---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 773"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "773"
heading: "When distinctive insignia required"
release: "119-102"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/773"
units:
  - "Subtitle A — General Military Law"
  - "Part II — Personnel"
  - "Chapter 45 — The Uniform"
---

# §773. When distinctive insignia required

- (a) A person for whom one of the following uniforms is prescribed may wear it, if it [includes](/usc/10/101.md?p=g-4) distinctive insignia prescribed by the Secretary of the military [department](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-6) concerned to distinguish it from the uniform of the [Army](/usc/10/7001.md), Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Space Force, as the case may be:
  - (1) The uniform prescribed by the university, college, or school for an instructor or [member](/usc/10/1408.md?p=a-5) of the organized cadet corps of—
    - (A) a [State](/usc/10/2815a.md?p=g-2) university or college, or a public high school, having a [regular](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-12) course of military instruction; or
    - (B) an educational institution having a [regular](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-12) course of military instruction, and having a [member](/usc/10/1408.md?p=a-5) of the [Army](/usc/10/7001.md), Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Space Force as instructor in military science and tactics.
  - (2) The uniform prescribed by a military society composed of persons discharged honorably or under honorable conditions from the [Army](/usc/10/7001.md), Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Space Force to be worn by a [member](/usc/10/1408.md?p=a-5) of that society when authorized by regulations prescribed by the President.
- (b) A uniform prescribed under [subsection (a)](#a) may not include insignia of [grade](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-7) the same as, or similar to, those prescribed for [officers](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-1) of the [Army](/usc/10/7001.md), Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Space Force.
- (c) Under such regulations as the Secretary of the military [department](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-6) concerned may prescribe, any person who is permitted to attend a course of instruction prescribed for [members](/usc/10/1408.md?p=a-5) of a [reserve](/usc/10/101.md?p=c-6) [officers](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-1)’ training corps, and who is not a [member](/usc/10/1408.md?p=a-5) of that corps, may, while attending that course of instruction, wear the uniform of that corps.

## Source credit

(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 35; Pub. L. 85–355, Mar. 28, 1958, 72 Stat. 66; Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title IX, § 924(b)(3)(P), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 3821.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 773(a)<br>773(b) | 10:1393 (words between 4th and 7th semicolons of 1st proviso, and 2d proviso, of 1st par.).<br>10:1393 (last proviso of 1st par.). | June 3, 1916, ch. 134, § 125 (words between 4th and 7th semicolons of 1st proviso, and 2d and last provisos, of 1st par.), 39 Stat. 216; June 4, 1920, ch. 228, § 8, 41 Stat. 836; Sept. 15, 1951, ch. 402, 65 Stat. 323; July 6, 1953, ch. 180, § 1, 67 Stat. 140. |

In subsection (a), the word “mark” is omitted as surplusage.

In subsection (a)(2), the words “persons discharged honorably or under honorable conditions from” are substituted for the words “entirely of honorably discharged officers or enlisted men, or both, of”. The words “Regular or Volunteer” are omitted as surplusage. The words “when authorized by regulations prescribed by” are substituted for the words “upon occasions authorized by regulations of”.

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2021—Subsecs. (a), (b). Pub. L. 116–283 substituted “Marine Corps, or Space Force” for “or Marine Corps” in subsec. (a) wherever appearing and in subsec. (b).

1958—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 85–355 added subsec. (c).