United States Air Force enlisted rank insignia
Encyclopedia
The chart below represents the current enlisted rank
insignia of the United States Air Force
.
While all Air Force military personnel are referred to as Airmen, it can specifically refer to the pay grade
s of E-1 through E-4 which are below the level of non-commissioned officer
s (NCOs). Above the pay grade of E-4 (E-5 through E-9) all ranks fall into the category of NCO and are further subdivided into NCOs (E-5 & E-6) and Senior NCOs (E-7 through E-9); the term Junior NCO is sometimes used to refer to staff sergeants and technical sergeants (E-5 & E-6).
The Air Force is the only one of the five branches of the United States military where NCO status is only achieved at the grade of E-5. In all other branches NCO status can be achieved at the grade of E-4 (a Corporal
in the Army
and Marine Corps
, Petty Officer Third Class
in the Navy
and Coast Guard
). However, E-4s in the Army with the rank of Specialist
are not NCOs. The Air Force mirrored the Army from 1976 to 2 May 1991 with an E-4 being either a Senior Airman wearing three stripes without a star or a Sergeant (informally referred to as "Buck Sergeant") which was noted by the presence of the central star and considered an NCO. Despite not being an NCO, a Senior Airman who has completed Airman Leadership School
can be a supervisor.
rank structure and corresponding insignia of years past. This rank structure provided for seven enlisted ranks: Private, Private First Class, Corporal/Technician Fifth Grade, Sergeant/Technician Fourth Grade, Staff Sergeant/Technician Third Grade, Technical Sergeant and Master Sergeant/First Sergeant. Additionally, Air Force personnel were still referred to as soldiers. During the Second World War, many USAAF NCOs wore the Army Air Corps
branch insignia of the winged propeller underneath their chevrons.
Changes to the rank structure were proposed almost immediately but did not start occurring until the next year. Sometime during late 1947 and early 1948, new chevron designs were tested at Bolling Air Force Base
. The style preferred was the one used today, the inverted chevron. Air Force Chief of Staff
General Hoyt Vandenberg
approved the new chevron on 9 March 1948.
Although the new chevrons were approved, the titles did not change. Two years would pass before General Vandenberg ordered all enlisted personnel in the Air Force be referred to as Airman (singular) and Airmen (plural). A further two years would go by while the enlisted rank structure was studied and changes proposed. The end results finally became effective on 24 April 1952 with the release of a revised Air Force Regulation (AFR) 39-36. This revision changed the names of the enlisted ranks to Basic Airman, Airman Third Class, Airman Second Class, Airman First Class (with resultant loss of NCO status that was not restored until 1967), Staff Sergeant, Technical Sergeant and Master Sergeant.
With the new titles came a proposal for new rank insignia for Airman Third Class through Airman First Class. The proposed insignia would have horizontal stripes for Airman Third Class through Airman First Class while NCOs keep their inverted chevrons. The purpose of the two different types of insignia was to more readily differentiate the airman and NCO tiers while increasing the prestige of the latter. These were not approved at the time of the release of the revised regulation. When they were finally approved by General Vandenberg in December 1952, procurement of these stripes was deferred until approximately June 1955. This change would eventually be reversed, on 12 March 1956, by General Vandenberg's successor, General Twining
.
During his tenure, General Twining also approved the diamond insignia for First Sergeant
s. This became available on 21 September 1955. With this approval, the foundations of the first seven ranks and insignia the Air Force uses today were in place.
The next major change came with the Military Pay Act of 1958. This established the pay grades of E-8 and E-9 but without corresponding rank titles. The titles of Senior Master Sergeant and Chief Master Sergeant were chosen between July and December 1958 after comments were solicited from the major Air Force commands of the day. After much discussion, the insignia for these two ranks were designed by simply adding one and two chevrons to the top of the Master Sergeant insignia (for E-8 and E-9 respectively), each stripe pointing up.
The rank of Basic Airman was renamed Airman Basic on 5 February 1959, still with no insignia attached.
The next series of changes to Air Force enlisted ranks did not occur for almost eight years. In January, 1967 the position of Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force
was created. This position gained its own special insignia, the Chief Master Sergeant chevrons with a wreath encircling the center star. Also, the release of a revised AFR 39-36 on 19 October 1967 renamed Airman Third Class, Airman Second Class and Airman First Class to Airman, Airman First Class and Sergeant respectively. This returned Sergeant to the rank structure as the first step in the NCO tier as a retention move but required achievement of a 5-skill Air Force Specialty Code
(AFSC) level. No changes to the respective insignias were made.
In a 30 December 1975 directive the grade of Sergeant was split into two separate ranks while retaining the grade of E-4. Senior Airman would be the last junior enlisted tier rank while Sergeant would remain the first rank in the NCO tier. The impetus behind this was to laterally promote senior E-4 airmen who were ready for NCO responsibilities but not prepared to take on the role of a Staff Sergeant. This permitted airmen who had not yet reached the AFSC 5-skill level to achieve the pay grade of E-4, while according those who had NCO status. To differentiate the two ranks, the directive changed the silver star in the center of Airman, Airman First Class and Senior Airman changed to blue while the star on Sergeant chevrons remained silver. Having two ranks within one grade mirrored the Army's Specialist
/Corporal
division of E-4. This dual role would last until March 1991 when then Chief of Staff General McPeak
terminated the rank of Sergeant effective 2 May 1991. This termination was due in part to the manning reductions that occurred in the post-Cold War
drawdowns of the early 1990s. The last of the "Buck Sergeants" would have either been promoted or discharged under High Year Tenure
by December 1998.
The year 1991 also saw the last major change to the enlisted rank insignia. In October 1991 General McPeak and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Pfingston
announced that the senior NCO tier would have new chevron layouts and that all chevrons would have a white star in the center. The change in senior NCO chevrons was the first since chevrons came into being in 1948. Since that time, Master Sergeant had been composed of six inverted chevrons (six down) with none pointing up, Senior Master Sergeant six down with one up and Chief Master Sergeant six down with two up. The new layout changed the insignia to the current layout (see chart above). The second change, changing the star color to white, was actually two changes in one. It added a star to the Airman through Senior Airman rank insignias where there had been none since 1975 (the blue star carried by these chevrons was the same color as the blue in the stripes giving the impression that the star was not there) and changing the silver star on the NCO and senior NCO chevrons to white.
In November 1998, the duty position of Senior Enlisted Advisor was changed to Command Chief Master Sergeant. Along with the change, the addition of a star in the empty blue area between the chevrons was added to denote those holding this position.
In November 2004, the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force insignia was updated to include the Great Seal of the United States
with a white star on either side. These additions were placed in the empty blue area between the chevrons.
Enlisted rank
An enlisted rank is, in most Militaries, any rank below a commissioned officer or warrant officer. The term can also be inclusive of non-commissioned officers...
insignia of the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
.
| US DoD Pay grade | E-1 | E-2 | E-3 | E-4 | E-5 | E-6 | E-7 | E-8 | E-9 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insignia | No Insignia |  |
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| Title | Airman Basic Airman Basic Airman Basic is the lowest enlisted rank in the United States Air Force , immediately below Airman. The pay grade for Airman Basic is E-1.As opposed to all other USAF enlisted and officer ranks, Airman Basic has no rank insignia affiliated... |
Airman Airman An airman is a member of the air component of a nation's armed service. In the United States Air Force and the Royal Air Force , it can also refer to a specific enlisted rank... |
Airman First Class Airman First Class Airman first class is the third enlisted rank in the United States Air Force, just above airman and below senior airman. The rank of airman first class is considered a junior enlisted rank, with the non-commissioned officers and senior non-commissioned officers above it.Airman first class is a... |
Senior Airman Senior Airman Senior airman is the fourth enlisted rank in the United States Air Force, just above airman first class and below staff sergeant. It has a pay grade of E-4... |
Staff Sergeant Staff Sergeant Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in several countries.The origin of the name is that they were part of the staff of a British army regiment and paid at that level rather than as a member of a battalion or company.-Australia:... |
Technical Sergeant Technical Sergeant Technical Sergeant is the name of one current and two former enlisted ranks in the United States military.-United States Air Force:Technical Sergeant, or Tech Sergeant, is the sixth enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force, just above Staff Sergeant and below Master Sergeant. A technical sergeant is... |
Master Sergeant Master Sergeant A master sergeant is the military rank for a senior non-commissioned officer in some armed forces.-Israel Defense Forces:Rav samal rishoninsignia IDF... ¹ |
Senior Master Sergeant Senior Master Sergeant Senior Master Sergeant is the eighth enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force, just above Master Sergeant and below Chief Master Sergeant and is a senior non-commissioned officer .... ¹ |
Chief Master Sergeant Chief Master Sergeant CMSgt ChevronChief Master Sergeant is the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force, just above Senior Master Sergeant, and is a senior non-commissioned officer. The official term of address is "Chief Master Sergeant" or "Chief".Attaining the rank of Chief Master Sergeant is the... ¹ |
Command Chief Master Sergeant | Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force The Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force is a unique non-commissioned rank in the United States Air Force. The holder of this rank and post represents the highest enlisted level of leadership in the Air Force, and as such, provides direction for the enlisted corps and represents their interests,... |
|||
| Abbreviation | AB | Amn | A1C | SrA | SSgt | TSgt | MSgt | SMSgt | CMSgt | CCM | CMSAF | |||
| NATO Code | OR-1 | OR-2 | OR-3 | OR-4 | OR-5 | OR-6 | OR-7 | OR-8 | OR-9 | OR-9 | OR-9 | |||
¹ The U.S. Air Force does not have a separate First Sergeant rank; it is instead a duty denoted by a diamond within the upper field. |
||||||||||||||
While all Air Force military personnel are referred to as Airmen, it can specifically refer to the pay grade
Pay grade
Pay grades are used by the uniformed services of the United States to determine wages and benefits based on the corresponding military rank of a member of the services...
s of E-1 through E-4 which are below the level of non-commissioned officer
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
s (NCOs). Above the pay grade of E-4 (E-5 through E-9) all ranks fall into the category of NCO and are further subdivided into NCOs (E-5 & E-6) and Senior NCOs (E-7 through E-9); the term Junior NCO is sometimes used to refer to staff sergeants and technical sergeants (E-5 & E-6).
The Air Force is the only one of the five branches of the United States military where NCO status is only achieved at the grade of E-5. In all other branches NCO status can be achieved at the grade of E-4 (a Corporal
Corporal
Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....
in the Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
and Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
, Petty Officer Third Class
Petty Officer Third Class
U.S. NavyGood conductvariationU.S. NavyPetty officerthird classinsigniaPetty officer third class is the fourth enlisted rank in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, just above seaman and below petty officer second class, and is the lowest rank of non-commissioned officer, equivalent to a corporal in...
in the Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
and Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
). However, E-4s in the Army with the rank of Specialist
Specialist (rank)
Specialist is one of the four junior enlisted ranks in the U.S. Army, just above Private First Class and equivalent in pay grade to Corporal. Unlike Corporals, Specialists are not considered junior non-commissioned officers...
are not NCOs. The Air Force mirrored the Army from 1976 to 2 May 1991 with an E-4 being either a Senior Airman wearing three stripes without a star or a Sergeant (informally referred to as "Buck Sergeant") which was noted by the presence of the central star and considered an NCO. Despite not being an NCO, a Senior Airman who has completed Airman Leadership School
Airman Leadership School
Airman Leadership School is a five week-long United States Air Force program designed to develop airmen into effective front-line supervisors. It is the first professional military education that enlisted Air Force members encounter...
can be a supervisor.
Evolution of the Chevrons
Although the Air Force became an independent service with the National Security Act of 1947, it retained the Army Air ForceUnited States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
rank structure and corresponding insignia of years past. This rank structure provided for seven enlisted ranks: Private, Private First Class, Corporal/Technician Fifth Grade, Sergeant/Technician Fourth Grade, Staff Sergeant/Technician Third Grade, Technical Sergeant and Master Sergeant/First Sergeant. Additionally, Air Force personnel were still referred to as soldiers. During the Second World War, many USAAF NCOs wore the Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
branch insignia of the winged propeller underneath their chevrons.
Changes to the rank structure were proposed almost immediately but did not start occurring until the next year. Sometime during late 1947 and early 1948, new chevron designs were tested at Bolling Air Force Base
Bolling Air Force Base
Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling is a military installation, located in Southeast Washington, D.C., established on 1 October 2010 in accordance with congressional legislation implementing the recommendations of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission...
. The style preferred was the one used today, the inverted chevron. Air Force Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force
The Chief of Staff of the Air Force is a statutory office held by a four-star general in the United States Air Force, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Air Force, and as such is the principal military advisor and a deputy to the Secretary of the...
General Hoyt Vandenberg
Hoyt Vandenberg
Hoyt Sanford Vandenberg was a U.S. Air Force general, its second Chief of Staff, and second Director of Central Intelligence....
approved the new chevron on 9 March 1948.
Although the new chevrons were approved, the titles did not change. Two years would pass before General Vandenberg ordered all enlisted personnel in the Air Force be referred to as Airman (singular) and Airmen (plural). A further two years would go by while the enlisted rank structure was studied and changes proposed. The end results finally became effective on 24 April 1952 with the release of a revised Air Force Regulation (AFR) 39-36. This revision changed the names of the enlisted ranks to Basic Airman, Airman Third Class, Airman Second Class, Airman First Class (with resultant loss of NCO status that was not restored until 1967), Staff Sergeant, Technical Sergeant and Master Sergeant.
With the new titles came a proposal for new rank insignia for Airman Third Class through Airman First Class. The proposed insignia would have horizontal stripes for Airman Third Class through Airman First Class while NCOs keep their inverted chevrons. The purpose of the two different types of insignia was to more readily differentiate the airman and NCO tiers while increasing the prestige of the latter. These were not approved at the time of the release of the revised regulation. When they were finally approved by General Vandenberg in December 1952, procurement of these stripes was deferred until approximately June 1955. This change would eventually be reversed, on 12 March 1956, by General Vandenberg's successor, General Twining
Nathan Farragut Twining
Nathan Farragut Twining, KBE was a United States Air Force General, born in Monroe, Wisconsin. He was Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from 1953 until 1957...
.
During his tenure, General Twining also approved the diamond insignia for First Sergeant
First Sergeant
First sergeant is the name of a military rank used in many countries, typically a senior non-commissioned officer.-Singapore:First Sergeant is a Specialist in the Singapore Armed Forces. First Sergeants are the most senior of the junior Specialists, ranking above Second Sergeants, and below Staff...
s. This became available on 21 September 1955. With this approval, the foundations of the first seven ranks and insignia the Air Force uses today were in place.
The next major change came with the Military Pay Act of 1958. This established the pay grades of E-8 and E-9 but without corresponding rank titles. The titles of Senior Master Sergeant and Chief Master Sergeant were chosen between July and December 1958 after comments were solicited from the major Air Force commands of the day. After much discussion, the insignia for these two ranks were designed by simply adding one and two chevrons to the top of the Master Sergeant insignia (for E-8 and E-9 respectively), each stripe pointing up.
The rank of Basic Airman was renamed Airman Basic on 5 February 1959, still with no insignia attached.
The next series of changes to Air Force enlisted ranks did not occur for almost eight years. In January, 1967 the position of Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force
Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force
The Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force is a unique non-commissioned rank in the United States Air Force. The holder of this rank and post represents the highest enlisted level of leadership in the Air Force, and as such, provides direction for the enlisted corps and represents their interests,...
was created. This position gained its own special insignia, the Chief Master Sergeant chevrons with a wreath encircling the center star. Also, the release of a revised AFR 39-36 on 19 October 1967 renamed Airman Third Class, Airman Second Class and Airman First Class to Airman, Airman First Class and Sergeant respectively. This returned Sergeant to the rank structure as the first step in the NCO tier as a retention move but required achievement of a 5-skill Air Force Specialty Code
Air Force Specialty Code
The Air Force Specialty Code is an alphanumeric code used by the United States Air Force to identify an Air Force Specialty . 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...
(AFSC) level. No changes to the respective insignias were made.
In a 30 December 1975 directive the grade of Sergeant was split into two separate ranks while retaining the grade of E-4. Senior Airman would be the last junior enlisted tier rank while Sergeant would remain the first rank in the NCO tier. The impetus behind this was to laterally promote senior E-4 airmen who were ready for NCO responsibilities but not prepared to take on the role of a Staff Sergeant. This permitted airmen who had not yet reached the AFSC 5-skill level to achieve the pay grade of E-4, while according those who had NCO status. To differentiate the two ranks, the directive changed the silver star in the center of Airman, Airman First Class and Senior Airman changed to blue while the star on Sergeant chevrons remained silver. Having two ranks within one grade mirrored the Army's Specialist
Specialist (rank)
Specialist is one of the four junior enlisted ranks in the U.S. Army, just above Private First Class and equivalent in pay grade to Corporal. Unlike Corporals, Specialists are not considered junior non-commissioned officers...
/Corporal
Corporal
Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....
division of E-4. This dual role would last until March 1991 when then Chief of Staff General McPeak
Merrill A. McPeak
Merrill Anthony "Tony" McPeak was the 14th Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. He retired from the service on November 1, 1994.-Education:McPeak was born in Santa Rosa, California...
terminated the rank of Sergeant effective 2 May 1991. This termination was due in part to the manning reductions that occurred in the post-Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
drawdowns of the early 1990s. The last of the "Buck Sergeants" would have either been promoted or discharged under High Year Tenure
High Year Tenure
High Year of Tenure is a term used by the US Air Force to describe the maximum number of years a member may serve before he or she must separate or retire. HYT is only applicable to personnel in the ranks of Senior Airman through Chief Master Sergeant...
by December 1998.
The year 1991 also saw the last major change to the enlisted rank insignia. In October 1991 General McPeak and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Pfingston
Gary R. Pfingston
Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Gary R. Pfingston was the tenth Chief Master Sergeant appointed to the highest Non-commissioned officer position in the United States Air Force....
announced that the senior NCO tier would have new chevron layouts and that all chevrons would have a white star in the center. The change in senior NCO chevrons was the first since chevrons came into being in 1948. Since that time, Master Sergeant had been composed of six inverted chevrons (six down) with none pointing up, Senior Master Sergeant six down with one up and Chief Master Sergeant six down with two up. The new layout changed the insignia to the current layout (see chart above). The second change, changing the star color to white, was actually two changes in one. It added a star to the Airman through Senior Airman rank insignias where there had been none since 1975 (the blue star carried by these chevrons was the same color as the blue in the stripes giving the impression that the star was not there) and changing the silver star on the NCO and senior NCO chevrons to white.
In November 1998, the duty position of Senior Enlisted Advisor was changed to Command Chief Master Sergeant. Along with the change, the addition of a star in the empty blue area between the chevrons was added to denote those holding this position.
In November 2004, the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force insignia was updated to include the Great Seal of the United States
Great Seal of the United States
The Great Seal of the United States is used to authenticate certain documents issued by the United States federal government. The phrase is used both for the physical seal itself , and more generally for the design impressed upon it...
with a white star on either side. These additions were placed in the empty blue area between the chevrons.
Further reading
- Air Force Instruction 36-2618, The Enlisted Force Structure
- Air Force Instruction 36-2903, Dress and Personal Appearance of Air Force Personnel
- Technical Sergeant Spink, Barry L. "A Chronology of the Enlisted Rank Chevron of the United States Air Force, 19 February 1992." Air Force Historical Research Agency.