ALS continues making future leaders

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Daniel Lile
  • 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  Some senior airmen are preparing to become NCOs by attending Airman Leadership School at Columbus Air Force Base.

ALS is a six-week course that teaches Airmen the fundamentals of leadership. The ALS students currently at Columbus are set to graduate Sept. 3.

"We learn about a lot of leadership styles, different scenarios such as problem solving and negotiating, and we also learn about all of the different cultures and diversities that are in the Air Force," said Senior Airman Brandon Thomas, 14th Security Forces Squadron. "We practice how to treat everyone fairly, and effective administrative skills such as; Letters of Counseling, Letters of Reprimand, Enlisted Performance Reports, feedbacks and award citations."

NCOs need to be able to think for themselves and use their own personal leadership styles to influence and inspire their Airmen; something ALS instructors work hard to ingrain in their students character.

"I can't tell my ALS students what they are going to be doing as a front line supervisor." said Moore. "I want them to be able to think for themselves and make the right decisions. We try to guide them to be able to do that independently."

While learning how to be a great NCO at ALS; students learn the importance of the leadership tools used to lead Airmen.

"It's important because it gives you the tools and guidelines to deal with many situations," said Thomas. "It's very rigorous with a lot of homework. So it gets you prepared for that supervisor role, because you are going to be in charge of troops, so you're going to get stressed out. It gives you a taste of what is to come."

Instructors for ALS are carefully selected, they are the gatekeepers to the Non-Commissioned Officer Corps, a task no one takes lightly.

"I was inspired by an email about challenging ourselves as NCO's to become ALS instructors. I wanted to do something different and I love investing in younger Airmen. I wanted to challenge myself and applied for it," said Tech. Sgt. Elizabeth Moore, Airman Leadership School Instructor, Maxwell Air Force Base. "It's great; it's the best thing that has ever happened to me. I have been doing it for about two years now and I have learned so much about being an NCO."

ALS instructors not only teach the curriculum, but try to personally demonstrate to the students how to take care of their Airmen.

"It's not just my experience but it's also learning from the students," said Moore. "Teaching them the curriculum and how it all comes together. It demonstrates why NCO's need to utilize these leadership tools while supervising and taking care of their Airmen. As supervisors, we are here to guide our Airmen to be great. We want them to grow professionally and we want them to also grow on a personal level as well."

Advancing Airmen is a part of Columbus AFB mission; the ALS is the foundation for making world class NCO's.

"Our Airmen Leadership School is the enlisted foundation for building our future leaders by preparing them to be frontline supervisors," said Chief Master Sgt. Rita Felton, 14th Flying Training Wing Command Chief. "This is the first professional development curricula our Airmen will receive and our ALS instructors do a great job and making sure they have the tools they need to succeed. Many of them already have line numbers for staff sergeant which means at the completion of this course they could potentially be supervisors. The Air Force does a great job at preparing our Airmen for increased responsibility which is why we will continue to be the premiere Air Force...always ready to Fly, Flight and Win!"