Epaulette

Epaulette pronunciation:ĕp'-ǝ-lĕt, a French word meaning "little shoulders" (epaule, referring to "shoulder"), originally meant only one type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia or rank by the military and other organizations.

Epaulettes are fastened to the shoulder by a shoulder strap, parallel to the shoulder seam and the button near the collar. The placement of the epaulette, its color and the length and diameter of its bullion fringe are used to siginify the wearer's rank. Between the fringe and the shoulderpiece is often a metal piece in the form of a crescent. Although sometimes worn in the field, epaulettes are more common on dress or ceremonial uniforms. Epaulettes are also found on the trench coat, the safari jacket and other garments.

History of the Epaulette

Before rank insignia were devised, the rank of an officer was determined by whether one epaulette was on the left shoulder, or the right shoulder or both. Later a "counter-epaulette" (with no fringe) was given to those who wore only one. Besides silver or gold for officers, epaulettes came in cloth for the enlisted men of various arms. Various cavalry specialties were given metal epaulettes referred to as scales, rarely worn on the field.

Officers of the United States Army at the time of the Civil War wore gold for artillery and silver for infantry. This was in keeping with the practice of the French Army. In Europe, some light infantry wore cloth counter-epaulettes. "Flying artillery" wore "wings", similar to an epaulette but with only a bit of fringe on the outside, which matched the shoulder seam. Heavy artillery wore small balls representing ammunition on their shoulders.

Epaulettes have mostly been replaced by insignia pins and sleeve patches to denote rank. These are often placed on a five-sided flap of cloth called a shoulder strap, which is sewn onto the shoulder seam and button of the epaulette.

An intermediate step in the navies of the world is the shoulderboard, which neither has a fringe nor extends beyond the shoulder seam. Various armies, such as the Russian Army, still have shoulder boards.

From the US Navy's shoulderboard, the US Army and Air force developed the shoulder mark, a cloth tube with one stripe far from the collar for senior officers, an additional stripe at the top for general officers, no stripes for junior officers and enlisted men and embroidered or pinned rank insignia. These are worn on all class B uniform shirts; the US Navy wears soft epaulettes only on long sleeve white shirts. The Coast Guard wears Naval style soft epaulettes on all class B uniform shirts.

German Epaulette

German Army uniforms are known for a five-cord "figure-of-eight" decoration which fits atop the shoulder. This is called a shoulder knot. Although it was once on US Army uniforms, it remains only in the mess uniform.

British epaulette

British uniform shirt cuffs were once decorated with buttons and colored patches to indicate the rank of officers.

Canadian epaulette

In Canada, epaulette or epaulet is often used (erroneously or colloquially) to describe the shoulder strap of a military or police shirt, jacket or tunic and is used informally as a synonym for slip-on, a flat cloth sleeve (called in the US, a shoulder mark) worn ("slipped on") on the shoulder strap.

After Unification and prior to the issue of the Distinct Environmental Uniform, musicians of the Band Branch wore epaulettes of braided gold cord on the CF uniform.

Epaulettes are still worn on some Army Full Dress, Patrol Dress, and Mess Dress uniforms. Epaulettes in the form of shoulder boards are worn with the officer's white Naval Service Dress.