Chief Master Sgt. David Flosi, the current command chief at Air Force Materiel Command, was selected Monday to serve as the next chief master sergeant of the Air Force.
Flosi will take over as the Air Force’s top enlisted airman as the service positions itself to vie with China for global influence overseas, and as the service faces a stagnating workforce and a recruiting crisis at home.
“I’m honored and humbled to represent all airmen as your 20th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force,” Flosi said in a release Monday. “We are serving at a time of great consequence where success hinges on our ability to optimize this team toward the changing character of war.”
“It is time to follow through,” he said, echoing Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin’s push to continue modernizing the force.
Allvin picked Flosi from a pool of command chief master sergeants who were judged on their breadth of experience, professional recommendations and job performance. He was the “clear choice” among the Air Force’s “most highly respected” enlisted leaders, the service said.
“He is a phenomenal leader and wingman who will empower our total force,” Allvin said in the release. “His unique experiences, attitude and commitment will prove essential.”
As chief master sergeant of the Air Force, Flosi will become the leading voice for more than 260,000 active duty enlisted airmen and a key decision-maker on quality-of-life and career management issues.
Flosi will work closely with Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John Bentivegna and other enlisted leaders across the Department of the Air Force. He’ll also advise Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Troy Black, the U.S. military’s highest-ranking enlisted member, alongside his service-level counterparts in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Space Force.
Flosi joined the Air Force in 1996 as a nuclear weapons technician and rose through the ranks at units that oversee conventional and nuclear munitions in the U.S. and Europe, according to his official biography. He briefly deployed to Turkey and Iraq with the 1st Expeditionary Rescue Group in 2016.
For nearly two years, he served as the command chief master sergeant of an undisclosed unit before taking over as the top enlisted airman at the U.S.-led effort to train the Afghan air force in 2019.
Flosi arrived at the Air Force Sustainment Center at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, in March 2020, where he became command chief master sergeant of the service’s maintenance depots as the coronavirus pandemic ground the typical rhythm of daily life to a halt.
He was promoted in October 2021 to the top enlisted job at Air Force Materiel Command, which oversees the multibillion-dollar acquisition and sustainment portfolio for aircraft, munitions and other equipment across the service.
His military honors include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, Air and Space Commendation Medal, and Air and Space Achievement Medal.
Flosi will succeed Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass, who has been the Air Force’s highest-ranking noncommissioned leader since August 2020. It’s unclear when she will leave the post.
Bass — the first female CMSAF and the first Asian American to serve in the job — has advocated for higher pay and benefits for troops weathering economic instability, more mental health support and maintaining military discipline, among other priorities.
Critics have also blamed her for the flawed rollout of “myEval,” the service’s new online performance review system.
“Chief Flosi is an incredibly strong leader who has proven himself in every role at every level,” Bass said in the release. “I have no doubt he will continue building and developing our Air Force to be the future force our nation needs to compete, deter and win in any domain.”
Rachel Cohen is the editor of Air Force Times. She joined the publication as its senior reporter in March 2021. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Frederick News-Post (Md.), Air and Space Forces Magazine, Inside Defense, Inside Health Policy and elsewhere.
