Airman first class

Last updated November 06, 2024

Airman first class (A1C) is the third enlisted rank in the United States Air Force, just above airman and below senior airman. The male form of rank designation also applies to women. The rank of airman first class is considered a junior enlisted rank, with the non-commissioned officers and senior non-commissioned officers above it.

Etymology

Airmen first class are often nicknamed "dragonfly wings" due to the insignia's resemblance to that insect's two pairs of wings.

History

At its cleanest, the rank name "airman first class", created in 1952, first applied to the paygrade rank of E-4 (1952–1967), then was applied to the paygrade of E-3, from 1967 onward.

Over those years, as the air force changed rank names for the E-1 through E-4 paygrades, some names were moved between ranks. In greater detail, from 1947 to 1952, the E-3 rank was named "air force corporal", renamed "airman second class" (A2C) in 1952, and, as stated, renamed airman first class since 1967. From 1952 to 1959, the E-1 rank was "basic airman", wording rearranged to airman basic from 1959, left unchanged since; the E-2 rank was "airman third class" (A3C), renamed to simply airman in 1967; and, from 1952 to 1967, the E-4 rank was, as stated, "airman first class", renamed to "air force sergeant" (a.k.a. "buck sergeant"), a supervisory non-commissioned officer, in 1967, with the name senior airman added as a second, non-supervisory, E-4 rank in 1976 –continuing until 1998, when the last E-4 buck sergeant left the Air Force, and all remaining (and future) E-4s carried the name senior airman.^[1]^[2]

Criteria

Promotion to airman first class occurs upon one or more of the following:

Completion of 10 months time in the grade of airman (or earlier for airmen with specific specialities)
Completion of three years of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) sponsored by any of the four branches of the service
Completion of two years of college-level Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC)
Earning the Billy Mitchell Award in the Civil Air Patrol ^[3]
Completion of at least 45 semester hours or at least 67 quarter hours of accredited junior college/college credits.^[4]
Agreeing to an extended-length enlistment (normally six years).

Those personnel who qualify for these early promotions to airman first class wear the insignia of this rank during their basic training graduation ceremonies at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, except for those who signed up for an extended enlistment. They receive their promotions to airman first class twenty weeks after graduation from basic military training or graduation from their technical training schools, whichever comes first. Enlistees who have signed up for initial six-year enlistment periods have usually qualified and done so in return for a guarantee of up to two years of training in Department of Defense and Air Force schools in highly-technical specialities such as electronics, weapons systems, physician's assistant or nursing. To qualify for all of this, the enlistee must have graduated from high school and scored highly on Air Force technical aptitude tests. On the bottom line, they spend up to two years in training at the expense of the Air Force, and then they pay back by serving at least an additional four years after their schooling. They also get an early promotion to airman first class as additional compensation.^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Those who are promoted to this level upon completion of basic training also receive a retroactive pay increment that brings them up to the E-3 pay grade corresponding to airman first class, going back to day one of their enlistment. In other words, they get paid as if they had enlisted as an airman first class. However, if for some reason they get expelled from basic training, they do not receive this extra pay, and just get paid as airmen basic for the time that they spent in the Air Force before getting discharged. This is after the Air Force deducts the cost of basic hygiene products and other costs like shaving razors from the recruits.

Airmen first class are considered to be fully adjusted to Air Force and military life, and their duties focus on efficiently and effectively carrying out their assignments and honing their job skills.

Notes

↑ The U.S. Navy has very similar six-year enlistments for nuclear power, and electronics.

Related Research Articles

A private is a soldier, usually with the lowest rank in many armies. Soldiers with the rank of private may be conscripts or they may be professional (career) soldiers.

A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who does not hold a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. In contrast, commissioned officers usually enter directly from a military academy, officer training corps (OTC) or reserve officer training corps (ROTC), or officer candidate school (OCS) or officer training school (OTS), after receiving a post-secondary degree.

Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corresponds to commanding a section or squad of soldiers.

Airman basic (AB) is the lowest enlisted rank in the United States Air Force immediately below airman. The male form of rank designation also applies to women. The pay grade for airman basic is E-1.

An airman is a member of an air force or air arm of a nation's armed forces. In certain air forces, it can also refer to a specific enlisted rank. An airman can also be referred to as a soldier in other definitions. As a military rank designation, the male form of address also applies to women.

A petty officer (PO) is a non-commissioned officer in many navies. Often they may be superior to a seaman, and subordinate to more senior non-commissioned officers, such as chief petty officers.

The chart below represents the current enlisted rank insignia of the United States Air Force.

Senior airman (SrA) is the fourth enlisted rank in the United States Air Force, just above airman first class and below staff sergeant. The rank designation is the same for male and female. It has a pay grade of E-4. Between its approval on 30 December 1975 and 19 March 1991, senior airmen wore sleeve chevrons with blue center stars instead of silver to distinguish them from the non-commissioned officer rank of "sergeant", also a pay grade of E-4. The latter was abolished in 1991 and the blue center star was changed to white to conform to all enlisted rank chevrons.

A chief master sergeant is the military rank for a senior non-commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries.

The Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force is a unique non-commissioned rank in the United States Air Force. The holder of this rank and position of office represents the highest enlisted level of leadership in the Air Force, unless an enlisted airman is serving as the senior enlisted advisor to the chairman. The CMSAF provides direction for the enlisted corps and represents their interests, as appropriate, to the American public, and to those in all levels of government. The CMSAF is appointed by the Air Force chief of staff (AF/CC) and serves as the senior enlisted advisor to the Air Force chief of staff and the secretary of the Air Force on all issues regarding the welfare, readiness, morale, and proper utilization and progress of the enlisted force.

The ranks in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reflect an individual's level in the military.

Specialist is a military rank in some countries' armed forces. Two branches of the United States Armed Forces use the rank. It is one of the four junior enlisted ranks in the United States Army, above private (PVT), private (PV2), and private first class and is equivalent in pay grade to corporal; in the United States Space Force, four grades of specialist comprise the four junior enlisted ranks below the rank of sergeant.

The Airman's coin is a challenge coin that is awarded to United States Air Force enlisted Airmen upon completion of Basic Military Training at Lackland AFB, Texas. After the award of the coin the individual is no longer referred to as "trainee," but as "Airman," marking the successful completion of the first phase of training in becoming an Airman in the United States Air Force.

In the United States Armed Forces, the ranks of warrant officer and chief warrant officer are rated as officers above all non-commissioned officers, candidates, cadets, and midshipmen, but subordinate to the lowest officer grade of O‑1. This application differs from the Commonwealth of Nations and other militaries, where warrant officers are the most senior of the other ranks, equivalent to the U.S. Armed Forces grades of E‑8 and E‑9.

Airman Leadership School (ALS) is a 24 duty day United States Air Force program designed to develop airmen into effective front-line supervisors. It is the first professional military education that enlisted Air Force members encounter. ALS focuses on developing leadership abilities, the profession of arms, and building effective communication. ALS was established in the 1990s, replacing the Non-commissioned Officer (NCO) Preparatory Course and NCO Leadership School.

First sergeant is typically a senior non-commissioned officer rank, used in many countries.

The senior enlisted advisor to the chief of the National Guard Bureau is the top enlisted person in the National Guard of the United States; which is a joint reserve component of the United States Army and the United States Air Force.

The chief master sergeant of the Space Force (CMSSF) is the senior enlisted advisor to the chief of space operations and the secretary of the Air Force. The chief master sergeant of the Space Force is the most senior enlisted guardian in the U.S. Space Force, unless an enlisted guardian is serving as the senior enlisted advisor to the chairman.

Members of Civil Air Patrol are assigned various ranks, the titles and insignia of which are based on those used by the United States Air Force. Each grade and insignia corresponds to an equivalent United States Air Force enlisted rank insignia and an equivalent officer rank insignia.

References

↑ "A Chronology of the Air Force Enlisted Chevrons", page 5
↑ Spink, Barry L. "A Chronology of the Enlisted Rank Chevron of the United States Air Force", Air Force Historical Research Agency, February 19, 1992, page 14.
↑ Cadet Super Chart. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine .
↑ "http://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/af_a1/publication/afi36-2002/afi36-2002.pdf" Air Force Instruction 36-2002, Enlisted Accessions. Paragraph 4.5.1, Table 4.1, Rule 2. 11 July 2017.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[5] The U.S. Navy has very similar six-year enlistments for nuclear power, and electronics.

[1] "A Chronology of the Air Force Enlisted Chevrons", page 5

[2] Spink, Barry L. "A Chronology of the Enlisted Rank Chevron of the United States Air Force", Air Force Historical Research Agency, February 19, 1992, page 14.

[3] Cadet Super Chart. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine .

[4] "http://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/af_a1/publication/afi36-2002/afi36-2002.pdf" Air Force Instruction 36-2002, Enlisted Accessions. Paragraph 4.5.1, Table 4.1, Rule 2. 11 July 2017.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[lower-alpha 1]