A soldier course is a row of brick set on end, standing vertically with the long face out, most often used as a decorative band or as an accent over windows, doors, and along a wall's top edge.
Because the bricks stand upright instead of lying flat, a soldier course reads as a distinct horizontal line against the running bond around it, which is why it's a common accent above and below windows, along a water table, or as a cap detail on a garden wall or column. It doesn't carry load the way a lintel does, so a soldier course over an opening still needs a steel angle or lintel underneath it to bear the weight above the window or door.
Because each brick in a soldier course stands on its narrow bottom edge, the mortar bed joints are smaller and the whole course has less mass holding it in place than a standard stretcher course. That makes soldier courses more prone to individual bricks working loose or cracking under freeze-thaw pressure over the years. When we repair one, we make sure the lintel underneath is still sound before resetting the brick, not just repointing over a problem that's actually structural.
More masonry vocabulary from the glossary.
The services where this term comes up.
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