Editing Officer cadet (section)

==== United States Coast Guard Academy ====
There are two types of insignia used by Coast Guard Academy cadets.

The first is a metal pin-on device.  It is a colored shield with a gold anchor with a silver star above it.  The color of the background denotes the class. The colors are green for 4/c, red for 3/c, white for 2/c and blue for 1/c.  The colors all have historic meanings: red and green represent the running lights on a vessel; white signifies the white lights used as navigation lights, signifying the role as guides for the 4/c; blue represents the blue lights of law enforcement vessels that that 1/c are about to serve aboard.

The second type of insignia is shoulder boards.  All cadet shoulder boards have a slightly smaller version of the shield found on officer shoulder boards, and stripes denoting class year or 1/c leadership positions.  The 4/c have no stripes, 3/c 1 diagonal stripe, 2/c 2 diagonal stripes, and 1/c 1 horizontal stripe.  First class leadership positions have increasing numbers of horizontal stripes, up to six for the Regimental Commander or Summer Battalion Commander, as well as a matching number of sleeve stripes on the [[United States Coast Guard#Uniforms|Service Dress Blues]] and Parade Dress Blue uniforms.