Badges of the United States Air Force are military awards authorized by the United States Air Force that signify aeronautical ratings, special skills, career field qualifications, and serve as identification devices for personnel occupying certain assignments. The newest badge to be authorized for wear is the Cyberspace Operator Badge, first awarded to qualified officers on April 30, 2010 at Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, DC.
Most Air Force badges are awarded in three degrees or skill levels. Aeronautical rating badges for Pilots (including operators of remotely-piloted aircraft), Navigators/Combat Systems Officers/Observers, and Air Battle Managers are awarded at Basic, Senior, and Command levels; while flight nurses and flight surgeons are awarded ratings at the Basic, Senior, and Chief levels. All other aviation badges are awarded at the Basic, Senior, and Master levels. Occupational badges are normally issued in Basic, Senior, and Master level for officers. Enlisted occupational badges reflect skill levels: 3-level apprentice/5-level Journeyman (same badge), 7-level craftsman, and 9-level superintendent. A star and wreath system, worn above the Air Force badge, denotes which degree or skill level a service member currently holds.
Chaplain, aviation, space, and cyberspace operator badges are mandatory for wear on Air Force uniforms. Wear of all other badges is optional. Unless otherwise stated, the badges listed below are presented in order of precedence. Precedence of badges within the same category depends on the airman's current assignment.
The Air Force is the most restrictive service with regards to which Air Force badges may be worn on the uniforms by other branches of the US Armed Forces. Most Air Force badges may only be displayed on Air Force uniforms. The exception to this rule is the Space Badge, which is now considered a joint service badge awarded to qualified U.S. Army and Air Force personnel.
The Air Force previously authorized continued use of a number of aviation badges originally issued by the U.S. Army during World War II. Such badges are no longer authorized and are now categorized as obsolete badges.
Read more about Badges Of The United States Air Force: Joint Service Qualification Badges, Occupational Badges, Duty Badges, Miscellaneous Badges
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“Whether our feet are compressed in iron shoes, our faces hidden with veils and masks; whether yoked with cows to draw the plow through its furrows, or classed with idiots, lunatics and criminals in the laws and constitutions of the State, the principle is the same; for the humiliations of the spirit are as real as the visible badges of servitude.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
“Whether our feet are compressed in iron shoes, our faces hidden with veils and masks; whether yoked with cows to draw the plow through its furrows, or classed with idiots, lunatics and criminals in the laws and constitutions of the State, the principle is the same; for the humiliations of the spirit are as real as the visible badges of servitude.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
“The United States is the only great nation whose government is operated without a budget. The fact is to be the more striking when it is considered that budgets and budget procedures are the outgrowth of democratic doctrines and have an important part in developing the modern constitutional rights.... The constitutional purpose of a budget is to make government responsive to public opinion and responsible for its acts.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“When some one remarked that, with the addition of a chaplain, it would have been a perfect Cromwellian troop, he observed that he would have been glad to add a chaplain to the list, if he could have found one who could fill that office worthily. It is easy enough to find one for the United States Army. I believe that he had prayers in his camp morning and evening, nevertheless.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds.”
—Thomas Gray (1716–1771)
“Happiness ain’t a thing in itself—it’s only a contrast with something that ain’t pleasant.... And so, as soon as the novelty is over and the force of the contrast dulled, it ain’t happiness any longer, and you have to get something fresh.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)