The Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) is an alphanumeric code used by the United States Air Force to identify a specific job. Officer AFSCs consist of four characters and enlisted AFSCs consist of five characters. A letter prefix or suffix may be used with an AFSC when more specific identification of position requirements and individual qualifications is necessary. The AFSC is similar to the Military Occupational Specialty Codes (MOS Codes) used by the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps or enlisted ratings and USN officer designators and Naval Officer Billet Classifications (NOBCs) used by the United States Navy and enlisted ratings and USCG officer specialties used by the United States Coast Guard. The United States Space Force equivalent is known as the Space Force Specialty Code (SFSC).
History
After the Air Force separated from the Army in 1947, it retained the Army's system of MOS occupation codes, modifying them in 1954. These were 5-digit codes; for example a maintenance data systems specialist was 39150 and a weather technician was 25170. In October 1993, the Air Force implemented a new system of AFSCs, aligning occupations with the force wide restructuring that was implemented under Merrill McPeak. These reduced officer AFSCs from 216 to 123 and enlisted AFSCs from 203 to 176.
Enlisted AFSCs
The enlisted AFSC consists of five alphanumeric characters: Career group (Numerical) Operations Logistics & Maintenance Support Medical Professional Acquisition Special Investigations Special Duty Identifiers, typically used for Airmen chosen for specialized jobs Reporting Identifiers, typically used for Airmen in transitive status: trainees, awaiting retraining, prisoner, etc. And occasionally for Airmen chosen for specialized jobs. Career field (Alpha, different for each) Career field subdivision (Numerical, different for each) Skill level 1 – Helper (recruits or trainees in technical school) 3 – Apprentice (technical school graduates applying and expanding their job skills) 5 – Journeyman (experienced Airmen functioning as front-line technicians and initial trainers) 7 – Craftsman (Airmen with many years of experience in the specialty, responsible for supervision and training) 9 – Superintendent (Airmen in the grade of Senior Master Sergeant and above, with at least 14 years of experience, responsible for broad supervision) 0 – Chief Enlisted Manager (CEM) (Airmen in the grade of Chief Master Sergeant responsible for policy and direction on a broad scale, from the individual squadron to HQ USAF levels) Specific AFSC (Numeric, specialty within career field subdivision)
For example, in the AFSC 1N371: The career group is 1 (Operations) The career field is N (Intelligence) The career field subdivision is 3 (Cryptologic Linguist) The skill level is 7 (Craftsman) The specific AFSC is 1 (Crypto-Linguist)
For some specialties, an alpha prefix is used to denote a special ability, skill, qualification or system designator not restricted to a single AFSC (such as "X" for an aircrew position). Additionally, an alpha suffix (a "shredout") denotes positions associated with particular equipment or functions within a single specialty (an Afrikaans specialist in the Germanic linguist field would have an "E" shredout). Using the above example, the AFSC X1N371E would refer to a Germanic Cryptologic Linguist who is aircrew qualified and specializes in Afrikaans.
Here is an extended listing of AFSC groups. Most categories have numerous actual AFSCs in them.