NEW DELHI: Calling it a move to bring in uniformity in uniforms, the Army has decided to do away with differences in the attires of officers above the rank of Colonel.
This means that all Brigadier-rank officers and above will sport the same beret, cap, shoulder badge, lanyard and belt.
Currently, depending on the regiment or arm that an officer belongs to, the colour of the beret, lanyard, badge, etc., differ. And the badge on the belt is also different.
“We have taken the decision to do away with differences in the uniform of officers from the rank of a Brigadier. The uniforms show your links with the regiment, arm or service that you belong to,” a senior Army officer said.
“But all of them are Indian Army officers, so there should be no difference. There should be no affiliation to the lanyard or the regiment,” the officer added.
To begin with, the dress that officers don in the evening while visiting the officer’s mess will be changed. The Army has already received three types of samples and a final decision on it will be taken soon.
The uniform is a matter of pride for every soldier. As soon as an officer gets commissioned, he is assigned a particular service that has distinct badges.
Currently, all rifle regiments such as the Rajputana Rifles and Gorkha Rifles have black-coloured badges on their shoulders and buttons.
The colour is silver for the Assam Regiment and brass for the J&K Light Infantry.
The colour of the beret also varies. It is navy blue for the engineers regiment, green for the Gorkha Rilfes and maroon for the parachute regiment. Similarly all regiments/corps have different lanyards.
The uniforms also change with the season, and are different in winter and summer.
The Army has a total of 42,913 officers, starting from the rank of a Lieutenant to the Chief of Army Staff with the rank of General.