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Technical Sergeant

Air Force Master Sergeant

E-7 Noncommissioned Officer, U.S. Air Force
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Senior Master Sergeant

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How to get promoted to Master Sergeant History of the Air Force Master Sergeant Rank

A Master Sergeant is a Noncommissioned Officer in the United States Air Force at DoD paygrade E-7.

The modern-day non-commissioned officer ranks were created after the First World War in order to streamline the ranking system. The Army had many different sergeants based on skills (radio sergeants, supply sergeants…) Congress decided to unify them into a few ranks: staff sergeant, technical sergeant, and master sergeant. The titles would be based on experience and leadership rather than a particular skill.

The Air Force adopted the Army’s NCO titles when it split from them.

Want to learn more? Read about the Air Force's Master Sergeant rank on Military-Ranks.org.


History of the Air Force

The Air Force was founded in 1947, just after WWII. It was created using most of the existing Army Air Corps that had just made significant contributions to the war effort. The Air Force is the most technological of the branches, as well as the "most business-like" (least strict). There is a general concensus in the military that quality of life for servicemembers in the Air Force is highest. Just as the Army fights land wars and the Navy fights sea wars, the Air Force was originally envisioned to fight air wars. While wars in the past 70 years couldn't be fought with aircraft alone, the age of Drones and Artificial Intelligence may cause a paradigm shift where air-only wars are possible.