Air Force Dental Hygienist Attains Rank of Chief Master Sergeant

Crystal M. Jarvis, RDH, has been promoted to Chief Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force, the highest enlisted rank. Only 1% of the enlisted force can hold the rank of Chief Master Sergeant at one time. She is the first Air Force dental hygienist to achieve this grade.

CMSgt Jarvis is the superintendent of the 86th Aerospace Medicine Squadron, Ramstein Air Base in Germany. As the senior enlisted leader of the largest overseas aerospace medicine squadron, she is responsible for advising the commander on all matters affecting the health, morale, readiness, development, and effective utilization of 128 medics. The squadron provides bioenvironmental engineering, flight and operational medicine, optometry, public health, and health-promotion services for 47,000 beneficiaries across Europe, Africa, and Southwest Asia. The unit also includes the En-Route Patient Staging Flight, which transports wounded enlisted members who need higher levels of medical care.

“Becoming the first Air Force dental hygienist to earn the rank of Chief Master Sergeant is humbling and extremely exciting,” Jarvis explains. “It’s exciting because now dental hygienists know that it is possible to achieve something we thought was impossible for so long. The road is paved, and I am sure there will be many more to follow.”

The US Air Force has approximately 64 active duty dental hygienists serving overseas and stateside. Air Force dental hygienists ensure the Air Force Warfighter is dentally ready to deploy at any time, which encompasses providing treatment, education, and community outreach to the US Department of Defense beneficiaries.

From Dimensions of Dental Hygiene. May 2018;16(5):12.