Red Tag Bastards

Red Tag Bastards (aka RTB) is a nickname used for every red-colored class year of cadets at the United States Air Force Academy. Each class year is assigned one of four rotating colors – yellow, blue, silver, and red, in that order – to identify it, the new incoming class being assigned the color of the last graduating class. The "Red Tag" comes from the bright red "Remove Before Flight" tags hung from dysfunctional parts on grounded military aircraft. The epithet originated in 1962 as an insult, but it stuck nonetheless.

Each class as Basic Cadets during Basic Cadet Training sports their official color on their USAFA-issued items like their caps. The upperclassmen who train the Basic Cadets wear berets during the Basic Cadet Training and during certain parades.

The official colors of USAFA are Air Force blue and silver. The first graduating Class of 1959 was given gold (or yellow) for its class color. The Class of 1960 was given Air Force blue. The third-ever incoming Class of 1961 from USAFA was designated the silver (or grey) class. The first class of cadets to receive the "Red Tag Bastards" moniker was the Class of 1962. When the '62 cadets were commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants and graduated as the outgoing class, the incoming Class of 1966 was rotated in with the color red. Classes of 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 are all "Red Tag Bastards".

The coveted color among the cadets is Air Force blue, and it is referenced and reverenced as the color that defines the Academy's campus.