For nearly fifty years, citizen airmen have served in the nations’ defense as members of the Air Force Reserve. Citizen Airmen: A History of the Air Force Reserve, 1946 -1994 begins with the fledgling air reserve program initiated in 1916, traces its progress through World War II, and then concentrates on the period 1946 through 1994. The study skillfully decribes the process by which a loosely organized program evolved into today’s impressive force. The Air Force Reserve story is told within the context of national political and military policy and stresses that over the decades, as national needs have increased, reservists have met the challenges. . . . This is a story about the Air Force reserve, not the Air Force’s civilian components and auxiliaries generally. It touches upon the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve officers Training Corps at isolated points only insofar as the commentary would be awkward if their contributions were to be omitted. Since the record presented here deals solely with a national force, it includes no mention of individual state militia nor national guard policies. Also, as an account that focuses on the component itself, management agencies, the Continental Air Command, and Headquarters Air Force Reserve are mentioned only when such a discussion is essential to the flow of the narrative. . . . Foremost among the unknowing on the Air Staff is the manpower community. Blinded by an addiction to numbers that surpasses even that of the accountants in the budget world, the Air Force’s manpower officials have created some disharmony in forcing structures that mirror the active force upon reserve organizations which really did not have the same peacetime role as the active force units.

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