The branch colors of the Chemical Corps, Cobalt Blue (cable number 65011) and Golden Yellow (65001), were adopted by the United States Army when the Chemical Corps was originally established as the Chemical Warfare Service in 1918. They are the colors of the American Chemical Society, which was founded more than forty years earlier in 1876 at New York University.
Army Uniform regulations specify on which items braids or stripes featuring basic branch colors (or the first-named color) are allowed. On the Army Service Uniform, the sleeves of coats worn by all officers below the rank of Brigadier General (O-7) feature a sleeve braid placed on a silk stripe in the first-named color of their branch. Similarly, the sleeves on the Blue Mess Jackets worn by warrant officers and commissioned officers below O-7 feature a ¾-inch braid on a silk stripe of the first-named color of their branch, and the lapels of the Blue Mess Jackets worn by all officers (except Chaplains) below O-7 are made of a satin face in the first-named color of their branch.
The same regulations apply to the Blue Mess Jacket for female officers, while the lining of the optional blue cape for both male and female officers (O-1 to O-6) is made of rayon twill or satin in their branch’s first-named color. Both branch colors are employed in the hatbands of the optional service caps worn by Warrant Officers and Field- and Company-Grade Officers.
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