Air Force Academy Merit Pins and Badges

At the end of every semester cadets at the United States Air Force Academy are rewarded for their hard work with merit pins and/or badges. These are small metal badges that are worn on their blues and their service jacket, with the exception of some that are worn on the Airman Battle Uniform also. There are three categories for which cadets are able to receive merit pins and three categories for which they receive badges.

Merit Pins

The merit pins are given to cadets for outstanding performance in academics, military standards, and physical fitness standards. They are named based on the issuing authority - The Dean's Pin for Academics, the Commandant's Pin for Military Standards, and the Athletic Director's Pin for physical fitness standards.

Dean's Pin

The Dean's Pin is a silver star that is awarded to all cadets who end a semester with a 3.0 GPA or higher. Your Physical Education classes count towards your overall GPA. So failing swimming could be the difference between Dean's list and not.

Commandant's Pin

The Commandant's Pin is a silver wreath that is awarded for having a Military rating of 3.0 or higher at the end of the semester, and, as of Fall 2009, being in the top 1/3 of your class militarily. Your MPA is based on peer review, superior's rating of your performance, and your mastery of Cadet Professional Military Education (CPME) tests, among other things.

Athletic Director's Pin

Athletics are an integral part of any military school. Cadets are rated based on their performance on the Physical Fitness Test (PFT), the Aerobic Fitness Test (AFT), and in physical fitness classes such as boxing or swimming. Achieving a 3.0 in athletics will earn you this pin.

Combined Pins

Having multiple pins, in turn, earns you a new combined version of the pins. Earning all three earns you the Superintendent's Pin and a large amount of respect amongst other cadets at the academy.

Badges

While Pin are awarded as part of class rankings, badges are awarded for achievements in many of the summer programs. The three main categories are Soaring, Jump, and Space.

Soaring

The soaring program is one of the favorites amongst hopeful future pilots. For completion of the Soaring summer program, cadets receive the soaring badge. This badge can be upgraded upon completion of additional training. Typically cadets who have their badge upgraded do so as part of running the soaring program or becoming Cadet Instructor Pilots.

Airborne Training (Commonly Referred to Only as "Jump")

The most sought after summer program at the Air Force Academy is the Jump program. The United States Air Force Academy is the only place in the United States Military that gives you the ability to become Airborne qualified with your first jump being solo. Cadets complete five solo jumps over a 3 week course and then earn their "Jump Wings". This is the only badge at the Academy that is worn for the entire military career and not just at the academy.

Space

The summer space program tends to be the most unwanted program for many cadets. It teaches cadets a lot about the Global Positioning Technology capabilities of the United States Air Force in addition to many of our space capabilities. These range from intercontinental ballistic missiles to space ships. There are different level of space wing ratings that can be earned at the academy. As with the soaring badges, these become defunct from the uniform upon graduation.

Trade

It is worth mentioning that many cadets will trade badges with cadets from another academy for memento purposes. Cadets will never wear these badges they trade on their own uniform, but it is of sentimental value to have received them from a fellow comrade in arms rather than simply bought them off of the internet.

Conclusion

The Air Force Academy offers many different badges and pins for the cadets to earn. Some for life, some for the length of their cadet careers, but all of them with prestige none the less.