‘Senior’ no more Published March 18, 2009 By Senior Airman Bekah Phy 87th Air Base Wing public affairs McGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. -- Senior airman? Senior citizen? Just plain seniority? This could be quite confusing - especially for someone who is a senior master sergeant. As stated in AFI 36-2619, paragraph 5.2.2 in the Enlisted Force Structure, " ...The official term of address is senior master sergeant or sergeant. Note: 'Senior' is not an appropriate term of address for senior master sergeants." Chief Master Sgt. John Gillette, 305th Air Mobility Wing command chief, along with Gary Boyd, 87th Air Base Wing historian, said the prohibited term may have stemmed from joint operations of the Air Force with its sister services. With more frequent deployments and operations with other services, all cultures must be respected. The chief said he fully supports the prohibition and hopes no one is upset about it - with bigger issues to solve in the Air Force, this is nothing to be troubled over. "I know the term was offensive to some senior master sergeants and others relished in the novelty of the new title," he said. "I think most Airmen used it as a sign of respect to the second highest Air Force enlisted rank - I've been called 'senior' before and I took it as a sign of respect." However, offensive or not, McGuire leadership would like these newly-added words to the AFI to spread and be taken seriously. "The term 'senior' was never authorized, but because it was not specifically prohibited our Airmen decided it was appropriate," Chief Gillette said. "It is now prohibited in the instruction, therefore, there should not be any debate as to if we should use the term."