For a military man, it is not at all difficult to read the rank by epaulettes. This is the first thing a conscript is taught, a police cadet remembers, a sailor recognizes. But to a person far from the army, stars and stripes often do not say anything. And in order to put on shoulder straps, you need to know what rank the symbols on them represent.
Instructions
Step 1
The symbols on the shoulder straps of the army and navy are the same. The only difference is in rank. The ground units also have two types of uniforms - casual and field. On the shoulder straps of the camouflage there are no letters ВС (armed forces), there are only stars and stripes. There is no such distinction among sailors. On all types of shoulder straps, excluding senior and senior command personnel, there is the letter F (fleet).
Step 2
If you are a soldier of the Russian army, your shoulder straps are the simplest. There are no small marks and asterisks on them, only the symbols of the sun. In the navy, this rank corresponds to a sailor with the letter F on his shoulder straps.
Step 3
The corporal is the next in rank. There is a senior sailor in the navy. There is one stripe on their shoulder straps.
Step 4
The junior sergeant (in the navy, the foreman of the second class) and the senior sergeant (the foreman of the first class) have two and three stripes on their shoulder straps, respectively.
Step 5
The senior sergeant (chief sergeant major) has a wide stripe, and the foreman (chief ship sergeant major) has two - wide and narrow.
Step 6
At the ensign (midshipman) and senior warrant officer (senior midshipman), you can already see small stars on the shoulder straps. There are two and three, respectively. They are located one after another parallel to the long edge of the shoulder strap.
Step 7
There are stars on the shoulder straps of all junior officers. In addition, they are distinguished from ordinary army employees by the red stripe dividing the epaulette. The junior lieutenant has one star in the center of the shoulder strap. The lieutenant has two, attached across the epaulette, the senior lieutenant has three stars pinned by a triangle. The captain's shoulder strap has four stars. At sea, titles are identical to those on land. In addition to the captain, he is a lieutenant commander there.
Step 8
The shoulder straps of the officer corps are with large stars and have two longitudinal red stripes. The major has one star in the center of the shoulder strap. The lieutenant colonel has two stars pinned across the epaulette. The colonel has three, arranged in a triangle. In the navy, these positions correspond to the ranks of captains of the third, second and first ranks.
Step 9
The epaulettes of senior officers can be distinguished by the largest stars and the absence of red stripes. On the shoulder straps of the Major General (Rear Admiral) there is one large star in the center. The Lieutenant General (Vice Admiral) has two stars pinned parallel to the long edge of the epaulette. The Colonel General (Admiral) has three stars following each other. For the general of the army (admiral of the fleet), shoulder straps are decorated with four large stars located one after the other in a straight line.
