Manufactured with a Mohair finish in Air Force Shade 1095, our 1 1/2-inch blue sleeve braids for U.S. Air Force General Officers’ Service Dress coats are made in the USA to meet or exceed all Air Force regulations and requirements.
We sell the braid in 30-inch segments (76.2 centimeters), more than enough for braiding both sleeves of the Service Dress coat. The braid is sewn onto each sleeve 3 inches above the sleeve’s bottom.
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Air Force Service Dress coats worn by Officers and General Officers have had a distinguishing sleeve braid since the first Air Force-only uniforms were produced in 1949. For over forty years, the dark blue sleeve braid was a half-inch in width and worn three inches from the end of the sleeve by all Officers, from 2nd Lieutenant to General. But a massive uniform overhaul in 1991 resulting in what became known as the “McPeak Uniform” changed not only the color of the braid—it was switched to silver—but also the number worn and their width.
Under the new system—which wasn’t really “new” since it was taken almost directly from the Navy—a single braid indicated the lowest Commissioned rank. Two widths were used in combinations for officers at Colonel and lower; General Officer ranks all started with a massive 2-inch braid embroidered with the “clouds and lightning” design found on Air Force Service Cap visor (O-7) and added a medium-width, unadorned braid for each additional star (O-8 to O-10).
But the new uniform met with much displeasure that was offset by little to no enthusiasm, and in 1995 the Air Force Chief of Staff rescinded the design, replacing the busy braid system of the McPeak Uniform with just two dark blue braids: 1/2-inch for Officers and 1 1/2-inches for General Officers (O-7 to O-10).