Our 1/2-inch blue sleeve braids are Berry Amendment-compliant, crafted with Mil-Spec materials and manufactured in the USA to meet or exceed all U.S. Air Force uniform requirements. We cut the dark blue braid (Air Force Shade 1095) into 30-inch strips, a little over 76 centimeters and more than enough for both sleeves of the Service Dress coat.
This 1/2-inch blue Mohair sleeve braid is worn exclusively on the sleeves of the Men’s and Women’s Service Dress Uniform coat worn by Officers at the rank of Colonel (O-6) or lower. Unlike the Formal and Mess Dress uniforms, braid placement on the sleeves—three inches from the bottom of the sleeve—is the same for both male and female Officers.
Air Force Officers and General Officers have a sleeve braid indicating their Officer status since the first Service and Dress uniforms were created. For a brief period between 1991 and 1994, the regulations were changed and the dark blue braids were replaced with silver, and multiple braids were used to indicate a specific commissioned rank—a system taken almost directly from the U.S. Navy. But this experiment met with little approval, and since that time USAF Officers are once again distinguished from enlisted Airmen by the addition of a single braid on the coat sleeve.