Chief master sergeant (E-9)
Chief master sergeant, pay grade E-9: the highest of the senior noncommissioned officer ranks in the US Air Force. The insignia is five stripes below a star in a circle and three stripes above it.
Easily confused with
- Senior master sergeant (E-8)Senior master sergeant, pay grade E-8: the second senior noncommissioned officer rank in the US Air Force. The insignia is five stripes below a star in a circle and two stripes above it.
- Command chief master sergeant (E-9)The same chevron; a command chief adds a star in the upper field.
How to read it
Chief master sergeant sits above senior master sergeant (two stripes above the star). The Airman handbook describes chiefs as holding strategic leadership positions, with substantial operational and occupational experience, and the Enlisted Force Structure makes the chief the senior enlisted leader and advisor to commanders. The abbreviation is CMSgt; chiefs are addressed as “Chief Master Sergeant” or “Chief”.
Also searched as: chief, CMSgt, E-9 air force.
Ranks and insignia as the Department of the Air Force’s own instructions and pages set them out. Pay grades are the Department of Defense’s.
Three chevrons with more in the middle
Two posts held by chiefs have chevrons of their own. A command chief master sergeant has a silver star in the upper field, between the top stripes and the star in its circle. The Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force has the Great Seal of the United States and two stars there. A chief serving as a first sergeant has a diamond (the Air Force’s rank graphics).
Where the three top stripes came from
The Military Pay Act of 1958 created E-9, and the Air Force first marked its chief master sergeants with two stripes on top of the master sergeant’s six. The 1990s redesign moved a stripe from the bottom, making the chevron three up and five down.
More air Force ranks
Browse symbols drawn with circles, curves and waves, lines or stars.
Sources
- U.S. Military Rank Insignia, Resources: U.S. Military Rank Insignia (enlisted and officer insignia by paygrade), U.S. Department of Defense (defense.gov), Enlisted insignia table, E-9
- Awards and Ranks: Enlisted Ranks (image gallery), af.mil, About Us, The Book: Enlisted Ranks, U.S. Air Force (af.mil), Image captions, Chief Master Sergeant (CMSgt)
- The Enlisted Force Structure, The Enlisted Force Structure, 4 September 2025, Department of the Air Force, published by Air University, Chapter 2, Force Structure; Chapter 5, Rank Specific Responsibilities
- AFH 1, Airman, Air Force Handbook 1, Airman, 15 February 2025, Department of the Air Force, §7.7, Senior Noncommissioned Officer Tier
- Stripes: A brief history of Air Force enlisted ranks, Randy Saunders, 50th Space Wing historian, 25 October 2011, U.S. Air Force (af.mil), paragraph on the Military Pay Act of 1958
- A Chronology of the Enlisted Rank Chevron of the United States Air Force, TSgt Barry L. Spink, Air Force Historical Research Agency, 19 February 1992, Department of the Air Force Historical Support Division, March 1948 and October 1991 entries
- A Study in Stripes, Walter J. Boyne, Air Force Magazine, 1 March 2008, Air & Space Forces Magazine (Air & Space Forces Association), “Making the Supergrade”; “Adding a Wreath”
Last reviewed September 29, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research