For recruiting squadrons, flights and offices across the Air Force Recruiting Service — and for the 320th Recruiting Squadron standing up Space Force recruiting. Station branding, handouts, zone school programs, DEP gear, air show kits and recognition.
Air Force recruiting is having its best run in twenty-two years. The FY2026 enlisted goal of 32,750 was met around November 2025 — five months early — and the delayed entry pool passed eighteen thousand by April, the largest in over a decade. Space Force met its goal every year since standing up in 2019 and took 1,073 against a 730 target in FY2026, then activated its own 320th Recruiting Squadron at JBSA-Randolph in August. A pipeline that size is a merchandise problem as much as a recruiting one: eighteen thousand people who have signed and are waiting, all of whom show up to a monthly meeting.
The fiscal year opens 1 October across roughly two dozen recruiting squadrons and their flights. Offices that have been running on the same display through a record year replace it now.
Squadron Commander · Flight Chief · Production Superintendent
Squadron operating and advertising funds
Displays should read as Air Force or Space Force recruiting, not as a vendor's showcase. Nothing may imply a commercial endorsement.
AFRS now pushes three-recruiter agile cells into specific regions for short periods. A cell travels light — what it carries has to fit in a vehicle and still make a table look staffed.
Flight Chief · 8R000 recruiters · Liaison NCO
Appropriated recruiting funds
Keep handouts to items that read as recruiting, carry your call to action, and would survive being described in a spending review.
AFRSI 36-2001 requires recruiters to establish the coming year's program for every high school, vocational school and junior college in their zone, ranked Priority 1 to 3. Priority 1 gets a monthly visit. That is a relationship, and it is worth more than a handout.
Recruiter · Flight Chief · MEPS Liaison Supervisor
Recruiting and advertising funds
No recruiting activity and no service-related products at an ASVAB CEP session (USMEPCOM Reg 601-4).
The delayed entry pool is above eighteen thousand and flight chiefs track the DEP bank as a production indicator. Everyone in it is already yours, already talking to friends, and already showing up monthly.
Flight Chief · DEP manager · recruiter
Recruiting support funds; recognition items under § 2261
AFRS Form 52 DEP membership cards are mandatory — merchandise supplements the program, it does not replace the paperwork.
The air show is the Air Force's home field. A recruiting table under a canopy on a flight line in July will out-draw anything a station does all year — if it has something for the family standing in the heat.
Squadron Commander · Wing Public Affairs · event OIC
Local event and advertising funds
Paid patriotic tributes at sporting events have been banned since the FY2016 NDAA. Community events are different — but the money still has to trace to a recruiting purpose.
The 320th Recruiting Squadron activated at JBSA-Randolph in August 2026 under STARCOM — the Space Force's first dedicated recruiting squadron, running the Guardian Talent Scout program with a small number of personnel and a technical audience.
320 RCS · Guardian Talent Scouts · STARCOM staff
Space Force recruiting funds
Space Force marks are administered by the Air Force Trademark and Licensing Office and need a licence like any other. Supply the art you are cleared to use.
18 September is the Air Force's birthday; 20 December is the Space Force's. Add promotion, change of command, retirement and the annual awards cycle, and the ceremonial load is steady all year.
Command Chief · first sergeant · protocol
Unit funds for mementos; § 2261 for formal recognition
Recognition items bought with appropriated funds stay under $50 and inside the § 2261 item classes. Anything else runs on unit funds.
10 U.S.C. § 2261 authorises commemorative coins, medals, trophies, badges, flags, posters and similar items under $50 each for recruiting and retention.
The FAR micro-purchase threshold since 1 October 2025 (90 FR 41872). Squadron and flight cardholder limits are set locally and are commonly lower.
FAR 13.003(b)(1) sets aside every acquisition above the micro-purchase threshold and at or below $350,000 for small business.
AFRSI 36-2001 and AFRSI 36-2101 contain no per-item promotional dollar limits in the published text. Do not assume the Army's $6/$12 rule applies here — but do confirm with your group before ordering.
A licensing note that catches vendors and units alike: DoDI 5535.12 / DAFI 35-114 ¶2.l requires a licence for every use of a DoD mark, 'regardless of whether fees are received or not.' The Air Force Trademark and Licensing Office covers both Air Force and Space Force marks. We produce from artwork you are authorised to supply.
Not one that is published. AFRSI 36-2001 and AFRSI 36-2101 contain no per-item promotional ceiling in their public text, and we will not quote you a number that does not exist. What does bind: recognition items under 10 U.S.C. § 2261 stay below $50, the FAR micro-purchase threshold is $15,000 since 1 October 2025, and your cardholder limit is likely lower. Confirm with your group before ordering against an assumption.
We decorate from artwork you supply and are authorised to use. Both services' marks run through the Air Force Trademark and Licensing Office, and DoDI 5535.12 / DAFI 35-114 ¶2.l requires a licence for every use of a DoD mark even where no fee changes hands. Decorations, medals and ribbons may not be reproduced on merchandise at all.
Yes — the Guardian Talent Scout stop is built for the 320th Recruiting Squadron, which stood up at JBSA-Randolph in August 2026 under STARCOM. It leans technical rather than traditional. We will say plainly that our library has no Space Force-specific iconography in stock art; everything is produced from your supplied design.
Proofs are free and unlimited until you approve one. Screen printing and embroidery are quickest; pewter casting and coin production take longest, because both start from a new die. Give us your in-hand date first and we build the production schedule around it.
It is on each product page and varies by process. Pewter and coin work carries higher minimums than printed or embroidered goods. Below a minimum we will tell you and suggest the nearest item that works.
Ask and we will answer in writing as of that day. We make no registration or schedule claims here. Worth knowing: the band from the micro-purchase threshold to $350,000 is reserved for small business under FAR 13.003(b)(1).
Coins, pewter, apparel, drinkware, displays and awards, all made in house with free unlimited proofs. Give us your in-hand date and we build the schedule around it.
