JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
Sometimes we impede our own progress because we overlook the small things.
The first time I heard the term "senior" as the term of address for a senior master sergeant was in 2004. It perplexed me because for the previous seven years, I was in a special duty outside of main stream Air Force culture. I thought to myself, "I sure do have some catching up to do."
Interestingly enough, I was attending the Senior Non-Commissioned Officer's Academy at the time and was returning from lunch with several classmates and none of them seemed bothered by the term, especially the senior master sergeant who was driving the vehicle.
So, I asked, "When did folks start referring to senior master sergeants as senior?" No one in the vehicle seemed to know when it started, but all seemed to infer that it is "just what they do now."
I could not believe what I had just heard. "Just what they do now?" I replied.
The car became awkwardly quiet. For me though, it created a dissonance that remains with me to this day.
Fast forward to 2011 and it seems that everyone from airman basics to senior officers use the term senior to address senior master sergeants. I have encountered resistance when correcting individuals for using senior as the term of address for senior master sergeants. The resistance I have received ranged from being told I was taking this too seriously, to rationalizing that since senior master sergeants and chiefs are the top two enlisted ranks, senior master sergeants should also have a term of address that distinguishes them from master sergeants and below, just like the term chief.
News Flash: The term chief is an official term of address as stated in AFI 36-2618. Senior is not.
Making excuses for using the term senior and disregarding what AFI 36-2618 states as the official term of address for senior master sergeants is counter to being accountable and following rules - two guiding principles of our first two core values - integrity first and service before self. When we overlook the small things the capacity to lead is diminished. Believe it or not - the small things are important!
In an ode to comedian Bill Saluga's character Raymond J. Johnson, Jr, "you can call me sergeant, you can call me senior master sergeant but you doesn't has'ta call me senior."