Worn by both Company- and Field-Grade Officers, the USAF Female Officer Flight Cap is manufactured with a blue and silver braid trimming the cap’s overlapping edge. Rank insignia is centered vertically on the wearer’s left side of the cap, one-and-a-half inches from the from the front edge of the cap. Colonels are to place their rank insignia so that the eagle’s peak is pointing toward the front of the cap, while Majors and Lieutenant Colonels are to position their oak-leaf insignia so that the stem is pointing to the ground.
The Female Officer Flight Cap is authorized for wear only with the Flight Duty, Service Dress, Service, and Food Services uniforms. It is worn just slightly to the wearer’s right, so that the vertical creases of the cap form a straight line with the nose and are lined up with the center of the forehead. When not being worn, caps are tucked under the belt between the first and second loop’s on the wearer’s left side, and under no circumstances is the Flight Cap to be tucked under epaulets on shirts and jackets.
While regulations make it clear that “Flight Cap” is the official name for the Air Force’s foldable headgear, the ubiquity of the design means it is often referred to by other names depending on the wearer’s location and/or branch of service. In Canada, for example, it might be called a wedge cap, while U.S. Sailors and Marines call it a Garrison Cap or Garrison Cover—but a hundred years ago they called it an Overseas Cap. In fact, a Google search for the technically incorrect phrase “Air Force Garrison Cap” yields almost 1900 returns, as opposed to 4750 for the 100-percent accurate “Air Force Flight Cap.”