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Charter Chief chats about change

11 Mar 2004 | Master Sgt. Dee Ann Poole

When Chief Master Sgt. Jim Flaschenriem was promoted to the Air Force’s highest enlisted grade Dec. 1, 1959, there was no tradition to the event.

As one of the first to be promoted to that rank, he said it "wasn't very exciting.

"When the first chiefs were made, most of us who were promoted had already been in these higher positions for months or years," the chief said.

Known as a Charter Chief because he was one of the first 625 Airmen to be promoted to chief master sergeant, Chief Flaschenriem said many changes have taken place since his promotion.

"We were all sergeants,” he said. “We didn't get called ‘chief’ until we forced the issue in the early 1970s. So even Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Paul Airey was addressed as Sergeant Airey."

Chief Flaschenriem said when he was promoted, he did not change jobs, get new authority or even a new telephone number. Additionally, the senior and chief program did not create any new grade vacancies. The Air Force simply took a master sergeant position and changed it to a chief master sergeant position.

"Most of the young people today look at the rank of chief as a prestigious rank,” Chief Flaschenriem said. “It wasn't back then. There was a lot of jealousy.”

When he was promoted, there were between 58,000 and 60,000 master sergeants.

He said many of them had dates of rank in 1942 and 1943.

"Back then, time in grade was a big thing for promotion,” said Chief Flaschenriem who earned his stripe in 11 years, 5 months and seven days. “They felt they should be the first ones promoted. So many of them grew unhappy when they didn't get promoted -- they retired. We lost some good people, but we also lost some we didn't need, and it opened it up (slots) so we could move younger, better-educated people [into those openings].”

Promoted when he was 31 while assigned to Strategic Air Command at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., the chief said he believes he was the best qualified. However, he said in today's Air Force, he would not be mature enough to handle the job.

Promotions to senior and chief master sergeant were designed for three reasons, he said. The first was the technology explosion.

"We needed enlisted people with greater education, greater leadership ability and higher technical knowledge,” he said. “These guys who had dates of rank of 1942 and 1943 weren't necessarily them.”

Grade suppression was another reason the new ranks were implemented.

"It's a military term that's no longer (used), but it was master sergeants supervising one or more master sergeants,” Chief Flaschenriem said. “I was a personnel sergeant major, but I had three master sergeants under me, all of who were senior to me. That was not a good situation.”

The third reason for the new ranks was grade stagnation.

"These old guys were hanging around,” he said. “They were kind of retired on active duty, and we couldn't get any promotions.”

While the Air Force's chiefs asked for special recognition through a different uniform, special privileges or being addressed as chief, Chief Flaschenriem said the requests fell on deaf ears.

"When I look back on it, I think the officers at that time didn't have much education either,” he said. “They were afraid the chief might steal some of their thunder. They didn't really want the program to succeed. We weren't about to let it sink."

He said as more people were promoted to chief, they formed a chiefs group and in the late 1960s again asked to be addressed as chief. Once again, the request was denied so the chiefs took it upon themselves to call each other chief, and it soon caught on "like a California forest fire."

"And it just spread. It was such a natural thing,” said Chief Flaschenriem, who retired in 1968. “And suddenly, the chief was set apart."

He also stressed the importance of the change that came about between officers and enlisted Airmen. In the early days, Chief Flaschenriem said, enlisted Airmen were treated like a herd of cattle.

For instance, he said, when he sewed on his chief stripes, he had no authority to sign a requisition for a roll of toilet paper.

"The only time I could sign my name to any document was when I re-enlisted or signed out on leave," he said.

He also said there was no communication between the officers and enlisted Airmen. That changed, though, when the first group of officers graduated from the Air Force Academy in the late 1950s.

“[They were the] sharpest, smartest, best-educated young lieutenants we ever had," Chief Flaschenriem said. "When they came in, they weren't worried about the chiefs stealing their thunder. The chiefs took these kids under their wing and helped them get started. As they came in, this formed a new type of officer leadership and opened the dialogue between officers and enlisted members.

"It formed a new respect that had never been known before,” he said. “Until then, we were just like a herd of cattle. Then suddenly, the enlisted people were treated with respect. When these academy graduates hit the field grade (rank), they didn't hesitate to give chiefs the authority to do things.”

Today, the chief said he is proud of the role he played in shaping the Air Force.

"I'm proud that I had to the opportunity to be a small part of building this great Air Force,” he said. “I'm also proud of the people who are serving today. It does my heart good that we still have young people who want to serve.” (Courtesy of Air Combat Command News Service)