Uniform of the Union Army letters US. Officers, NCOs and cavalry troopers were equipped with a sword belt with a rectangular buckle with eagle motif. Rank was displayed on epaulettes (dress occasions) or shoulder straps(field duties): no insignia for a second lieutenant, one gold bar for a first lieutenant, two gold bars for a captain, a gold oak leaf for a major, a silver oak leaf for a lieutenant colonel, a silver eagle for a colonel and one, two or three silver stars for a general, depending on his seniority. The color of the shoulder strap fields – with trims in gold braid – were
United States Air Force officer rank insignia sleeves, similar to the officer rank insignia not used by the US Navy and Coast Guard. This was similar to the rank insignia of the British Royal Air Force, the Canadian Armed Forces and other Commonwealth air forces. The uniform reforms also introduced for the first time in the USAF slip-on shoulder marks on the other uniforms, using the traditional rank insignia. The "McPeak uniform" was very unpopular, drawing comparisons to the jackets worn by airline pilots, and the traditional rank insignia were reinstated within a week of General McPeak's retirement in 1994 on the shoulder boards, while the slip-on