Hi aohguard,

In a military setting the wearing of a sash can mean a whole variety of different things. Each regiment will have its own regulations and history surrounding the wearing of a sash. In the British forces, it generally denotes duty personnel, on parade. That is to say the people in charge.

On parade, everyone is, of course, on duty, but there will only be a very few who will be shouting out the orders. Those are the ones wearing the sashes. For working purposes, duty personnel wear an armband or brassard.

As to which shoulder the sash goes over is down to history, the uniform worn and which looks best in the eyes of the senior ranks.

Once a uniform has been chosen, only then can a sash be chosen. One example: If all persons are wearing a 'Sam Brown' and sword and some sort of sabretache, then the sash would not go over the right shoulder as the tassel would get in the way of the sword on the left.

It must also be remembered that the sash is for the other personnel on parade - to identify who is in charge. It is not a rank badge and it should never be worn just to make the wearer look good.

Regards

Chas