Air Force gets new chief master sergeant

ARLINGTON, Va. — Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley has tapped Chief Master Sgt. Rodney McKinley, command chief master sergeant for Pacific Air Forces at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, as the next chief master sergeant of the Air Force.

McKinley will be the 15th airman to hold that post, succeeding Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Gerald Murray, who will retire this summer after 29 years in the military.

McKinley joined the Air Force in 1974. He left the service in 1977 to attend Saint Leo College in Florida, re-enlisted in 1982, and has worked his way up the career ladder ever since.

McKinley has served as the command chief master sergeant of the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein Air Base, Germany; the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley Air Force Base, Va.; the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing in Southwest Asia; and 11th Air Force at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.

McKinley will take his new post July 1, following Murray’s June 30 retirement ceremony at the Pentagon.

As the service’s top enlisted airman, the chief master sergeant of the Air Force serves as a personal adviser to both the Air Force chief of staff and secretary of the Air Force on all issues that involve enlisted airmen and their families.

He is also the official “voice” of the enlisted corps and represents its interests before other Pentagon and government departments, Congress, and the American public.