Tie tacks or tie clasps can provide a subtle touch of class to military dress uniforms that call for the wear of long necktie (as opposed to the bow tie worn for highly formal occasions). Our tie tack and tie clasp for officers in the O-6 pay grade features a silver eagle, used by all four branches of the United States Armed Forces under Department of Defense jurisdiction, as well as the Coast Guard (which is under the Department of Homeland Security) as the insignia of rank for O-6 officers. In the Navy and Coast Guard, these officers are designated as Captain; in the Army, Air Force, and Marines, they are called Colonels.
It goes without saying that members of the Armed Forces understand just how highly ranked officers in the O-6 pay grade are. For the average civilian, however, the rank titles of Colonel or Captain do not truly capture just how elite these groups of officers really are. Because of its use an honorific, the word “Colonel,” for instance, is now more closely associated with fried chicken and Elvis Presley than it is with being the commander of a substantial number of the world’s most highly trained Soldiers, Sailors, or Airmen.
The number of field-grade officers, including Colonels, is set by United States Code as a proportion of all commissioned officers in each branch of service. In the Army, for example, there can be just 1,613 Colonels out of a total commissioned officer corps of 20,000, contrasted with 7,768 Majors and 5, 253. In the Air Force, the rate of Colonels in an officer corps of 35,000 is just six percent, or 2125, similar to the Marine Corps’ allotment of 633 Colonels out of 10,000 officer (6.33 percent). And for 30,000 Navy officers, only 7.4 percent can be Captains at any given time.