Air Force Museum
Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force
The Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force is the service's highest-ranking enlisted member and advises Air Force leadership on the enlisted force. The office gives enlisted experience a direct voice in decisions about readiness, training, morale, professional development, and quality of life. This display recognizes the people who have carried that responsibility.
In depth
History & service
On Oct. 24, 1966, the Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. John P. McConnell, announced the creation of the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force (CMSAF) position. In April 1967 CMSgt. Paul W. Airey became first to hold that position. The CMSAF serves as personal advisor to the Air Force Chief of Staff and the Secretary of the Air Force in all matters relating to USAF enlisted personnel.
Over the past three decades, each CMSAF has brought to the position unique talents and perspectives developed through long years of service. With skill, dedication, insight and hard work, the CMSAF ensures that USAF enlisted personnel has representation at the Air Staff level concerning issues of pay, housing, medical coverage, training, promotion and retirement.
Details that tell the story
Highest-ranking enlisted position in the U.S. Air Force · Advises senior leaders on enlisted matters · Represents Airmen across the service
What survives after the mission
A museum object begins a second life when it stops performing its original job. An aircraft that once carried a crew becomes a place for public memory. A jacket, letter, medal, or small piece of equipment can preserve a much more intimate connection. The object is valuable both for what it reveals physically and for the documented story that gives it meaning.
Famous aircraft and individuals can make a complicated history approachable, but they are only part of it. Many people left no celebrated machine behind. Memorials, personal possessions, unit records, and photographs help recover the experiences of those whose service was less visible. They also preserve loss, separation, captivity, recovery, and the consequences of war for families and communities.
Preservation involves choices. Restoring an aircraft may make its design easier to understand, while retaining wear or damage may protect evidence of its use. A reproduction can explain how a machine worked, provided its identity remains clear. Linking objects across collections helps fill the gaps created when surviving material is dispersed. A uniform in one gallery, an aircraft in another, and a memorial elsewhere can illuminate the same history from different directions. The result is more than a record of machines: it is a way to keep the people, decisions, and experiences connected to them in view.
