Chief authorizations through 2011 to be downgraded

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WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  A board recently completed a chief master sergeant grade review that will downgrade the number of authorizations in which the top one percent of the enlisted force will serve.

Based on budgetary restraints over the next three years, chief master sergeant manning authorizations at most major commands will decrease.

"Fiscal reality drove the need for us to reexamine our placement of chief master sergeants," said Lt. Gen. Richard Y. Newton III, deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services. "We have spent eight months working through a review of our chief master sergeant grades, specifically, a comparative analysis of current placement versus future requirements."

The eleven-member board, chaired by Lt. Gen. Chris Kelly, vice commander of Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., was charged to review 2,806 requests for chief authorizations submitted by the major commands.

"The carefully selected board members, made up of three general officers and eight chiefs, represented diverse command and functional perspectives," General Newton said. "They formulated a list of recommendations, including an order-of-merit ranking that I have approved."

The order-of-merit ranking provides the "cut line." Positions above the line, based on end-strength, will be funded as chief master sergeant grades and those below the line will be downgraded to senior master sergeant billets. For fiscal years 2009-2011, 2,483 authorizations will be funded.

The board designated 178 grades as "directed grades," or positions that will always be filled by a chief master sergeant. These include, but are not limited to chief master sergeant of the Air Force, command chiefs and commandants at noncommissioned and senior noncommissioned officer academies.

Other grades will be reviewed by a board every four years or when directed by manpower, personnel and services officials at the Pentagon.

Changes to the order of merit are frozen until Sept. 30, 2009. Requests for exceptions based on emerging missions and organizational changes must be coordinated through the Manpower and Organization Directorate and the Chiefs' Group.

Major commands will be notified of the chief master sergeant grade allocations through the command's manpower and organization chiefs or equivalent.

For more information on or questions about the chief master sergeant grade review, please contact the Chiefs' Group, DSN 664-8153, Comm: 703-604-8153. 

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