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Air Force Missile Operator Badge

The Missile Badge is awarded as a permanent decoration upon a service member’s graduation from missile operations or maintenance officer training (if awarded to an officer) or from maintenance tech school if awarded to an enlisted service member. The badge is worn on the lower left pocket and is the largest of the U.S. Air Force speciality badges. It is also one of the few United States military badges which is not transferable between services, meaning that a qualified Missile crew member, who transfers to another branch of the United States armed forces cannot display the Missile Badge on another service uniform.

The Missile Badge is issued in three degrees being basic, senior, and command (operations)/master (maintenance). The level of degree is determined by a service member’s years of missile duty in the Air Force and also the level of command responsibility held within the Air Force missile units. Any officer who is or has been combat mission ready (CMR), as a missile crew member at an operational ICBM unit qualifies to wear the missile badge with operations designator—a wreath encircling the missile. The basic badge is awarded once the member graduates Initial Qualification Training at Vandenberg AFB. Officers with six years of nuclear experience qualify for the senior badge, and they qualify for the command badge after nine years experience. The Senior Missile Badge is denoted by a star above the decoration, with the Command Missile Badge displaying a star surrounded by a small wreath.