Chief Master Sergeant Rank Insignia
Military s top enlisted service member unveiled a new distinctive rank insignia specifically for the senior enlisted adviser to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
Chief master sergeant rank insignia. The rank insignia for senior master sergeant is the same as the master sergeant s three silver downward pointing chevrons outlined in blue with an encircled star at the point with two curved chevrons below the star but with two upward pointing chevrons over the downward pointing ones instead of just one. Enlisted insignia officer insignia officer insignia enlisted insignia. Equivalent ranks to a navy master chief petty officer. The original chief master sergeant rank insignia 1958 1994 consisted of 2 chevrons on top 3 stripes in the middle and 3 rockers on bottom.
Cmsaf is a unique non commissioned rank in the united states air force. A chief master sergeant is a noncommissioned officer with a military paygrade of e 9. Several designs were proposed for the new chevron including an additional stripe on top of the existing chief master sergeant chevron 6 down 3 up. The rank insignia were reduced to seven grades and eight ranks first sergeant was considered a senior grade of technical sergeant and were numbered from g1 for the highest rank master sergeant to g7 for the lowest private second class.
The holder of this rank and position of office represents the highest enlisted level of leadership in the air force unless an enlisted airmen is serving as the senior enlisted advisor to the chairman. Washington the u s. Paul airey becomes the first chief master sergeant of the air force cmsaf and dons the new cmsaf chevron. The civilian equivalent of this military rank is roughly gs 6 under the federal government s general schedule payscale.
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. Until his retirement in 2003 chief master sergeant norman marous was the air force s senior most chief master sergeant having served in the air force since 1962. 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. A master chief petty officer is a senior noncommissioned officer with a military paygrade of e 9.
The table below lists the equivalent ranks.