Foundation of the Force: Air Force Enlisted Personnel Policy 1907-1956 - World War I and II, Doolittle Board, Advertising, Teaching Youth, Recruiting, Military Careers, Training, Specialization

Professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction, this unique USAF publication traces how the service built its enlisted cadre in the key, early years of the service when the Air Force was itself a new and unsettled organization. The lessons offered in this book present valuable perspective to decision-makers today as they grapple with force drawdown and maintaining appropriate standards of training and professionalism even as America's Air Force is called upon to serve in new and increasingly more demanding roles.

Organizing and training Air Force enlisted personnel have been among the greatest challenges to the service's leadership, as well as among its greatest accomplishments. Young men and women from varied social, cultural, and educational backgrounds enter the service; are introduced to its culture, heritage, and traditions; are trained to fulfill myriad tasks; and then already imbued with a sense of service before self, go forth to their first assignments. Ongoing career training and professionalization continue throughout their careers. That the Air Force has met the challenge of training its enlisted force well is evidenced by its members' record of accomplishments in America's wars and other times of national emergencies.

This book is not simply a study of military policy or a class of military personnel. In its largest context it is about the growth of the United States and its movement to a what some might call an organizational society during the first five decades of the twentieth century. The assumptions and beliefs that permeated those who shaped the Air Force's enlisted personnel policy reflect those of civilians who did the same for large businesses and corporations. The Air Force's claim to be free from military traditions, its dependence on technology, and its dreams of separation from the army provided the impetus from which it adapted the thinking and practices of big business governing its personnel.

Chapter 1 - The Foundation of Air Force Enlisted Personnel Policies, 1907-1945 * Chapter 2 - The Military American: Personnel Policymaking, 1945-1955 * Chapter 3 - Recruiting for the New Service, 1945-1955 * Chapter 4 - Training and the Enlisted Career Program, 1945-1955 * Chapter 5 - External Remedies, Internal Reform, and the Making of a Career Enlisted Force, 1952-1956 * Chapter 6 - Personnel Policy and the Air Force NCO Cadre