Red Tag Bastards

Red Tag Bastards, is a nickname for some class years at the United States Air Force Academy. Each class year is assigned one of the four rotating colors (gold, blue, silver, and red, in that order) to identify it. The new incoming class is assigned the color of the last graduating class. The "tag" term comes from the name tags cadets display outside of their rooms. The color of the name tag corresponds to each cadet's class year color. This was the first class to be issued the red name tags. The cadre during 1962's Basic Cadet Training called them the red tag bastards as an insult, but it stuck. The class of 1962 was the first "red tag" class at the Academy; the class of 2010 is the current one.