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Airman basic (AB) is the lowest enlisted rank in the
Airman basic (AB) is the lowest enlisted rank in the United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
immediately below airman
An airman is a member of an air force or air arm of a nation's armed forces. In certain air forces, it can also refer to a specific enlisted rank. An airman can also be referred as a soldier in other definitions.
In civilian aviation usage, t ...
. The pay grade A pay grade is a unit in systems of monetary compensation for employment. It is commonly used in public service, both civil and military, but also for companies of the private sector. Pay grades facilitate the employment process by providing a fix ...
for airman basic is E-1.
As opposed to all other USAF enlisted and officer ranks, airman basic has no rank insignia affiliated. The lack of uniform insignia for airman basic is the reason for the nickname "slick-sleeve"; all other enlisted Air Force ranks wear stripes and chevrons on their uniform sleeves.
In accordance with Air Force Instruction An Air Force Instruction (AFI) is a documented instruction for members of the United States Air Force intended for use by active duty, guard, and reserve members and associated civilians. It is one of many forms of directives published by the Air F ...
(AFI) 36-2618, ''The Enlisted Force Structure'', the term of address for an airman basic is "Airman Basic" or "Airman".
History
When the U.S. Air Force was split from theU.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
on July 26, 1947, it inherited the U.S. Army's enlisted ranks; the lowest U.S. Air Force enlisted rank became "private" (falling immediately below private, E-2), which wore no rank insignia.
In March 1952, the Air Council
Air Council (or Air Force Council) was the governing body of the Royal Air Force until the merger of the Air Ministry with the other armed forces ministries to form the Ministry of Defence in 1964. It was succeeded by the Air Force Board.
Me ...
and United States Air Force Chief of Staff
The chief of staff of the Air Force (acronym: CSAF, or AF/CC) is a statutory office () held by a General (United States), general in the United States Air Force, and as such is the principal military advisor to the United States Secretary of t ...
General Hoyt Vandenberg
Hoyt Sanford Vandenberg (January 24, 1899 – April 2, 1954) was a United States Air Force general. He served as the second Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and the second Director of Central Intelligence.
During World War II, Vandenberg was t ...
adopted a number of changes to the U.S. Air Force enlisted rank structure that had been recommended by studies made in 1950 and 1951. On April 24, 1952, Air Force Regulation 39-36 was published, changing the name of the lowest enlisted U.S. Air Force rank to "basic airman"—whose holders still bore no insignia—immediately below the new "airman third class".
On February 5, 1959, the new Air Force regulation governing the titles of enlisted ranks was released; the only change being direction that the title for E-1 was changed from "basic airman" to "airman basic".
Promotion from airman basic
Under normal circumstances, airmen basic are eligible for promotion to airman (E-2) after six months' time in grade (TIG). However, individuals enlisting for six years are promoted from AB to airman first class (A1C) upon completion of either technical training (or 20 weeks thereof) or the indoctrination course for combat control orpararescue
Pararescuemen (also known as PJs) are United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) and Air Combat Command (ACC) operators tasked with recovery and medical treatment of personnel in humanitarian and combat environments. These speci ...
.
In accordance with AFI 36-2502, ''Airman Promotion Program'', all promotions from AB require that an airman's immediate commanding officer approve the promotion in writing before he or she may assume it.
See also
* *References
{{US enlisted ranks Enlisted ranks of the United States Air Force Beginners and newcomers