Each of the six military services of the United States is easily recognized by the cap badges seen on their enlisted and officer caps. This is an attempt to show some of the more common badges of the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard and related military organizations. Since this a salute to the many organizations related to the basic components of the United States armed forces we will also discuss auxiliary forces such as the Civil Air Patrol, State National Guard organizations and the military academies. It would be a tall order to show every variation of each example made by various manufacturers, so we will not attempt to do so. Also many badges have undergone changes over time.
Badge designs have changed as a result of the type of headwear on which they would appear. During the 1800s, there were changes made to uniform regulations, which affected the badges worn by soldiers of different ranks and different branches of the Armed Forces. An example was the Shako, introduced as a first regulation form of headdress. It generally was quite bulky and required a corresponding large Shako plate. The eagle was one of the more common design elements especially for the U.S. Army. One of the earliest Shako plates of the early 1800s was a silver example showing an eagle with outstretched wings and a U.S. shield on its chest
