Question reminder of history's importance

I had just finished briefing a group of first-term airman on the enlisted force structure, when I asked them if they had any questions. Most of them had a glazed-over look; an airman in the back row yawned.

Hardly ever does someone raise their hand, so I was surprised when an airman in the front row did.

“Sir,” he said as he stood up from his chair, “I was wondering where the term ‘first shirt’ came from.”

Of course the one time I get a question it would be my luck that I wouldn’t know the answer. But like they teach you in public speaking class, I simply told him I didn’t know the answer but that I would get him one.

Like any good researcher, I went to the number one source of information: Google.

I typed in the search engine and found a research paper that was published on the Air University website that dealt specifically with this subject. It was authored by retired CMSgt Roger Ball, a prior Commandant of the Air Force First Sergeant Academy.

Ball wrote that during the Indian wars of the 1800s, when troops lived on the trail for weeks and months at a time, they would only have one uniform. And as can be expected from this kind of rustic living their uniforms were caked in a foul mixture of dirt, sweat, and blood.

But when the disheveled soldiers would see a supply wagon trundling over the horizon, leaving a trail of dust in its wake, they knew they would soon receive fresh supplies and new uniforms.

And part of the first sergeant’s job was to inspect the supplies, as the soldiers unloaded the wagon. Once the inspection was complete, the first sergeant would get the pick of the new uniforms and don the first shirt before anyone else — hence the origin of the name “first shirt.”

I’d found my answer, but I’d also found an example of how the role of the first sergeant has evolved.

The first sergeant taking his pick of the uniforms, as opposed to looking after his troops first, would be the modern day equivalent of the first sergeant taking their pick of a new shipment of boots.

I spoke to a Cannon AFB first sergeant who told me, “I would get the boots for my airman before looking after myself, and would only take something out of the leftovers.”

This statement illustrates the type of “servant-leadership” that today’s first sergeants embody. They are selfless leaders who focus on taking care of their people’s needs before their own.

And going back to the airman’s questions that started this all, we so often use words in the military without knowing where they originate. And it’s only when we look back that we’re able to understand where we’ve come from.

I was glad the curious airman stumped me with his question — I would have never learned this story otherwise.

Kitsana Dounglomchan, a 12-year Air Force veteran, writes about his life and times for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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