The Indian Army will adopt a uniform for Brigadier and above-level officers, regardless of parent cadre or appointment. According to reports, the decision was made following extensive debates at the recently concluded Army Commanders’ Conference.
According to Army sources, senior officers of flag rank – Brigadier and Generals — will now have standard headgear, shoulder rank badges, gorget patches, a belt, and shoes. Flag-rank officers will not wear lanyards beginning on August 1, when the full set of reforms goes into effect. Lanyards are cords or straps worn around the neck, shoulder, or wrist.
According to insiders, there will be similar headgear in the respective categories, providing insight into the modifications that are expected. For example, the senior leadership will no longer wear anything other than a green beret cap. It has been learned that the headgear worn by Gorkhas and other regiments will be discontinued. The belt buckle will bear the Indian Army emblem instead of a specific unit insignia. Also, they will no longer wear any shoulder flashes like those worn by “Special Forces,” “Arunachal Scouts,” “Dogra Scouts,” etc.
However, Brigadiers and generals will also only wear black brogue shoes with one authorized design on the front, according to reports. Colonels’ and lower-ranking officers’ attire, however, remains unchanged.
Common uniform usage in the Indian Army was already practiced; therefore, this modification is nothing new. The Indian Army is returning to the procedure used over 40 years ago. All officers, from lieutenants to generals, are currently required to wear uniform accessories in accordance with their regimental or cause allegiance. Armoured corps officers wear black berets, while infantry and military intelligence officers don dark green berets. Artillery, engineering, signals, air defence, and some other minor corps officers don dark blue berets, whereas army aviation corps officers don grey berets. After being elevated to the rank of brigadier, paramilitary officers don their maroon berets.
The ceremonial headdress differs as well. The majority of infantry regiments, armoured corps regiments, and other arms and services wear peak caps with regimental insignia. Officers of the Gorkha Rifles regiment, Kumaon regiment, Garhwal regiment, and Naga regiment don a kind of slouch hat known as the Terai hat or Gurkha hat.
The Army has offered a compelling justification for adopting this practice. For the majority of officers who go farther, it confirms that regimental duty in the Army begins with the rank of Colonel. So that any potential regimental parochialism does not advance to a higher rank, any uniform associations with that specific regiment or cause must terminate at that rank. Given that assignments at higher ranks sometimes entail leading troops with mixed regimental ancestry, senior officers in charge of these troops should present themselves in a neutral uniform.
