Enlisted Soldiers in the Army (Active, Reserve, National Guard) with between 21 and 23 years of honorable Federal service are authorized to wear seven service stripes on the left sleeve of the Army Service/Dress uniform jacket and on both sleeves of the Blue or White Mess/Evening Mess uniform jacket. Service time is cumulative (it does not have to be continuous) and can be accrued in the Active or Reserve components of not only the Army, but also the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.
This set of seven service stripes is designed for wear on the Blue or White Mess/Evening Mess jacket. Stripes are positioned at a 30-degee angle and are worn seam to seam at a 30-degree angle. On the Blue jacket, the lower end of the bottom stripe is inserted into the front inside seam 1/4-inch above the gold soutache cuff braid, while the lower insertion point is 3 inches from the bottom of the sleeve on the White jacket. The top of the service-stripe set is inserted into the sleeve’s back seam.