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Soviet Union [USSR] UNIFORMS AND RANK INSIGNIA
In 1989 the uniforms and rank insignia of the Soviet armed
forces were similar for all services, except the Naval Forces.
Uniforms of officers and enlisted men differed only in the texture
and quality of material used, not in their cut and style. The
services could be distinguished from each other by the colors of
the shoulder boards, the collar tabs, and the service hat bands. In
each service, the uniforms for women generally possessed the same
color and texture as those provided for men. Marshals, generals,
and admirals wore double-breasted uniform coats. All services,
except the Naval Forces, used full-length, medium gray, winter
overcoats. Lower ranking enlisted personnel wore olive drab short
overcoats. Naval personnel wore black overcoats in winter. In
general, Soviet naval uniforms (in cut, color, and style) and rank
insignia resembled those of foreign navies.
Each service generally had five categories of uniforms: full
dress, dress, service, field, and work, with variants for winter
and summer. Full dress uniforms were worn during such special
military occasions as formal reviews, parades, annual service
holidays, ceremonies conferring promotions or military decorations,
and when taking the military oath or performing in honor guards.
Dress uniforms were used for national anniversaries, such as the
Bolshevik Revolution; for official receptions; while attending the
theater; and as otherwise ordered. Service uniforms were worn for
routine duty and during off-duty hours. Field uniforms were worn
during training, maneuvers, and firing exercises. Work uniforms
were worn while performing equipment maintenance, fatigue detail,
and construction tasks.
The colors of the uniforms varied according to the service and
the category of uniform. Full dress uniforms were sea green for the
Ground Forces and the Strategic Rocket Forces and nonaviation
components of the Air Forces and the Air Defense Forces. Aviation
components' uniforms were blue. Officers of all services wore gold
belts, breeches, and boots with full dress uniforms. The dress
uniforms resembled the full dress uniforms, except that long
trousers and low quarter shoes were worn. The service uniforms and
field uniforms for all services were olive drab. Officer field
uniforms had color-suppressed insignia instead of gold, and the
garrison cap or steel helmet was substituted for the service hat.
The work uniforms for all services was a field uniform devoid of
rank insignia. It was usually an old field uniform or overalls worn
as a protective garment over a field uniform.
Each of the Naval Forces four categories of uniforms (full
dress, dress, service, and work) had seasonal variants. The full
dress uniforms--white for summer and navy blue for the remainder of
the year--were worn with dirks and white gloves. Dress uniforms
were less ornate than the full dress, and ribbons replaced medals.
Service uniforms were the same as dress uniforms, but without dirks
and white gloves. A summer service uniform variation had a blue
jacket and a garrison cap instead of a service hat. Junior enlisted
personnel wore service uniforms, which were white, navy blue, mixed
combinations, or other variants in winter and summer. Their jumpers
had broad light blue collars with three white stripes. Shipboard
work uniforms were either gray and khaki. Lower ranked seamen wore
visorless hats with black bands and pigtail ribbons in the back.
All services exhibited rank insignia on shoulder boards, using
a system of gold stripes with gold stars on colored backgrounds and
colored piping on the edges
(see
fig. 34;
fig. 35;
fig. 36). Naval
officers also wore sleeve stripes. Shoulder boards of marshals,
general officers, and admirals possessed large stars on broad,
ornate gold stripes with piping on the edges. Shoulder boards of
field grade officers displayed three longitudinal gold stripes and
smaller gold stars, and those of company grade officers had two
longitudinal gold stripes and even smaller stars. Shoulder boards
of warrant officers had two or three gold stars superimposed on a
gold checkerboard pattern. Enlisted ranks were indicated by
transverse or longitudinal gold stripes on shoulder boards.
The background colors of shoulder boards, collar tabs, and
service hat bands varied with the service and the branch of
service. The Strategic Rocket Forces had black shoulder boards, as
did the Artillery Troops, Engineer Troops, Tank Troops, and certain
other components of the Ground Forces. The Motorized Rifle Troops
had red shoulder boards. The Air Forces and aviation personnel of
the Air Defense Forces had light blue shoulder boards, as did the
Airborne Troops. The Naval Forces had navy blue shoulderboards (see
table 54, Appendix A). Metallic insignia of gold or silver were
also employed to identify selected branches of the services.
Personnel belonging to one service or branch but serving in another
wore the background color prescribed for the latter service or
branch. For example, members of an artillery battalion, which was
a component of a motorized rifle division, wore the red shoulder
boards and collar tabs of the Motorized Rifle Troops but displayed
the crossed cannon insignia of the Artillery Troops on their collar
tabs. The Airborne troops wore the light blue background color of
the Air Forces, but with the insignia of the Airborne Troops on
their collar tabs. An exception allowed the Medical Troops,
Veterinary Troops, Quartermaster Troops, Justice Troops, and
Administration Troopss to wear the color--magenta--prescribed for
their branches regardless of assignment. Shoulder boards of
enlisted personnel of the armed forces, except the Naval Forces,
had large Cyrillic letters identifying the particular component.
For instance, the Cyrillic "CA" signified Soviet army; other
letters identified the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs, the Border Guards of the KGB, and other elements.
Data as of May 1989
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