Offers a vivid, candid, and highly personal account of military life by four of the first five Chief Master Sergeants of the Air Force -- Paul W. Airey, Donald L. Harlow, Thomas N. Barnes, and Robert D. Gaylor. Their recollections, captured in a 1987 interview, cover a period of over thirty years -- from the early 1940s to the late 1970s, and illuminate much of the history and heritage surrounding the ranks from the perspective of the highest position available to an enlisted member of the Air Force. Photos.