Why do so many MSGs insist on being addressed as Master Sergeant?

This is all fine for the Army and their regulations. You can call each other Sergeant if that floats your boat. In the Marines we DON'T use Sergeant to refer to Staff Sergeant and above. So if you ever come across a Marine Staff Sergeant or above please use their proper rank or risk being corrected on the spot. Semper Fi!!

Well said with your edit.

Usmucks never called 1stSgt Top or First Shirt. Most MSgts didn't care, some did. Newbies just watch and learn by mistakes of others. Top was common for MSgts. Stick to Sergeant Major. Master Gunnery Sergeants often ends up as Master Guns or Master Gunny.

I've never had one insist upon it, though I have called a few it because I either liked them or respected them in some way. Though it was usually the abbreviated Mas' Sarn't. I never really called an NCO the regularly pronounced 'Sergeant' unless I didn't know them or unless I didn't like them.

I do recall one SFC not in my formation getting mad that I called a MSG who was in my formation 'Mas' Sarn't'. He demanded to know why I addressed him as such, I of course responded with 'That's his rank Sergeant'. He proceeded to go off an a rant about how SGT through MSG is just Sergeant and wanted to know why I didn't call him Sergeant First Class.

Of course nothing in the reg prohibits me from calling a Master Sergeant by their full rank or just Sergeant, which I informed the SFC, it was just my preference depending on the Soldier in question. As for why I don't call a SFC by their full rank, well quite honestly saying Sergeant First Class is tedious and there is no abbreviated version that rolls off the tongue well.

This of course devolved further into what about Staff Sergeants and how Marines address them as such but the Army doesn't. Well, that's a different branch culture thing right there, not Army related, not an Army problem. Of course I do know Soldiers who call SSG's by their full rank, and I have done it as well though usually only in a moment of levity.

The Army is not so different from High School, if Soldiers find out it bothers you and there's nothing in the reg you can do about it, they're going to mess with you. So Mas' Sarn't, or just Sarn't, suck it up and be a Sergeant worth working with.

I concur "Top" I recall when I was active duty Navy, the E4s to E6 were addressed by their rate and last name. For example, YN1 Doe. This was different for for E7s. Which were addressed as "Chief" short for Chief Petty Officer. E8s were addressed as Senior. E9s as Master Chief. Coming into the Army I had to change the way I addressed NCOs and officers. At the recruiters station We were told to address a MSG as Master Sergeant out if showing respect. From that day and throughout My Army career, I have addressed every MSG as Master Sergeant. Also, within the Army Officers are addressed as Sir unlike the Navy where You may an NCO address a junior officer as LT or "Skipper" (06s). Or an 05 as Commander.

Interesting view into the way another service operates. I always called my Marine counterparts “Sergeant Major”, or “Bill, Fred, etc, if we were close and had agreed”, but never in front of troops.
Unlike the Navy, where were residents, the Marines only sent one Sargent Major per command group, (I worked with a variety of MEUs, MAUs, etc, and whatever else, they often changed the deployed group function/name to meet the mission) so he was always a Command Sargent Major.

Because that is their rank. It’s always been peculiar to me that the Army blanketly calls every E6-E9 the rank of an E5. I guess “Sergeant First Class” is a mouthful to be fair, but I still do it.

IT IS JUST A SIGN OF "RESPECT" TO DISTINGUISH THEM FROM THE OTHER SARGEANTS. I SEE NO HARM EITHER ADDRESS WILL DO, BUT I AM ONLY A RETIRED/ DISABLED PFC.

Well, maybe it's just me, but I busted my A** for 20 years to earn that the title of 1SG.
Some feather merchant wins an election once and is called senator for life.
Some guy goes to school a couple of extra years and has the title of Esquire or Doctor for the rest of his life.
MY troops can call me Top.
But that's me.
Along the way I gt a college degree and Master Gunner, Master Gunner Instructor rating.

Because it is their rank, so that is their title.