This is the definitive work on one of the least studied aspects of military history-the noncommissioned officer. Since colonial America, NCOs have played pivotal roles in the administration, training, morale, and fighting effectiveness of the Army. The author traces the evolution of NCO duties; their rank and insignia; relationship to officers; their training (or non-training, as the case may be); and the professional development scheme initiated after the Vietnam experience which produced the finest noncommissioned officer corps in the world.

Originally published: New York : Ballantine, 1994. "New, updated afterword by the author"

Part I. European beginnings to World War I. European beginnings -- Building on these beginnings, 1775-1785 -- Adoption of new principles -- Enhancing the Noncommissioned Officer Corps -- Promotions from the ranks -- Diversity and leadership -- Noncommissioned officers in the Civil War -- Indians, foreigners, and reform -- improving the training of noncommissioned officers and their testing in war -- Decades of indifference: the struggle to improve noncommissioned pay and status / Part II. World War I to the present. World War I: years of challenge and change -- Adjusting to postwar austerity -- Symbols and substance: "magnificent men" or "muddle-headed noncommissioned veterans"? -- World War II: challenges and changes -- Postwar retrospection, challenge, and evaluation: lights in a dark and dreary night -- Train us to lead: first Army-wide steps to improve NCO education -- Day of the supergrades: improving pay and grade structure -- Vietnam: the crisis of the Corps -- Sergeant Major at the summit -- Institutionalizing professionalism: return of the Noncommissioned Officer -- Reappraisal and restoring professionalism -- Defining the Noncommissioned Officer's role -- Afterword -- Appendix: enlisted grade structure, 1920-2000.