Migration
Air Force studies letting staff, tech sergeants serve longer in rank
Stars and Stripes
July 31, 2018
Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Kaleth O. Wright speaks to U.S. Air Force airmen during an enlisted all-call at Ramstein Air Base, Germany on Thursday, July 26, 2018. He held a town hall at Spangdahlem Air Base on Friday. (D. Blake Browning/U.S. Air Force)
The Air Force is considering an extension on the amount of time staff sergeants can serve in their rank before being forced to retire, the service’s top enlisted leader said.
Chief Master Sgt. Kaleth O. Wright said the service is examining the merits of allowing staff sergeants to extend their time from 15 to 20 years during a recent town hall meeting at Spangdahlem Air Base.
“We like to do a little bit of data analysis, we want to make sure we do the correct research, we want to make sure we understand the second- and third-order effects before we pull the trigger,” Wright said.
Wright’s comments, first reported by Military.com, came from a video posted on the Facebook page Air Force Amn/Nco/Snco.
During the Friday town hall meeting, Wright said extending the amount of time airmen can serve in grade could help with retention and that the idea could eventually be expanded to include technical sergeants, which would allow them to serve up to 22 years instead of 20.
Wright said an area of concern was that extensions could create a potential promotional logjam. But Wright said he thought the effects on promotions would be minimal.