Airman (E-2)

How to read it

The insignia has a single stripe swept upward on each side of a circle holding a star, the design a majority of 150 airmen polled in March 1948 chose for the Air Force’s enlisted chevrons. Airman is the second of the four junior enlisted ranks: above airman basic (E-1), who wears no insignia, and below airman first class, who wears two stripes. The Enlisted Force Structure describes an airman as learning military standards, customs and courtesies and working to become mission-ready in an assigned job, and the Airman handbook says an airman still requires significant supervision and support. The abbreviation is Amn.

Also searched as: Amn, E-2 air force.

Airman or airman first class?

The stripes tell them apart: one for an airman, two for an airman first class. The Air Force Historical Research Agency’s chronology of the chevron dates these counts to October 1967, when airman got one stripe and airman first class two.

The E-2 rank in other services

The Army’s E-2 is private (private second class). The Marine Corps’ E-2 is private first class, a title the Army uses for E-3.