LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas — A staff non-commissioned officer in a rank-gap relationship with a female service member is telling friends that he believes “rank is just a number,” sources confirmed today.

Senior Master Sgt. Harvey Wilders, an Air Force E-8, insists that his romantic partnership with Airman Sasha Pollard, an E-2, is “not questionable at all” and is just the result of two people with mutual interests and affections coming together.

“People keep giving us funny looks when they see us out at the BX in uniform together,” said Wilders to reporters, citing examples of strangers asking if he is Pollard’s group superintendent, or if she’s his executive assistant. “What they need to understand is that we’re just two consenting enlisted persons who enjoy each other’s company.

“It doesn’t hurt that she’s very mature for her rank.”