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Acap badge, also known ashead badge orhat badge, is a badge worn onuniform headgear and distinguishes the wearer's nationality and/or organisation. The wearing of cap badges is a convention commonly found among military and police forces, as well as uniformed civilian groups such as theBoy Scouts, civil defence organisations, ambulance services (e.g. theSt. John Ambulance Brigade), customs services, fire services etc.
Cap badges are a modern form ofheraldry and their design generally incorporates highly symbolic devices. Some badges that contain images of lions or other cats are sometimes informally referred to as cat badges.
TheBritish Armed Forces utilise a variety of metal and cloth cap badges on their headdress, generally on caps and berets. They are also worn onSikh turbans.
In theBritish Army (as well as otherCommonwealth armies) eachregiment andcorps has its own cap badge. The cap badge of theQueen's Royal Lancers is called a motto by those within the regiment,[1] that of theRoyal Horse Artillery is known as a cypher and that of theColdstream Guards,Scots Guards andIrish Guards is known as a cap star.That of theGrenadier Guards is known as thegrenade fired proper.
The concept of regimental badges appears to have originated with the British Army. TheEncyclopædia Britannica's 1911 Edition notes that although branch badges for infantry, cavalry and so on were common to other armies of the time, only the British Army wore distinctive regimental devices.[2]
Plastic cap badges were introduced during theSecond World War, when metals becamestrategic materials. Nowadays many cap badges in the British Army are made of a material called "stay-brite" (anodised aluminium, anodising is an electro-plating process resulting in lightweight shiny badge), this is used because it is cheap, flexible and does not require as much maintenance as brass badges.
Regimental cap badges are usually cast as one single piece but in a number of cases they may be cast in different pieces. For instance, the badge of the now amalgamated,The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons) was cast in two separate pieces: the Queen's Crown and the thistle forming one piece, and the stag's head and scroll with regimental motto forming a second piece (see the first picture above).
The Royal Corps of Signals also has a two-part badge. The top being a brass crown and the bottom consisting of a silver flying body ofMercury (the winged messenger of the gods – 'Jimmy') above a brass world and the mottocerta cito ('swift and sure').
A regiment orbattalion may maintain variations of the same cap badge for different ranks. These variations are usually in the badges' material, size and stylization. Variations in cap badges are normally made for:
There are exceptions such as the Welsh Guards, where all ranks wear a cloth cap badge. Officers wearing a more elaborate version compared to that of soldiers, made usinggold thread and has a more three-dimensional design. The only exception to this is recruits in training who have to wear the brass (or more often "stay-brite") leek, often referred to as the "NAAFI fork", until they have passed out of training and reached their battalion will they receive their cloth leek[citation needed]. All ranks of theSpecial Air Service wear an embroidered cap badge and all ranks ofThe Rifles andRoyal Regiment of Fusiliers wear the same metal badge.
Some regiments maintain a blackened or subdued version of their cap badges as shiny brass cap badges may attract the enemy's attention on the battlefield. However, since the practice of British soldiers operating in theatre with regimental headdress (i.e. peaked cap, beret) has all but died out, the wearing of these has become much less common in recent years.
The cap badge is positioned differently depending on the form of headdress:
Soldiers of theGloucestershire Regiment and subsequently theRoyal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment wore a cap badge on both the front and the rear of their headdress, a tradition maintained by soldiers inThe Rifles when in service dress. The back badge is unique in the British Army and was awarded to the 28th Regiment of Foot for their actions at theBattle of Alexandria in 1801.
Additional items that reflect a regiment's historical accomplishments, such as backing cloth andhackles, may be worn behind the cap badge. In Scottish regiments, for instance, it is a tradition for soldiers to wear their cap badges on a small square piece of their regimentaltartans.Officer cadets may wear a small white backing behind their badges. Members of arms such as theAdjutant General's Corps andRoyal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers serving on attachment to other units often wear that regiment's beret or headdress but with their own Corps cap badge.
For a period leading up toRemembrance Day artificialpoppies are worn by many people in the United Kingdom andCanada to commemorate those killed in war. Onforage caps the paper petals are fitted under the left hand chin strap button.
Cap badges in theRoyal Air Force differ in design between those of commissioned officers andother ranks. In addition to caps and berets, they are also worn onforage caps.
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TheCanadian Armed Forces utilize a variety of metal and cloth cap badges on their headdress, and many follow British traditions for additions such as cloth behind and blackened metal badges for rifle regiments. Distinct cap badges identify members'personnel branch or, in the case of infantry and armoured soldiers, regimental affiliation. Some units further differentiate non-commissioned members from officers by cap badge material (for example, artillery officers wear gold-wire embroidered cloth instead of brass,Lord Strathcona's Horse officers wear silver rather than brass).
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In theUnited States Army, adistinctive unit insignia (DUI) is worn on the flash of aberet. Forservice caps, a gilt eagle device is worn. This is theGreat Seal of the United States. In the late nineteenth century, this device on a blue circle was listed as the equivalent of theroundel that appeared on headgear of many European armies.
For officers, a large eagle device is worn. For enlisted men, a small version of the officer's insignia centered on a disk is worn on the front.Warrant officers used to wear a gold eagle device, known as "Eagle Rising," centered on the cap but now wear the same devices as regular officers. For garrison caps, generally the rank insignia is worn, but recent regulations call for the wear of the DUI.
For U.S. Air Force service caps, a large, silver eagle device is worn on the service caps. For enlisted men, a smaller version of the officer's insignia is worn, but enclosed in a ring. The use of the same device is because the U.S. Air Force was once part of the U.S. Army.
Cap badges used by navies (and merchant mariners) around the world tend to follow the pattern in use by theRoyal Navy: ananchor, or occasionally acockade, surrounded by golden leaf-shaped embroidery, and often topped by a crown or another symbol. They may be worn on peaked caps or berets. Forpetty officers the leaves may be absent or replaced by a ring of golden cable.
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Cap badges in theRoyal Navy differ between ranks but have some common features: junior rates (Able Seaman toLeading Seaman) do not wear cap badges, wearing the peaklesssailor's cap in number one dress. When wearing a beret, junior ratings will wear a fouled anchor within a gold ring as a beret badge.
Petty Officers wear a silver fouled anchor within a gold circle, withSt Edward's Crown above the ring as their cap badge. That ofChief Petty Officers is the same, but with a small laurel wreath around the gold ring. That ofwarrant officers (both Class I and Class II) has a larger wreath around the anchor, but omits the ring.
The laurel wreath around that of commissioned officers is larger still.
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In theRoyal Marines, cap badges are worn on peaked caps and berets. Those ofcommissioned officers below the rank of colonel are split in two, the crown and lion atop, but separated from, the globe and laurels. They are brass and silver. Those ofother ranks are of the same design but not split in two. They are plain brass.
Blackened or subdued versions of both variants, those of officers and other ranks, are worn on berets, withcombat uniforms.
The lion and crown denote a royal regiment, conferred byKing George III in 1802. The globe was chosen byKing George IV to reflect their successes around the world. Thelaurels honour their gallantry at theCapture of Belle Île in 1761.
In theRoyal Marines Band Service, the Portsmouth band and CTCRM band have different cap badges from the rest of the Corps.[4][5] TheSBS also has its own cap badge.[6][7]
The main exceptions to the Royal Navy pattern are theUnited States Navy and theUnited States Coast Guard, which once followed this pattern, but changed after theAmerican Civil War to their current designs. The Navy has crossed anchors behind the eagle and shield for commissioned officers, while the Coast Guard uses a single large anchor held in the eagle's claws on its commissioned officers' caps; officers in both branches wear a miniature version of the commissioned officer insignia on the left side of the garrison cap, with rank insignia worn on the wearer's right.Chief petty officers and above in both the Navy and the Coast Guard have a larger version of their collar insignia as their cap badge for thecombination cover and a miniature version worn on thegarrison cap;petty officer first class and below in both services wear a full-sized rank insignia on the garrison cap. Junior enlisted coastguards wear a combination cap badge featuring a gold disc in front of two silver crossed anchors, while junior enlisted sailors of both genders wear asailor cap without any insignia. Midshipmen at theUS Naval Academy and theUS Merchant Marine Academy and in theNaval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC), and wear a single, upright fouled anchor on combination and garrison caps, while cadets at theUS Coast Guard Academy wear a single fouled anchor surmounted by a silver five-pointed star, with one point facing down.
United States Marines wear theEagle, Globe, and Anchor as their cap device: gilt and silver for officers and gold for enlisted onblue dress uniforms, and subdued for all ranks onservice and utility uniforms. Marine-optionmidshipmen at the US Naval Academy wear the same cap device as other midshipmen, while NROTC Marine-option midshipmen wear the enlisted-dress Eagle, Globe, and Anchor on all their uniforms instead of an anchor.
Badges are worn on berets of international military and peacekeeping forces.
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TheRoyal Canadian Mounted Police, as well as provincial and municipal police forces, utilize forage caps and metal cap badges.
Where the majority of British police forces have silver-coloured cap badges, those of theCity of London Police arebrass. They are in the form of each force's crest and include the name of that force.
Different badge designs are also worn on the headgear ofpolice community support officers.
Cap badges are worn by a variety of other organisations:
In the United Kingdom, cadets of theCommunity Cadet Forces,Combined Cadet Force andVolunteer Cadet Corps generally wear cap badges of the armed forces they are affiliated to. Cadets of theSea Cadet Corps andAir Training Corps wear a badge with a unique design.
QRL Motto (Cap badge of The Queen's Royal Lancers).
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