Simplifying Air Force Ranks
You may be wondering why I’m including this in this course if you aren’t the one who is joining. Why do you need to know the ranks? Well, technically you don’t need to know them. But you should be slightly familiar with them because once your Airman graduates BMT, they will talk using military lingo and it might be hard to keep up if you don’t understand any of it.
Here is a rough equivalent of what a rank would be in the civilian world so when your Airman talks about their job and they mention a Technical Sergeant, you know that this represents a Shift Supervisor or a position close to that. This will help you feel more in tune with what they are going through by relating it to a civilian management structure.
The most important thing to know is that there are 2 different pipelines for rank. Enlisted and Officer. Enlisted includes ranks E1 through E-9. Officer includes ranks O-1 through O-10. In order to be an officer you must attend the Air Force academy and graduate. You can also apply for Officer Training School (OTS) if you have a bachelor degree as a civilian or after obtaining one while serving. It is very difficult and competitive to become an officer in the Air Force. Officers are seen as management in the Air Force and could be viewed as white collar jobs. . In the Air Force, only officers can be pilots as well. Most of the enlisted force would be considered blue collar jobs.
New worker
E-1 Airman Basic
E-2 Airman
E-3 Airman First Class
Slightly experienced worker
E-4 Senior Airman
Shift supervisor
E-5 Staff Sergeant
E-6 Technical Sergeant
Department manager
E-7 Master Sergeant
Store Manager
E-8 Senior Master Sergeant
O-1 Second Lieutenant
O-2 First Lieutenant
General Manager
E-9 Chief Master Sergeant
O-3 Captain
O-4 Major
O-5 Lieutenant Major
Regional Manager
O-6 Colonel
Vice-President
O-7 Brigadier General
President
O-8 Major General
O-9 Lieutenant General
CEO
O-10 General
