The chart below represents the current enlisted rank insignia of the United States Air Force.
US DoD pay grade | Special | E-9 | E-8 | E-7 | E-6 | E-5 | E-4 | E-3 | E-2 | E-1 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NATO code | OR-9 | OR-8 | OR-7 | OR-6 | OR-5 | OR-4 | OR-3 | OR-2 | OR-1 | |||||||
Insignia | No insignia | |||||||||||||||
Title | Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman | Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force | Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chief of the National Guard Bureau | Command chief master sergeant | Chief master sergeant[a] | Senior master sergeant[a] | Master sergeant[a] | Technical sergeant | Staff sergeant | Senior airman | Airman first class | Airman | Airman basic | |||
Abbreviation | SEAC | CMSAF | SEANGB | CCC/CCM | CMSgt | SMSgt | MSgt | TSgt | SSgt | SrA | A1C | Amn | AB |
While all Air Force military personnel are referred to as airmen, it can specifically refer to the pay grades of E-1 through E-4, which are below the level of non-commissioned officers (NCOs).[2] 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 and 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 and E-6).[2]
The Air Force and Space Force are the only ones of the six branches of the United States military where NCO status is now only achieved at the grade of E-5. Formerly, the grade of sergeant was obtained after a time as a senior airman and successful completion of the Air Force NCO School. 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 a "buck sergeant") which was noted by the presence of the central star and considered an NCO.[3] Despite not being an NCO, a senior airman who has completed Airman Leadership School can be a supervisor.[2]
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