.
• Female Soldiers may wear conservative earrings with the service, dress, and mess uniforms, within the size and style limits AR 670-1 sets. They are not authorized with the utility uniform.
• Eyeglasses and sunglasses are worn conservatively. Faddish or extreme frames, and lenses with initials or designs, are not authorized, and sunglasses are not worn in formation or indoors.

AR 600-8-22 establishes the criteria, the approval authorities, and the order of precedence for Army awards. DA PAM 670-1 then shows how the awards are physically arranged on each uniform. Ribbons are worn in order of precedence, reading from the wearer's right to the wearer's left and from the top row down, and rows are built so that no row holds more ribbons than the row beneath it.

1. U.S. military decorations
2. U.S. unit awards
3. U.S. nonmilitary decorations
4. Good Conduct Medal
5. U.S. campaign and service medals
6. U.S. service and training ribbons
7. U.S. Merchant Marine awards
8. Foreign military decorations
9. Foreign unit awards
10. Non-U.S. service awards

1. Medal of Honor
2. Distinguished Service Cross
3. Defense Distinguished Service Medal
4. Distinguished Service Medal
5. Silver Star
6. Defense Superior Service Medal
7. Legion of Merit
8. Distinguished Flying Cross
9. Soldier's Medal
10. Bronze Star Medal
11. Purple Heart
12. Defense Meritorious Service Medal
13. Meritorious Service Medal
14. Air Medal
15. Joint Service Commendation Medal
16. Army Commendation Medal
17. Joint Service Achievement Medal
18. Army Achievement Medal

1. Presidential Unit Citation
2. Joint Meritorious Unit Award
3. Valorous Unit Award
4. Meritorious Unit Commendation
5. Army Superior Unit Award

Badges are grouped, and the group determines where the badge is worn and how many may be worn at once. AR 670-1 sets the groups and the limits; DA PAM 670-1 shows the placement. Do not build a chest from memory, because the limits on how many badges may be worn from each group are exactly the kind of detail Soldiers get wrong.

• Tabs are worn on the left shoulder above the shoulder sleeve insignia. When more than one is authorized, the order from the top down is Special Forces, Ranger, then Sapper, and a Soldier wears no more than three at once.
• Combat and special skill badges are worn above the ribbons on the service and dress uniforms; marksmanship and identification badges are worn on the right side. DA PAM 670-1 shows the exact positions and spacing.
• AR 670-1 limits how many badges may be worn from each group at one time. Check the limit before you build the array.
• Badge points on the promotion point worksheet do not stack. A senior badge adds only the difference over the basic one, not the value of both.

A custom is a practice the Army has followed long enough that it carries the force of tradition. A courtesy is an act of respect Soldiers show one another and show to the nation's symbols. The salute is both, and AR 600-25 is the regulation that governs it.

Who is entitled to the salute

Commissioned and warrant officers of the United States armed forces, commissioned and warrant officers of friendly foreign nations, and recipients of the Medal of Honor regardless of their rank.

Distance

Render the salute at about six paces, or at the nearest point of approach if six paces is not available. Hold it until it is returned or the officer has passed.

The greeting

The salute is accompanied by the appropriate greeting of the day or the unit's greeting. A silent salute is an incomplete one.

• Indoors, except when reporting to an officer or when under arms in an official capacity.
• In formation, unless the leader commands present arms.
• At public gatherings such as sporting events, religious services, and public meetings.
• When either party is driving a vehicle.
• When carrying articles with both hands, or when engaged in work that the salute would interrupt.
• In the field under tactical conditions, where a salute identifies a leader to the enemy.
• Any time the salute would be impractical or unsafe.

1. 1

   Reporting indoors, not under arms

   Remove the headgear. Knock and enter when told to. Halt about two steps from the officer's desk, salute, and report. Hold the salute until the report is complete and the salute has been returned.

2. 2

   Reporting indoors, under arms

   The procedure is the same except that the headgear stays on and the Soldier renders the salute prescribed for the weapon carried.

3. 3

   Reporting outdoors

   Move rapidly toward the officer, halt about three steps away, salute, and report.

4. 4

   Departing

   When the business is complete, salute, hold the salute until it is returned, execute the appropriate facing movement, and depart.

Reveille and retreat are the daily flag ceremonies on an installation. Reveille signals the start of the duty day and accompanies raising the flag; retreat signals the end of the duty day, and the bugle call To the Color accompanies lowering it. What you do depends on whether you are in uniform, in formation, or in a vehicle, and Soldiers routinely get the retreat sequence backwards.

• The flag is normally displayed from reveille to retreat. It is not displayed after dark unless it is properly illuminated.
• The flag never touches the ground and is never used as a covering, a drapery, or clothing.
• When displayed with other flags, the United States flag takes the position of honor: on its own right, which is the observer's left, or at the center and the highest point of a group.
• To half-staff the flag, hoist it briskly to the peak first, then lower it slowly to the half-staff position. To lower it at the end of the day, raise it briskly to the peak again and then lower it.
• AR 840-10 governs Army flags, guidons, and streamers, including sizes, display, and disposition.

1. 1

   Fold in half lengthwise

   Two Soldiers hold the flag waist high and parallel to the ground, then fold it lengthwise with the striped half brought under the blue field.

2. 2

   Fold in half lengthwise again

   Fold it lengthwise a second time, keeping the blue field on the outside.

3. 3

   Triangular folds

   Starting at the striped end, make triangular folds along the length of the flag, folding the outer point inward each time to keep the edge parallel with the open edge.

4. 4

   Finish

   Continue until only the blue field remains and the flag has the shape of a cocked hat, then tuck the remaining margin into the fold.