Staff sergeant (E-5)
Staff sergeant, pay grade E-5: the first noncommissioned officer rank in the US Air Force. The insignia is four stripes with a star in a circle at their middle.
Easily confused with
How to read it
Staff sergeant is the lower of the two NCO ranks, above senior airman (three stripes) and below technical sergeant (five stripes). The Airman handbook describes staff sergeants as skilled technicians with supervisory and training responsibilities, and says the 7-skill level is typically earned at this rank; in the Enlisted Force Structure they directly supervise Airmen. The abbreviation is SSgt, and staff sergeants are addressed as “Staff Sergeant” or “Sergeant”.
Also searched as: E-5 air force, SSgt.
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.
Air Force staff sergeant is E-5, Army staff sergeant is E-6
The same title sits at different pay grades. The Department of War’s insignia tables put the Air Force staff sergeant at E-5 and the Army and Marine Corps staff sergeants at E-6, where the Air Force has technical sergeant. The first NCO rank differs too: the tables name an Army sergeant, an Air Force staff sergeant and a Marine corporal as NCO ranks.
Four stripes since 1948
Staff sergeant had four stripes in the first Air Force chevrons, chosen in 1948. The count did not change when the ranks were renamed in 1967, or in 1991, when staff sergeant became the entry NCO rank again (the Air Force Historical Research Agency’s chronology; Air & Space Forces Magazine).
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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-5 and E-6; NCO paragraph
- Awards and Ranks: Enlisted Ranks (image gallery), af.mil, About Us, The Book: Enlisted Ranks, U.S. Air Force (af.mil), Image caption, Staff Sergeant stripes
- 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 4, Rank Specific Responsibilities
- AFH 1, Airman, Air Force Handbook 1, Airman, 15 February 2025, Department of the Air Force, §7.6, Noncommissioned Officer Tier
- 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 19 October 1967 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”
Last reviewed September 29, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research