The planning and problems associated with the 1975 Congressional mandate calling for the integration of women into the U.S. Air Force Academy are described. The book examines how Air Force planners made decisions and whether their decisions were effective. Beliefs that were previously held inviolable--that upper body strength is important, that military women lose their femininity, etc.--had to be reevaluated. It is noted that the Air Force began planning several years before the Army and Navy, and that for the first year the dropout rate among women Air Force cadets was significantly lower than for women attending Annapolis or West Point. However, it is shown that the transition was not perfect, largely because women were first not allowed to fly planes and still are not allowed to fly in combat. It is argued that this situation, combined with women's physical limitations, made identical education impossible and led to a two-track approach when the planners realized that very few women would be allowed to become officers and now would participate in the core activity of their service, combat flying. It is concluded that women are denied full citizenship in the United States because they are prohibited from sharing fully in the practice of legitimate force. (LB)