The Air Battle Manager Badge is a military badge of the United States Air Force which is issued to officers who have been trained and qualified for airborne command and control, air surveillance, electronic warfare, and airborne weapons capabilities. The badge was first proposed in 1990 and was first issued to Air Force officers in 1995 after Air Battle Manager became an Air Force aeronautical rating.
The Air Battle Manager Badge is considered a successor to the Officer Aircrew Badge. Historically, it was awarded to officers who had completed both Undergraduate Air Battle Manager Training (UABMT) and follow-on courses at one of two locations: Tinker AFB, Oklahoma (for those ABMs assigned to the E-3 AWACS) or Robins AFB, Georgia (for ABMs assigned to the E-8 JSTARS). Graduates of UABMT who were not assigned to flying duties were not awarded ABM wings. As of May 2010, however, the new ABM training syllabus allows for students to receive their wings immediately following the conclusion of their undergraduate training - in the same manner as the other two rated career fields, pilot and navigator.
Air Battle Managers' career progression generally follow one of three paths: AWACS, JSTARS, or CRCs (Control and Reporting Centers- often referred to as GTACS Ground Theater Air Control Systems). Air Battle Managers are most often assigned to Air Combat Command, but may be assigned to other MAJCOMS (primarily Air Education and Training Command/AETC) as the needs of the USAF dictate.
The Air Battle Manager Badge is issued in three degrees being that of basic, senior, and master. The level of degree is denoted by a star and wreath above the badge and is determined by the number of flight hours accumulated.
Famous quotes containing the words air, battle, manager and/or badge:
“A hook shot kisses the rim and
hangs there, helplessly, but doesn’t drop
and for once our gangly starting center
boxes out his man and times his jump
perfectly, gathering the orange leather
from the air like a cherished possession”
—Edward Hirsch (b. 1950)
“Above the bayonets, mixed and crossed,
Men saw a gray, gigantic ghost
Receding through the battle cloud,
And heard across the tempest loud
The death cry of a nation lost!”
—Will Henry Thompson (1848–1918)
“I knew a gentleman who was so good a manager of his time that he would not even lose that small portion of it which the calls of nature obliged him to pass in the necessary-house, but gradually went through all the Latin poets in those moments. He bought, for example, a common edition of Horace, of which he tore off gradually a couple of pages, read them first, and then sent them down as a sacrifice to Cloacina: this was so much time fairly gained.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“Just across the Green from the post office is the county jail, seldom occupied except by some backwoodsman who has been intemperate; the courthouse is under the same roof. The dog warden usually basks in the sunlight near the harness store or the post office, his golden badge polished bright.”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)