U.S. ARMY FEMALE FIELD GRADE / GENERAL OFFICER SERVICE HAT

Our Service Hat for female Field-Grade Officers features arcs of laurel leaves embroidered in lustrous gold bullion, instantly identifying the wearer as a Field-Grade Officer (O-5 to O-7, or Major, Lieutenant Colonel, and Colonel). Like all Service Hats for female Army personnel, the Field-Grade Hat has the Coat of Arms of the United States as an insignia.

While women have served in the Army since the Revolutionary War, it was at the start of the 20th century that their service expanded beyond traditional support roles such nurses, cooks, and seamstresses. But it was not until 1947 that the a woman received a commission in the Regular Army when Florence Blanchfield was appointed a Lieutenant Colonel.

Seventy years following Blanchfield’s groundbreaking appointment, women are playing an increasingly important role, both as enlisted soldiers and as officers. In fact, a study by the Institute for Women’s Leadership (2009) found that the percentage of women in officers ranks in the military is roughly the same as their percentage in the enlisted ranks.