First lieutenant (O-2)
First lieutenant, pay grade O-2, US Air Force. The insignia is a single silver bar.
Easily confused with
How to read it
First lieutenant is the middle company grade rank: a second lieutenant, one grade down, wears a single gold bar, and a Captain (O-3), one grade up, two silver bars. The abbreviation is 1st Lt, and the Navy’s equivalent grade is lieutenant (junior grade).
Also searched as: 1st Lt, O-2 air force.
Ranks and insignia as the Department of the Air Force’s own instructions and pages set them out. Pay grades are the Department of Defense’s.
Black on the OCP uniform
On the OCP camouflage uniform, Air Force rank insignia are spice brown, except first lieutenant’s and lieutenant colonel’s, which are black (DAFI 36-2903).
Read next
More air Force ranks
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines.
Sources
- U.S. Military Rank Insignia, Resources: U.S. Military Rank Insignia (enlisted and officer insignia by paygrade), U.S. Department of Defense (defense.gov), Officer insignia table, Air Force; officer introduction
- 37 U.S.C. 201, Pay grades: assignment to; general rules, United States Code, 2023 edition, Title 37, § 201, U.S. Government Publishing Office, § 201(a)(1) table
- 10 U.S.C. 741, Rank: commissioned officers of the armed forces, United States Code, 2024 edition, Title 10, § 741, U.S. Government Publishing Office, § 741(a) and its table
- Insignia, Rank, First Lieutenant, United States Air Force, National Air and Space Museum, object A19951094000, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Physical Description
- Insignia, Rank, Second Lieutenant, United States Air Force, National Air and Space Museum, object A19951097000, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Physical Description
- Insignia, Rank, Captain (a United States Air Force captain’s insignia), National Air and Space Museum, object A19951091000, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Physical Description
- DAFI 36-2903, Dress and Personal Appearance of Air Force and Space Force Personnel, DAFI 36-2903, 29 February 2024, with guidance changes, Department of the Air Force, §5.1.3
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 30, 2026. How we research
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