posted 11-22-2006 12:04 PM               

The Pocket Rocket

During the Cold War, Air Force missileers could be identified by their silver missile badges. They were called "pocket rockets" and were worn on the left pocket of the uniform.

The badge had a turbulent history. There was no fixed definition of who was a missileer, and the rules kept changing for who was authorized to wear which version of the pocket rocket.

When the badge was first authorized in 1958, anyone "directly associated" with guided missiles for three months or longer was entitled to wear it. Tighter criteria were applied later. However, as Greg Ogletree said in a monograph done for the Association of Air Force Missileers, it often seemed that everybody, including "the cook at Charlie 1," was wearing a missile badge.

Some staff and support people, whose connection with missiles was remote, were taken off the list of those approved to wear the badge, and in 1963, two variations were added. "Senior" missileers got a star at the top of their badges, and "master" missileers got a wreath around the star.

That also led to dispute when the original criterion for a senior level badge was changed from three years of duty to five. That meant those completing a standard four-year tour of missile duty could not earn the senior badge. Uproar ensued, and the criterion was changed back to three years. Still later, it was changed yet again — to seven years for senior and 15 years for master, to match the criteria for wings and now the criteria for all occupational badges.

There were numerous other changes over the years. In 1988, to distinguish combat crews from those that performed other duties, an "operations designator" — a large wreath design on either side of the badge — was added.

When the Cold War ended and the number of missileers on active duty declined, the future of the pocket rocket looked to be in serious doubt. The issue was settled in October 2004, when the Air Force ruled that both missile and space operators would wear a new badge, known as the "Space Cadre Badge." (Missile maintenance people will continue to wear the missile maintenance version of the pocket rocket.)

"While this is clearly a departure from the badge that is tattooed on the hearts and in the minds of most of us," said retired Lt. Gen. Jay W. Kelley, president of the Association of Air Force Missileers, "it is indicative of a future and not the past."