From the creation of the United States Army to 1821, non-commissioned officer (NCO) and staff non-commissioned officer (SNCO) rank was distinguished by the wearing of usually worsted epaulets.

From 1821 to 1832, enlisted personnel wore dark blue "wings" trimmed in yellow (infantry, in white) on each shoulder and a horizontal row of four yellow (infantry, white) buttons on each cuff. This precluded the use of epaulets. Rank was shown by a single, point up, chevron. Sergeants major and quartermaster sergeants wore the chevron on both upper sleeves, principal musicians and sergeants on both lower sleeves and corporals on the right upper sleeve. The chevrons were yellow for artillery and white for infantry. The regulations prescribe black chevrons for riflemen but that regiment had been abolished.

The above system was superseded in 1832. At that time, enlisted personnel wore a pair of yellow (infantry, white) cloth epaulets with 2 1/2" long and 1/2" in diameter gold (possibly silver for infantry) fringe for senior NCOs, 1/4” diameter worsted fringe for sergeants and 1/8’ inch worsted fringe for corporals (privates wore very short fringe). Senior NCOs wore a coat with two rows of ten buttons that ended 3 1/2" above the knees, while all other enlisted personnel had single-breasted coats with nine buttons that ended 7" above the knees. Senior NCOs would have worn a crimson colored sash and a yellow or white aiguillette.

In 1851 the army did a major overhaul of its uniforms. This introduced colors for each branch. Chevrons were to be of these colors. The 1851 colors were Saxony blue for infantry (changed to sky blue by 1857), red for artillery, yellow for engineers, orange for dragoons, green for mounted riflemen and crimson for ordnance. Chevrons were now worn point down.

With the 1902 uniform change the smaller shirt sized chevrons were prescribed for all uniforms. They were to be worn point up. The chevrons were in the branch colors on a blue, white, khaki or olive drab background.

The biggest change in the history of US Army enlisted ranks came on June 4, 1920. On that day congress passed a law that changed how enlisted ranks were managed. It created seven pay grades, numbered one to seven with one being the highest, and gave the president the authority to create whatever ranks were necessary within those grades.

In 1942, there were several reforms. The pay was increased for all ranks for the first time in two decades, and combat pay was introduced. The rank of the first sergeant was moved to Grade One and the specialist ranks were abolished. The specialist ranks were replaced by the distinct ranks of technician third grade (equivalent to a staff sergeant), technician fourth grade (equivalent to a sergeant), and technician fifth grade (equivalent to a corporal).

In 1948, the old olive on blue insignia was abolished. In their place was a new system of smaller (2 inches wide) and narrower chevrons and arcs that were instead differenced by color called the "Goldenlite" system - with subdued dark blue stripes on bright yellow backing for combat arms and yellow stripes on dark blue for support arms.

In 1956, the Army began wearing polished black leather boots instead of the traditional unpolished russet leather (as late as the early 1980s, older soldiers who had served before 1956 said they were in the "brown boot" army.), and the army green uniform (with Goldenlite-Yellow-on-green rank stripes) was adopted. The new enlisted rank insignia were then used on all Army uniforms (e.g., green, khaki, and fatigue).

In 2006, the blue Army Service Uniform (ASU) was adopted to replace the army green uniform, and the yellow-on-blue stripes were reintroduced.