Aiguillettes are worn by Navy personnel while performing official duties as aides to the President or Vice President, flag officers, and the Secretary, Under Secretary, and Assistant Secretaries of Defense or the Navy. They’re also worn when serving as a White House aide, aides to foreign representatives, or as Naval Attaches and Assistant Naval Attaches. Officers may be assigned to the aide billets of Chief of Staff, Flag Lieutenant, Flag Secretary, Executive Assistant, and Aide only if a flag officer occupies the flag billet. (For a complete explanation of who is authorized to wear aiguillettes, please refer to Chapter 5, Section 4 of the United States Navy Uniform Regulations (NAVPERS 15665I).
Like the Army, the Navy authorizes the wear of two types of aiguillettes, Service and Dress, depending on the type of uniform being worn. For its Service aiguillettes, the Navy utilizes a system in which the design of aiguillette reflects the rank of the officer or official being served. An Executive Assistant for an Admiral, for instance, would wear an aiguillette made with four loops of aiguillette cord, while an Enlisted Aide reporting to a Rear Admiral would wear a Service aiguillette with just two loops.
For the Dress aiguillette, however, the Navy has just two classes: one worn only by aides to the President of the United States, and another worn by all other aides. Both are manufactured with synthetic gold material, but the non-Presidential aide aiguillette uses blue thread plaited into bands, as well as two additional loops of unplaited aiguillette cord.