Chief Master Sergeant: Achieving top one percent

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Rhett Isbell
  • 19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

Pinning on a hard-earned stripe is a sacred occasion for Air Force enlisted members, and no stripe is more coveted than that of chief master sergeant.

Achieving the rank of chief master sergeant is only possible for 1 percent of the Air Force enlisted structure. So when someone makes chief, they know they’ve earned it. U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgts. Juston Demke, Kimberly Johnson, Keith Jones, and Anngela Robinson were selected for promotion to chief Dec. 4, 2018 on Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, and with that promotion comes a whole new host of responsibilities.

“I think being a chief means you have an opportunity to really give back to the enlisted force,” said Chief Master Sgt. Jeremy Grider, 19th Mission Support Group superintendent. “As you climb the ladder of those stripes, you get to the top of the pyramid, and there’s some that want to look out and see everything that’s under their control, but it’s not like that. You need to flip that pyramid over so that you’re at the bottom and you’re holding up everything else.”

Finding such a giving mindset is common among chiefs. Many feel as though they only achieved the rank due to the contributions of their team members.

“Your people promote you,” said Chief Master Sgt. Kerry Parsons, 19th Civil Engineering Squadron superintendent. “I was told during my induction that, ‘This is the last day it’s about you,’ so that’s really when it hit home that my job was taking care of people.”