Joint Chiefs of Staff release new identification badge to include Space Force

For the first time in the history of the Joint Chiefs, they have modified their identification badge to represent the addition of the Space Force.

In December of 2020, General John “Jay” Raymond was sworn in as a full member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, bringing the number of chiefs up to eight. This also brought the number of military branches represented by the JCS up to five instead of four, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and the Space Force.

One of the JCS historians, Chris Holmes, recognized that the current badge worn by its military members had only four swords and thought that if those swords represented the branches, then a fifth should be added to the badge. After research into the creation of the badge, the team of historians determined the swords did represent the branches with chiefs on the JCS.

A request from the Joint Chiefs to the Department of the Army’s Institute of Heraldry for new designs for the JCS badge and three were sent over. The joint chiefs voted unanimously on a design that closely resembles the current design but now features a fifth sword in the center slightly elevated to represent the branch’s space domain.

The original four sword design will be grandfathered for three years, but new members will receive this new design.

“The revising of the Joint Staff seal, now including the United States Space Force, demonstrates our commitment to the future and ensuring that we have capabilities in all domains necessary to defend our country – land, air, sea, and space.”

Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

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