Before inclusion in the Communications and Information Career Field, enlisted Airmen and officers in the Information Management Career Field wore the Information Manager occupational badge. This included enlisted Airmen in Air Force Specialty Codes 3A0X1 Information Management and 3RXXX Printing Management; officers served in specialty code 37AX Information Management.
Following Basic Training, Airmen seeking a career as Information Managers attended the Information Management Apprentice Course at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi; completion of the six-month course earned them the right to wear the Information Manager badge.
Employing a variety of information processing and management technologies, Information Managers oversaw numerous types of tasks related to communications and information, with their main responsibilities being providing staff support, publishing documents, managing records, coordinating administrative communications, and handling workgroup management.
The Senior-level Information Manager badge was awarded to Airmen who had reached the rank of Staff Sergeant and the 7-skill (Craftsman) level. On average, this took about seven-and-a-half years, but theoretically could be achieved in as few as three. Reaching Master Sergeant rank, one of the requisites for the Master-level badge, took the average Information Manager sixteen years.
In November, 1996, officers from 37AX Information Management were integrated into the Mission Support, Personnel specialty (36XX) and wore the Manpower and Personnel occupational badge, but at the level they had reached while in Information Management.
The scroll and quill that formed the basis for the design of the Information Manager occupational badge have been used for centuries to represent the recording and preservation of information. Scrolls are containers of knowledge that not only may be accessed, but opened and revised to reflect new understanding. The quill, of course, is emblematic of recording information; its placement with the scroll on a globe represented the reach of information across the world.