Who do we address as First Sergeant?

MSG Mason,

How do you identify the senior NCO at the company or equivalent level if they are not a Master Sergeant or E8 grade that distinguishes the difference to those not the senior NCO, but the same rank?

There needs to be a way to make that distinction. I have a unit in the battalion authorized a CPT/O3 commander, but not a 1SG/MSG/E8 senior NCO. The senior NCO in the detachment authorized and on hand is a SFC/E7 who I treat just like the other senior NCOs (First Sergeants) in the other companies/ detachments, as a First Sergeant, because those are the duties he performs.

"The position of 1SG designates the senior NCO at company level." AR 600-20 (2-18. b. (3))

I've also served as a detachment sergeant in two detachments with O-3s as detachment commanders.   I'm not HR but it's my understanding that any detachment sergeants' NCOERs will not say "First Sergeant" and they will not have credit as a First Sergeant no matter what they're called even though the bullets will show first sergeant level performance, hopefully.  Depending on their branch they'll still have to pull First Sergeant time to get credit for it and be competitive with their peers at the E9 board. I've been called Sergeant Major when filling in for my CSM as the senior First Sergeant a couple of times and I was called "Sergeant Major" by some even though I knew I wasn't really a Sergeant Major.  I NEVER expected to be called something I wasn't and (just one guy's opinion) neither should a detachment sergeant who knows he's not a First Sergeant. They know they're not on First Sergeant lateral appointment orders so calling them a different title of address and a different title than their MTOE position won't make them a First Sergeant. I believe they should make the title of Detachment Sergeant one to be proud of instead of being called something they're not and giving the impression they're hiding from their title of address as a company level senior enlisted advisor.

This is all an academic discussion and just one guy's opinion so I hope nobody reads it and gets emotional about it. Just because it's my opinion doesn't make it right when the reg conflicts with itself. The ambiguity in guidance allows local flexibility per a commander's policy so we as an Army can adapt to local conditions.

MSG Mason,

I appreciate your cadid reply.

I agree that the Detachment Sergeant (or any SFC/E7) serving in the First Sergeant position should NEVER expect to be called First Sergeant, nor force anyone to call him/her that.

I am viewing this from the BN CDR perspective and I saw the detachment SFC/E7 as a First Sergeant, so I call him that. Putting myself as a member of the detachment, I can see where this form of address could become a point of contention. (For what it is worth, I have never heard any of the Soldiers in the detachment call him 1SG.)

If a SFC/E7, serving at the First Sergeant level (no matter a company or detachment) demanded to be called 1SG, that would be an issue.

Roger That Gentlemen, the depiction of the Rear Detachment
Command listing under the CALL Handbook is very common across the Army
footprint, while this layout may not be easily found in any official
regulation, in my experience, the position of Detachment Sergeant is often
found on the Tables of Distribution and Allowances (TDA) of Headquarters
elements at the Battalion level. 

In many cases, in Army Garrisons and Medical Units, these
detachments are commanded by Captains (O-3) and very often the NCO-in-Charge is
a SFC (E-7).  It is my experience, that
these are the instances when a SFC is commonly addressed as First Sergeant.

Roger That 1SG,

We are saying the same thing just from a different perspective and CMF and I agree with you. 

Sir, I found the response by SGM Dean Smith in this RallyPoint discussion to be a good reference for the use of the term "TOP."  I also had a SFC serving in a "Detachment Sergeant" position and all Soldiers and officers in the BN refered to him as either 1SG or Top.  He never spun in circles and always lead us in the right direction! He always signed his emails as a SFC, Detachment Sergeant but everyone to include the BDE CDR and CSM considered him a First Sergeant because he had that position of responsibility, same as his peers.  Usually I adressed him as "Top" or "1SG" but as soon as he was out of that position, it was SFC. 

https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/41141-would-you-prefer-to-be-addressed-as-1sg-or-top

Would you prefer to be addressed as 1SG or Top

This discussion goes out to everybody but mainly to
E-8’s. My question is how do you prefer to by addressed as. I have had several
1SG, and some of them have flipped out on soldiers when they we...

Table 1-1 answers the whole question in the term of address line for every rank in the Army.  A First Sergeant is addressed as "First Sergeant" and nobody else. If you don't have lateral appointment orders, you're not a First Sergeant even if you're the senior NCO in the company acting in the position of a First Sergeant.