With the adoption of the CF Green uniform came a unified system of rank insignia. The Air Branch lost it's historical rank tiles,ie: RCAF Squadron Leaders became Majors and Group Captains were Colonels. The Sea Branch, formerly the Royal Canadian Navy, successfully resisted the change in titles and the traditional Navy rank titles were retained. Officers of Flag Rank might wear (reluctantly) the CF Green uniform, but by God they were Admirals, not Generals.

The new CF rank structure designated four classes of officers: Subordinate Officer ie: Officer Cadet; Junior Officer, Lieutenants and Captains; Senior Officers, Majors and Colonels; and General Officers, Commodores, Admirals and Generals. Each class had it's own set of distinctive rank insignia and embellishments. Officers wore combinations of bars on the cuff or epaulette, the patterns were based in part on the Navy rank insignia. General and Flag Officers wore a single 1 3/4 inch gold bar on each jacket cuff and the actual rank was indicated by one to four maple leaves, surmounted by a crossed sword, baton and crown worn on the epaulettes. Generals' rank is worn in left and right pairs, the point of the sword always faces forward. There is only one four leaf General or Admiral at any one time in the Canadian Forces, the Chief of the Defence Staff.

In the mid 1980's, with the introduction of Distinctive Environment Uniforms (DEU) for the Land, Sea, and Air elements, the colour and style of the rank insignia was modified to reflect the changes. The army briefly considered a return to the pre unification pattern of rank insignia of stars and crowns but decided to retain the CF pattern insignia. The Navy adopted stiff black shoulder boards with old gold insignia. Admirals wore the insignia of their rank on gold shoulder boards. The Air Force wore blue-grey slip-ons . Rank insignia for the Combat and Work Dress uniforms remained unchanged.

Slip-ons were worn by Officers on the CF Green service dress shirts. Similar slip-ons were worn on workdress jackets and shirts, the rank insignia was dull gold thread embroidered directly onto the material.

Officer Cadet

Second Lieutenant

Lieutenant

Captain

Major

Lieutenant Colonel

Colonel

Brigadier General

Major General

Lieutenant General

General

Subdued rank insignia was worn on the epaulettes of the combat uniform. The CANADA title was normally replaced by unit or branch titles by officers assigned to those units.

Officer Cadet

Second Lieutenant

Lieutenant

Captain

Major

Lieutenant Colonel

Colonel

Brigadier General

Major General

Lieutenant General

General