Chief Master Sergeant Michael I. Lampe Warrior ... - Sgt. Mac's Bar

AU/ACSC/8273/AY07
been with the unit 10 years. It’s going to be difficult leaving the unit and the people up there.” 67
Thus, Chief Lampe and his family left the 1724 th STS for USSOCOM in June 1991.
U.S. Special Operations Command
Chief Lampe avoided being General Stiner’s SEA earlier in his career when Stiner was
the commander of Joint Special Operations Command. He wanted Lampe, and in retrospect,
Lampe should have taken the job. 68 To this day, Lampe believes he could have positively
impacted the STS and SOF community to a greater degree had he taken the position. Regardless,
Stiner wanted him at USSOCOM and he was not going to be denied this time. For the reasons
General Stiner wanted Lampe at USSOCOM, Lampe did not let his boss down. He took the
position over from the longest serving SEAL, Rudy Boesch, and took the command and his
position to higher levels.
Chief Lampe tackled many issues and superbly represented the Special Operations
enlisted force during a six year stint in the Command Chief billet. One of those issues was his
duty title and the USAF position which played out over several years. Being the first USAF
Chief Master Sergeant to serve in the position known as the Command Sergeant Major’s (CSM)
position, he took the traditional naming convention for the USAF, Senior Enlisted Advisor.
However, the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, CMSAF Pfingston, specifically told
Lampe that he was not authorized to use that title since the USAF did not recognize the position,
and recommended that he use the title Command Sergeant Major. Disgruntled with that position,
and clearly not desiring to use an Army title, Lampe developed a strategy to overcome this
difference of opinion. Rumor had it that the MAC SEA, CMSgt Campanale, was going to be the
next CMSAF. Lampe visited with Campanale and got to know him, in anticipation of his next
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