British Army officer rank insignia Colonel on the Staff. Since 1928, a Brigadier has had the same rank badges as were displayed by a Colonel Commandant. Initially company and field rank insignia did not appear on officers' uniforms. In 1791 the War Office ordered officers to wear different graded epaulettes and wings to distinguish regimental officer ranks (Colonel to Ensign/ Cornet). This was ordered only for line Infantry officers. According to the Army Order, In 1795, a special pattern of epaulettes was ordered for Fusiliers and Light Infantry officers. Field officers of those regiments wore epaulettes over wings. Company officers wore wings. In February 1810,
Uniform of the Union Army as follows: Contemporary photographs and a Winslow Homer painting, "Playing Old Soldier", show staff officers occasionally added their departmental initials within the shoulder straps between the rank insignia. "M.S." for "Medical Staff" appears to have been the most common. With the exception of slight changes to the representing insignia for the more junior commissioned grades as well as additional color combinations for new career fields, the shoulder strap insignia and color scheme survives largely unchanged in the modern era on the Army Service Uniform. Individual officers would sometimes add gold braid Austrian knots on their sleeves but this practice was