- Gorget patches
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Collar patch of Soviet Air Force
Gorget patches (collar tabs, collar patches) are an insignia, paired patches of cloth or metal on the collar (gorget) of the uniform, that is used in the military and civil service in some countries. Collar tabs sign the military rank (group of ranks), the rank of civil service, the military unit, the office (department) or the branch of the armed forces and the arm of service.
- In Austria collar patches of the Federal Army report the rank and the arm of service. They are also used in the police.
- In Australia the St John Ambulance Australia First Aid Services Branch gorget patches designate State Staff Officers and National Staff Officers from those who are officers of a division or region.
- In the French Army collar pactches were used since 1877 and signed a military unit.
- In Germany until 1918 only generals, some officers and seamen had collar patches in the armed forces of German Empire. In Weimar Republic patches became common through all the Reichswehr, where they signed the rank and the arm of service, but were not used in the Navy. Some civil services (as police, railways) wears uniforms with collar tabs, similar to the armed forces' tabs. The Nazi saved collar patches for Wehrmacht and civil services, but partly reformed them. New tabs are also introduced for the political leaders of NSDAP, for the new Nazi organisations (as Sturmabteilung and Schutzstaffel). In DDR, collar tabs are saved in the army and the air forces with some changes, and are also used in the navy for some kinds of staff. Federal Republic of Germany also saved collar tabs in the army and the air forces, but not in the navy, so they sign ranks and bracnhes and arms of service.
- In the Indian Air Force gorget patches sign military rank.
- There are gorget patches in the Italian Army.
- In the Russian Empire collar patches sign rank acoording Table of ranks. In the USSR in 1924-1943 served as the primary insignia of military ranks. When the shoulder straps were restored in 1943, collar tabs remained as a insignia of the branch and the arm of service. Since 1932 the they were also used as an insignia in some civil services. The state of affairs is the same in the modern Russian Federation.
- In the Sri Lanka Air Force gorget patches sign military rank.
- In the Swiss army collar patches sign the rank and the arm of service.
- In the United Kingdom gorget patches of the British Army sign the rank of general officers or senior officers according to branch or arm of service. Officer cadets in the Army and the Royal Air Force also wear patches.
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