U.S. Air Force Unveils Cyberspace Badge

First, the Boy Scouts rolled out a geocaching badge, now this: The U.S. Air Force has just unveiled a new “Cyberspace Badge” to be awarded to the men and women in uniform who patrol the Web. The badge will come in three levels — basic, senior, and master — and will be awarded to, among other candidates, communications and information badgeholders who complete the “X-course,” also known as the considerably less sexy “Distance Learning Cyberspace Operations Transition Course.”

The Air Force explains the design significance of the badge, which involves lightning bolts and outer space:

The design element of the badge holds significant meaning. The lightning bolt wings signify the cyberspace domain while the globe signifies the projection of cyber power world-wide. The globe, combined with lightning bolt wings, signifies the Air Force’s common communications heritage. The bolted wings, centered on the globe, are a design element from the Air Force Seal signifying the striking power through air, space and cyberspace. The orbits signify the space dimension of the cyberspace domain.

Now, before you get too excited about the significance of this, geeklings, keep in mind that compared to other branches of the military, the Air Force is a little badge-crazy. They’ve also got special badges for paralegals, historians, and “acquisition and financial management”: (presented below in that order)

Then again: Dissection of tasks into distinct achievement classes, intense competitiveness and focus on externally rewarded accomplishment, even a three-tiered system of basic, senior, and master: Sound kind of like … gamers, don’t you think? Maybe there’s hope for geekery in the armed forces after all.

(h/t The Register)