brass hats
Top military commanders
Brass hats are high-ranking military officers or, by extension, top executives in any organization.
The term comes from the gold braid adorning officers' caps.
It often carries a note of irreverence or mild contempt from those lower in the hierarchy: The brass hats in Washington don't know what it's like on the ground.
Sometimes shortened to the brass.
- officersThose holding authority
- officer corpsMilitary's leadership class
- generalsBroad statements or commanders
- eliteSuperior select group
- authoritiesThose holding official control
command · chain of command · admiral · bigwig · gold braid · colonel · hierarchy · captains · prestige · influence · brigadier · insignia · ceremonial swords · commodore · power · old guard · military · epaulettes
brass hatsenlisted personnel
Non-commissioned military members
enlisted men · grunts · privates · rank and file · foot soldiers
brass hatssubordinates
Those ranked below
underlings · peons · worker bees · rank and file · minions
brass hatscombat troops
infantrymen · ground troops · boots on the ground · fighting men