Enlisted Soldiers in the Army, Army Reserve, or Army National Guard with 24 to 26 years of honorable Federal service are eligible to wear eight services stripes, one for every three years of service, on the Army Service/Dress and Mess/Evening Mess uniforms. The service need not be continuous and can include Active or Reserve service (or a combination of the two) in the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard. (Complete information on service-stripe authorization is found AR 670-1, Section 19-27.)
Designed for wear on both sleeves of the Blue or White Mess/Evening Mess uniform jacket, these services stripes differ from those worn on the Army Service/Dress uniform jacket in that their length varies because they are worn from seam to seam. (Also, services stripes are worn only on the left sleeve of the ASU/Dress Uniform coat.) Oriented at a 30-degree angle, the lower end of the bottom stripe is inserted into the front inside seam, and the upper end of the top stripe is placed into the back seam.
Placement guidance is based upon jacket type, with the bottom stripe being inserted into the front seam 1/4-inch above the Blue Mess jacket’s cuff braid; for the White Mess jacket, the stripe is inserted into the seam 3 inches above the bottom of the sleeve. Spacing between stripes is 1/8-inch.