The “N” Device was established for wear on the Nuclear Deterrence Operations Service Medal (NDOSM), which was approved by the Secretary of the Air Force in May 2014. Interestingly, the NDOSM can be rewarded retroactively to 27 December 1991—the day after the Soviet Union was officially dissolved and, along with it, any significant threat of the type of nuclear warfare that the U.S. deterrence policies and strategies aimed to prevent.
To qualify for the “N” device, Airmen must satisfy two conditions. First, they must have been dispatched to a missile complex for 179 days (cumulative, not consecutive) to provide direct support of Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Operations. The second condition can be met in one of two ways. One is to have performed duties in specified list of Enlisted and Officer Classification codes while dispatched to a missile complex.
Title | Code |
Missile Maintenance | 21MX, 2M0XX |
Munitions and Maintenance | 2W0XX, 2W1XX, 2W2XX |
Security Forces | 31PX, 3P0XX |
Services | 3M0XX |
Fuels | 2F0XX |
Transportation | 2T1XX, 2T3XX |
Civil Engineering | 32EX, 3EXXX |
Cyberspace Support | 3D1X1, 3D1X2, 3D1X3, 3D100 |
Operations | 1HXC, 13NX, 1A9X1, and13SX officers on or before 9 Feb 2013 |
Missile Facility Manager | 8S000 |
The other is to have worked with nuclear-armed aircraft as a nuclear-certified aircrew member, an aircraft maintenance technician, a munitions maintenance technician, a nuclear-certified controller, or in combat-crew communications or with security forces executing guard duties.
Recipients of the NDOSM with the “N” Device may also earn Oak Leaf Clusters for subsequent awards of the NDOSM (only “N” device is authorized for wear no matter how many qualifying assignments the recipient might have completed.) The “N” Device is worn to the right of any Oak Leaf Clusters the recipient may have earned for the NDOSM, and is centered on the ribbon if no Oak Leaf Clusters are present.