Service stripes are worn exclusively by enlisted Marines on the sleeves of Blue Dress and Service uniform coats, with each stripe reflecting four cumulative years of honorable service in a branch (or a combination of branches) of our nation’s Armed Forces (Marine Corps, Navy, Army, Air Force, Coast Guard).
The stripes also recognize service in the National Guard or a Reserve component of the Armed Forces, and may also apply to service in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service and some parts of the NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Service need not be continuous, but Reservists can only earn credit in one-year increments (any year in which the Reservist accrues 50 or more retirement points.
Service stripes are issued in large (male) and small (female) sizes and in two color patterns; gold stripes with red backgrounds are worn on the
Blue Dress uniform and green stripes on red backgrounds are designed for the
Men's Green and
Women's Green Service uniform. Both styles are attached at a 30-degree angle to the bottom of the sleeves, with the lowest scarlet point of the gold-on-red stripe meeting the scarlet piping of the cuff on the
Blue Dress coat. The stripes on the Green Coat (
Men's and
Women's) are placed so that the bottom scarlet edge is centered above the upward-protruding point on the jacket cuff.
Additional stripes are placed 1/8-inch above and parallel with the next lowest stripe. This set of five stripes may be worn by an enlisted Marine who has accumulated twenty to twenty-three years of honorable service.