In the
United Kingdom, the rank of officer cadet is held by officers in training, at the
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, at
Britannia Royal Naval College in
Dartmouth, and the
Royal Air Force College at
RAF Cranwell, as well as students who are part of the Defence Technical Undergraduate Scheme (DTUS) and is also used by personnel of
University Royal Naval Units,
University Officer Training Corps, and
University Air Squadrons. They are referred to and addressed as, for example, "Mr Smith" or "Miss Smith", or more formally as "Officer Cadet Smith". As they do not hold the
King's commission, they are not saluted.
Royal Navy In
Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, the rank is non-substantive and only used in the initial phases of training, after which officers use their substantive rank of
Midshipman. Royal Navy officer cadets wear shoulder flashes with a white square after they complete the Militarisation phase of training (15 weeks). Formerly, the insignia was a navy blue patch on both sides of the coat collar, with a white buttonhole and gold button, similar to a midshipman's patch. They continue to wear these tabs until they pass out of BRNC at the end of their initial training. Students who enlist in the
University Royal Naval Unit, a reserve unit under the command of BRNC, also hold this rank.
Royal Marines In the
Royal Marines, the rank is held by those undergoing the Young Officer Training Course, the 15-month training course which is undertaken in various stages at the
Commando Training Centre Royal Marines, Britannia Royal Naval College and in the United States.
British Army practice manoeuvring a rope swing The rank of officer cadet is held by those undergoing initial officer training at the
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) or by personnel in the
University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC, an Army Reserve unit for students at university).
Rank insignia The standard rank insignia for a British Army officer cadet at both the RMAS and the UOTC is a single horizontal bar on the rank slide. Additionally officer cadets in the UOTC may also wear two to three horizontal bars on the
rank slide in order to denote the stage of training and experience the officer cadet is at. The RMAS and UOTC can appoint officer cadets to underofficer appointments.
Royal Air Force inspects officer cadets of the
Royal Air Force College, The rank of officer cadet is held by those undergoing initial officer training at the
Royal Air Force College Cranwell. Students undergoing the Foundation Degree course at
DCAE Cosford, having been selected for service as engineer officers from the ranks, hold their previous rank while wearing officer cadet rank insignia for the duration, prior to attending initial officer training. The rank is also held by members of
University Air Squadrons.
Reserve Officers' Training Corps in March 2005 Cadets and midshipmen in the ROTC programs generally hold training ranks equivalent to their branch's enlisted ranks during their first three years of training and officer-equivalent ranks during their senior year, except in the Air Force where they hold officer-equivalent rank during their junior and senior years. In addition, a small amount of NROTC midshipmen 2/C may hold officer ranks, limited by the amount of available billets. Cadets or midshipmen holding cadet-enlisted rank must salute cadet or midshipman officers within their own branch of the service. Cadet officer ranks in US Army ROTC are denoted by "pips" – one to three circular insignia denoting the company-grade equivalents, one to three diamond-shaped insignia denoting the field-grade equivalents. For
midshipman ranks, both junior and senior officer equivalents wear from one to six 1/4" gold stripes or bars.
US Air Force cadets wear rank shoulder boards or lapel insignia which carry miniature insignia identical to those worn by officer trainees at USAF
Officer Training School.
Service academies Each U.S. service academy has its own set of insignia, different from their corresponding ROTC program.
U.S. Military Academy (West Point) celebrate at the completion of their graduation and commissioning ceremony United States Military Academy "class insignia" are worn on the collar and epaulets of certain uniforms. An enameled shield bearing a Greek sword surmounted by the helmet of Pallas, worn on the left collar or above cadet rank stripes/bars on epaulets, is the standard class insignia for third-class (yellow shield), second-class (grey shield), or first-class (black shield) cadets. On traditional "dress grey" and "full dress grey" uniforms and overcoats, the class insignia is indicated by the number of service stripes (one to three) denoting completed years at the academy. These stripes are located on the lower sleeve for the under two classes and on the upper sleeve for the upper two classes. Visitors are sometimes confused to see cadets early in the academic year wearing the insignia of cadet private first class - such cadets are often reduced in rank (for any of a variety of reasons), but have already completed their first year and as such are no longer cadet privates ("plebes"). Rank within the Corps of Cadets is denoted by collar insignia "railroad tracks", a number of black enamel bars with silver outline, or epaulet stripes from one (for cadet corporal) to six (for cadet captain in certain command and staff roles) on certain uniforms. On the traditional dress-grey-based uniforms and overcoats, chevrons denote rank in the Corps. A cadet corporal wears two chevrons on the lower sleeve. A cadet sergeant wears two chevrons on the upper sleeve, a cadet lieutenant three, and a cadet captain from four to six chevrons. For cadets in the rank of cadet sergeant and up, various combinations of stars, diamonds, rockers or arcs, and other devices, are used on the sleeves to denote specific positions/jobs. The title of cadet captain is used for all cadets wearing four or more stripes/bars. The brigade commander, also called the first captain, wears six stripes/bars/sleeve chevrons with a gold star
U.S. Air Force Academy The
rank of United States Air Force Academy cadets is denoted by the insignia on their shoulderboards in all "blues" uniforms, including "blues",
service dress, overcoats,
mess dress and parade dress. All cadet shoulder boards carry the heraldic
nebuly device, (commonly referred to as "clouds" by cadets). Third class cadets have one thin bar (ground) underneath the clouds; second and first class cadets wear two thin bars, one each above (horizon) and below the clouds. Additional chevrons denote cadet non-commissioned officer ranks, while additional bars denote cadet officer ranks. An exception to this is the unranked cadets, who are on probation of some kind (academic, athletic, military, honor, etc.). For unranked third class cadets, only ground and cloud are present; for unranked second class cadets only ground, cloud, and horizon are present; for unranked first class cadets only ground, cloud, horizon and one thin bar are present. Vertical diamonds on the boards of second class cadets indicate either squadron or group superintendent positions. Horizontal diamonds on the same indicate squadron first sergeant positions. Stars on first class cadet boards indicate either flight, squadron, or group command positions. If multiple stars are present, the cadet is either the vice wing commander (two stars), or the wing commander (three stars), the senior cadet in the Wing. The only second class cadet rank with a star present is the Wing Command Chief, the senior second class cadet. On the current
Operational Camouflage Pattern, Air Force Academy cadets wear soft spice brown rank insignia on the center of the chest. Formerly, Air Force Academy cadets wore metal blue bars or chevrons on the lapels of the (now retired)
Battle Dress Uniform and
Airman Battle Uniform to denote their rank. While fourth class cadets wear no insignia on combat uniforms, they are awarded a
Prop and Wings after recognition, to be worn on the flight cap and on the lapels of service dress. Third class cadets wear one or two chevrons on each lapel, signifying that they are cadet/
staff sergeants or cadet/
technical sergeants, respectively. Second class cadets wear three to five chevrons, indicating ranks from cadet/
master sergeant to cadet/
chief master sergeant. First class cadets function as cadet officers and wear one to six bars on their lapels, corresponding to ranks from cadet/
second lieutenant to cadet/
colonel.
U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis) and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point) The
rank insignia of the United States Naval Academy and the United States Merchant Marine Academy is a combination of sleeve, shoulder and collar insignia, similar to that used by the Naval ROTC units.
United States Coast Guard Academy There are two types of insignia used by Coast Guard Academy cadets. The first is a metal pin-on device. It is a colored shield with a gold anchor with a silver star above it. The color of the background denotes the class. The colors are green for 4/c, red for 3/c, white for 2/c and blue for 1/c. The colors all have historic meanings: red and green represent the running lights on a vessel; white signifies the white lights used as navigation lights, signifying the role as guides for the 4/c; blue represents the blue lights of law enforcement vessels that that 1/c are about to serve aboard. The second type of insignia is shoulder boards. All cadet shoulder boards have a slightly smaller version of the shield found on officer shoulder boards, and stripes denoting class year or 1/c leadership positions. The 4/c have no stripes, 3/c 1 diagonal stripe, 2/c 2 diagonal stripes, and 1/c 1 horizontal stripe. First class leadership positions have increasing numbers of horizontal stripes, up to six for the Regimental Commander or Summer Battalion Commander, as well as a matching number of sleeve stripes on the
Service Dress Blues and Parade Dress Blue uniforms. == See also ==