The fatigue uniform consists of brown canvas or duck working coat and trousers. This is a working uniform. A fur cap is furnished for wear in very cold weather.
The overcoat for enlisted men is a double-breasted ulster made of olive-drab cloth, extending eight to ten inches below the knee (overcoats extending to the knee are authorized for wear in the field), buttoning to the neck with two rows of large flat buttons of the same color as the coat, and having a wide rolling collar. It has a pleat down the center of the back.
Rain clothes for enlisted men are olive-drab waterproof coats or the poncho or rubber blanket worn in the fashion of a cape. Rubber boots are used when required, as in wet trenches.
INSIGNIA OF RANK FOR ENLISTED MEN
The rank of the various noncommissioned officers of the United States Army and Marine Corps and the rating of the corresponding petty officers of the Navy is usually indicated by chevrons, a form of badge derived from the days when heraldry played a great part in the world’s affairs.
“Chevron” is an architectural term denoting the rafters of a roof meeting at an angle at the upper apex, and it is derived from the French word “chevre,” a goat, and so used on account of the fancied resemblance of a pair of such rafters to the horns of a goat.
The chevron in heraldry was employed as a badge of honor to mark the main supporters of the head of the clan, “the top of the house,” and it came to be used in various forms as an emblem of rank for the knights and men-at-arms in feudal days, and from this resulted its common use as an insignia of rank in the armies and navies of the present day.
In some countries chevrons are used as insignia of rank for commissioned officers as well as for noncommissioned officers, but in the United States service the use of chevrons is confined to the latter class.
In the United States Army and Marine Corps the chevrons are worn with the point up but in the Navy they are worn with the point down.
The chevrons indicating the rank of noncommissioned officers are worn midway between the shoulder and the elbow on both sleeves of the service coats, full dress coat and overcoat.