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German Uniforms, Ranks, and Insignia
The service uniform is the most common type of Bundeswehr uniform for
general duty and most off-post activity. The army's service uniform consists
of a light gray, single-breasted coat and darker gray trousers, worn with
a light blue or white shirt, black tie, and black shoes. The peaked, visored
cap has been replaced by the beret as the most common form of headgear.
Dress uniforms featuring dinner jackets or double-breasted coats are worn
by officers for various social occasions. The battle and work uniform
is olive green. Camouflage fatigues are also worn on field duty. In all
three services, light sand-colored uniforms are available for duty in
warmer climates.
The traditional arm-of-service colors appear as lapel facings and as
piping on shoulder straps. General officers wear an inner piping of gold
braid; other officers wear silver piping. Lapel facings and piping are
maroon for general staff, green for infantry, red for artillery, pink
for armor, black for engineers, yellow for communications, and various
other colors for the remaining branches. Combat troops wear green (infantry),
black (armor), or burgundy (airborne) berets. Logistics troops wear blue
berets, and combat support troops, such as artillery or engineers, wear
red ones. A gold or silver device on the beret denotes the individual
branch of service.
The naval forces wear the traditional navy blue, double-breasted coat
and trousers; enlisted personnel wear either a white shirt or a navy blue
shirt with the traditional navy collar. White uniforms provide an alternative
for summer. The officer's dress cap is mounted with a gold anchor surrounded
by a wreath. The visor of the admiral's cap bears a double row of oak
leaves.
The air force service uniform consists of a blue-gray jacket and trousers
with a light blue shirt, dark blue tie, and black shoes. Olive battle
dress similar to the army fatigue uniform is worn in basic training and
during other field duty. Flying personnel wear wings on their right breast.
Technical personnel wear a modified wing device with a symbol in its center
denoting service specialization. The latter is bronze, silver, or gold,
depending on one's length of service in the specialty. Wings, superimposed
over a wreath, in gold, silver, or bronze, depending on rank, are also
worn on the service or field cap.
Officer ranks correspond directly to equivalent ranks in the United States
Armed Forces. Officer rank insignia are worn on shoulder straps or shoulder
boards; in the case of naval officers, rank is indicated by gold stripes
on the lower sleeve of the blue service jacket and on shoulder boards
of the white uniform. The semicircular wreath on the shoulder straps is
gold for general officers and silver for field grade officers.
NCO ranks are based on those used long ago in the Prussian armies, and
it is difficult to relate them directly to United States NCO ranks. In
the army and air force, a Hauptgefreiter corresponds approximately
to a private first class or airman first class. An Unteroffizier,
with the responsibilities of a squad leader, is the lowest-ranking sergeant,
followed by the Stabsunteroffizier, Feldwebel, Oberfeldwebel,
and Hauptfeldwebel. Ranks of army and air force enlisted personnel
are designated by stripes, chevrons, and looped chevrons worn on shoulder
straps. Naval enlisted rank designations are worn on the upper sleeve
along with a symbol of the service specialization (rating). Army and air
force officer candidates hold the separate ranks of Gefreiter,
Fahnenjunker, and Oberfaehnrich and wear the equivalent
enlisted rank designations plus a silver diamond on their sleeves. Medical
personnel of all three services wear a version of the traditional caduceus
(staff with entwined serpents) on their shoulder straps or sleeve.
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