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You are bidding on a single Vintage Cold War Senior Missileman Missilier Pocket Rocket Badge Pin. This is a clutchback style pin with the "Krew G-I" markings on the back (Note: I removed the clutchbacks for the pictures). This insignia is the shirt size 2 & 1/4 inches tall. I have taken good pics of front and back for you to view. (see pictures below). Thanks for looking and good luck bidding The pictures below are provided for informational purposes as part of the article. The items pictured are NOT part of this auction. Missile Badge From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Missile Badge is a military decoration of the United States Air Force which was first created in the 1960s. The badge recognizes those commissioned officers and enlisted personnel of the US Air Force who have qualified as ICBM silo personnel and have been trained in the launching of landbased nuclear weapons under the direction of the National Command Authority. Originally known as the Missileman Badge, the Missile Badge later became known as the Missilier Badge or more informally the Pocket Rocket and is still often referred to by this name. History In 2004, the Air Force Space Command Commander, General Lance Lord, announced the introduction of a new space badge. The new combined Space and Missile Operations Badge, informally known as "spings" (SPace wINGS), "Space Boomerang", or "Space Blade" replaced the Missile Badge for operators. This new badge infuriated the vast majority of current and former space and missile operators by eliminating a historically significant badge of honor. In addition, the new badge is no longer limited to pure space and missile operators/maintainers, but is also awarded to 61XX, 62XX and 63XX who have performed space/ICBM acquisition duties, even if they were non-operational in nature. Also in 2004, Interim Change (IC) 2004-1 to AFI 36-2923 expanded the missile badge award criteria to include the 21M and 2W career fields. 36-2923 was rendered obsolete and superseded by AFI 36-2903 dated 2 Aug 2006. 21M Officers that do not complete MMOC must supervise 2M/2W personnel in maintenance loading and unloading for 12 months to be awarded the basic badge. 2W personnel are awarded the basic badge after working directly with guided missiles or missile systems for 12 months after completion of technical training school. After deactivation of the Titan missile system, enlisted personnel were no longer authorized to earn the Missile Badge with operations designator. However, all enlisted personnel assigned to nuclear silo maintenance duty are eligible to wear the standard Missile Badge (without the operations designator) if qualified under the military specialties 411XX or the new 2M0XX field. From 1991-early 2006, the Missile Badge was the standard specialty badge for the above two career fields. Purpose and degrees The Missile Badge is awarded as a permanent decoration upon a service member’s graduation from missile 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 specialty 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 master. 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. The Senior Missile Badge is denoted by a star above the decoration with the Master Missile Badge displaying a star and wreath. The operations designator was awarded to both commissioned officers and enlisted personnel who were certified as members of a missile launching team. The Missile Badge without operations designator is awarded to those qualified to perform maintenance on the weapon system, but are not involvoed with the actual launch procedures. Most Air Force members, who earned the Missile Badge with operations designator, also earned the Combat Readiness Medal after two years of qualified service serving in an active missile silo. In recent years all personnel qualifying for the operations designator receive the Space and Missile Badge as the missile operations function (13SxC) is a subset of the Space Operations career field (13S), and indeed a few years ago the remaining 3 missile wings were renamed space wings. Titan (rocket family) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Titan was a family of U.S. expendable rockets used between 1959 and 2005. A total of 368 rockets of this family were launched. Titan I The Titan I was the first version of the Titan family of rockets. It began as a backup ICBM project in case the Atlas was delayed. It was a two-stage rocket powered by RP-1 and Liquid Oxygen. Using RP-1 and LOX meant that the Titan I did not have a quick launch sequence. It took about fifteen minutes to load LOX on the first missile at a complex, raise it topside and launch it, with the other two missiles following at about eight minute intervals. Titan I was operational from early 1962 to mid-1965. Titan I Missile Units 568th Strategic Missile Squadron, Larson AFB, Moses Lake, WA 569th Strategic Missile Squadron, Mt Home AFB, Mt Home, ID 851st Strategic Missile Squadron, Beale AFB, Marysville, CA 850th Strategic Missile Squadron, Ellsworth AFB, Rapid City, SD 451st Strategic Missile Wing (formerly 703rd) Lowry AFB, Denver, CO Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) Most Titan rockets were derivatives of the Titan II ICBM. The Titan II ICBM had one W-53 warhead with a 9 megaton yield, making it the most powerful ICBM on-standby in the US nuclear arsenal. All of the ICBM Titan II missile sites have been decommissioned since 1987 but the Titan Missile Museum south of Tucson, Arizona has preserved one silo. Space launch vehicles The Titan II was a hypergolicly-fueled two-stage ICBM that was used by the U.S. Air Force from the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s. In the late 80s some of the deactivated Titan IIs were converted into space launch vehicles to be used launching U.S. Government payloads. The final such vehicle launched a DMSP weather satellite from Vandenberg AFB on October 18, 2003. Titan IIs were also used to launch two U.S. unmanned Gemini and ten manned Gemini capsules in the mid 1960s. Titan III The Titan III was a modified Titan II with optional solid rocket boosters. It was developed by the U.S. Air Force as a heavy-lift satellite launcher to be used mainly to launch U.S. military payloads such as DSP early-warning, intelligence (spy), and defense communications satellites. One variant, the Titan IIIE, was also used to launch some NASA scientific probes such as the Voyagers to the outer planets and the Viking landers to Mars using the Centaur upper stage. The Titan IIIB and its variants (23B, 24B, 33B, and 34B) were Titan III cores with an Agena D upper stage. This combination was used to launch the KH-8 GAMBIT series of spy satellites. They were all launched from Vandenberg AFB, CA, into polar orbits. The payload was about 7,500 lb (3,000 kg). Titan IV The Titan IV is a stretched Titan III with non-optional solid rocket boosters. It could be launched either with the Centaur upper stage, with the IUS (Inertial Upper Stage) or without any upper stage. It was almost exclusively used to launch U.S. Military payloads, though it was also used to launch NASA's Cassini probe to Saturn in 1997. Titan IV was the most powerful unmanned rocket in the United States, and was extremely expensive to operate. By the time the Titan IV was operational the requirements of the Department of Defence for a heavy booster had declined due to improvements in the longevity of military satellites. As a result when including the cost of ground operations and facilities for the Titan IV at Vandenberg the unit cost was very high. Rocket fuel Liquid oxygen is dangerous to use in an enclosed space, such as a missile silo, and cannot be stored for long periods in the booster oxidizer tank. Several Atlas and Titan I rockets exploded and destroyed their silos. The Martin Company was able to improve the design with the Titan II. The RP-1/LOX combination was replaced by a room-temperature fuel whose oxidizer did not require cryogenic storage. The same first stage rocket engines were used with some modifications. The diameter of the second stage was increased to match the first stage. The Titan II's hypergolic fuel ignites on contact, and is highly toxic and corrosive. There were several accidents in Titan II silos resulting in loss of life. In August 1965, 53 construction workers were killed when hydraulic fluid used in the Titan II caught fire in a missile silo northwest of Searcy, Arkansas. The liquid fuel missiles were prone to developing leaks of their toxic propellants. Nine airmen were killed at a site outside Rock, Kansas in the late 1970s when an ensiled missile leaked propellant. Later, another site, at Potwin, Kansas leaked fuel and was closed, but there were no fatalities. In September 1980, at another Arkansas Titan II silo near Damascus a technician dropped a wrench which broke the skin of the missile. Leaking rocket fuel ignited and blew the 8,000 lb nuclear warhead out of the silo; it landed several hundred feet away. This marked the beginning of the end for the Titan II as an ICBM. The 54 Titan II's were replaced in the U.S. arsenal by 50 MX Peacekeeper solid fuel missiles in late 1980s. 54 Titan IIs were fielded along with some 1000 Minutemen from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. Most of the decommissioned Titan II ICBMs were refurbished and used for space launch vehicles, with a perfect launch success record. Current status of Titans The last Titan rocket launched, a Titan IV B As of 2006, the Titan family of rockets are obsolete. The high cost of hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, along with the special care that was needed due to their toxicity, proved too much compared to the higher-performance liquid hydrogen or RP-1-fueled vehicles. The current owners of the Titan line (Lockheed-Martin) decided to extend their Atlas family of rockets instead of the more expensive Titans, along with joint ventures to sell launches on the Russian Proton and the new Boeing-built Delta IV class of medium and heavy-lift launch vehicles. The second-to-last Titan launched successfully from Cape Canaveral on April 29, 2005. The final Titan launched successfully from Vandenberg on October 19, 2005, carrying a secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. There are approximately twenty Titan IIs at AMARC in Tucson, Arizona set to be scrapped. Shipping discount for multiple purchases as follows: First item is full price shipping, second thru sixth auction/item is an additional $.25. I will not combine ship more than six items/auctions at one time. All Auctions must be won within a 72 hour period. Exceptions are allowed if you email me first. Thanks for looking and good luck!
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