Publisher's Synopsis
This unique USAF publication provides offers a vivid, candid, and highly personal account of military life by four of the first five Chief Master Sergeants of the Air Force, Their recollections, captured in a 1987 interview at Boiling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., cover a period of over thirty years-from the early 1940s to the late 1970s. The position of Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force (held by only ten individuals since its establishment in 1966) has given all enlisted service members a representative who has direct access to, and the ability to advise, the Chief of Staff and the Secretary of the Air Force. It has also imparted to each of the interviewees broad and insightful perspectives on the issues discussed. The careers of the Chief Master Sergeants and the experiences that shaped them reveal that throughout its brief but eventful history the U.S. Air Force has been able to rely completely on the competence, dedication, and absolute professionalism of its enlisted force. Again and again, this force has met the host of challenges that have confronted it at home and around the globe: It tirelessly maintained the aircraft and supported the air crews of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam; it integrated its ranks and welcomed women as equals into the workplace; it has obtained a better quality of life for its members and their families; and it has pursued increasingly demanding education and training programs in fast-changing social and technological service milieus. The stories of the Chief Master Sergeants point to an essential fact: The service would be unable to carry out its missions successfully in a dangerous world without the genuine cooperation of a motivated enlisted corps. NCOs: Pride and Professionalism * The Enlisted Experience: A Conversation with the Chief Master Sergeants of the Air Force * Volunteering and Fighting in World War II * The 1940s and Segregation * Enlisted and Officer in the New Air Force * The Korean War * The 1950s and Strategic Air Command * The 1960s and the Vietnam War * Establishing the Chief Master Sergeant * The 1970s and Women in the Air Force * Final Judgments * Footnotes
