seven-level
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: seven-levels
form: seven level
form: 7-level
Etymology: Shortened from a longer, bureaucratic US military designation (an Air Force Specialty Code), where '7' was code for "Craftsman".
Senses: examples: text: I asked how they were doing and they said they couldn't figure out the T.O. and were waiting for a seven level to explain it to them. I went back to my truck and told maintenance control we'd need a seven level radio man.
ref: 1966, The MAC FLYER, volume 13, number 5, Directorate of Safety, Headquarters Military Airlift Command, page 29:
text: Follow-on training would take place after completion of the basic apprentice or craftsman courses. Three-level students would attend ATHRS training, and select 7-level students (approximately 49 per year) would attend AFBDS training.
ref: 2003, Air Force Logistics Management Agency, Year in Review, 2003, DIANE Publishing, page 169:
text: The Civil Engineer (CE) Readiness Flight Officer and seven-level Craftsman courses provide flight leaders and mid-level NCOs with the background and the technical information that is necessary for effective management of the CE Readiness Flight and contingency response operations.
ref: 2003, Department of Defense Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense Program Annual Report to Congress 2003, DIANE Publishing, page 107:
text: While I was assigned to the parachute shop, although I was in charge and was the senior NCO in charge of two other SSgt's and seven airmen, I was still only a five level and could not be promoted to TSgt without making a seven level.
ref: 2005, Richard R. Simmons, A Long Hard Ride, AuthorHouse, page 116:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: A person who has qualified for "Craftsman" level of skill in the United States Air Force, with more training than "Journeyman" (five-level), but less than a "Superintendent" (nine-level)
examples: text: [H]e takes from the breast pocket of his khaki shirt the little seven-level screwdriver he took from Michael Amerchrome: Plastic handle insulates, so seven-level may be used as low-voltage shorting bar, though the metal pen- (pocket-) clip on the handle's side makes you wonder; large enough for a firm grip; light enough to be used as a mallet on delicate components; small diameter of shank permits its use as a probe in confined places or as a chisel to scrape away corrosion between narrow-printed circuit channels; when magnetized, the small shank can retrieve metal parts that fall into restricted spots ....
ref: 1966, Joseph McElroy, A Smuggler's Bible, Harcourt, Brace & World, page 228:
text: >>> A 'tweaker' being a very small screwdriver. I first met that term in 1955.
 >>We called them 7-Levels in ADC.
 > Why?
A 5-level is a term for a journeyman technician (3-Levels are trainees), and a 7-level was management-expert technician.
I'm not sure of the history, but it went something like the only difference between a 5-level and a 7-level was the size of his screwdriver.
ref: 2002 June 28, Jerry Helms, “IFF vs. Transponders”, in rec.aviation.military (Usenet), message-ID <PO4T8.44199$781.24239@news1.central.cox.net>:
glosses: Ellipsis of seven-level screwdriver.