United States[edit]

The Continental Army carried over the rank structure from the British Army including the subaltern ranks of lieutenant, cornet, ensign and subaltern. Continental Army subalterns ranks were supposed to wear green colored cockades in their hats.^[7] State militias in the American Revolutionary War period had ensign and sometimes subaltern ranks, with the subaltern rank below the ensign rank where they coexisted.^[8] In 1800, the United States Army's cornet, ensign and subaltern ranks were replaced by second lieutenant.^[9] In 1862, the United States Navy began using the ensign rank, which began using a gold bar as insignia in 1922. Second lieutenants received the gold bar insignia in 1917. When the United States Air Force became a separate military branch from the Army, it kept the Army's commissioned officers ranks and insignia.^[7]