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Airman Leadership School (ALS) is a 24 duty day (5 week) United States Air Force program designed to develop airmen into effective front-line supervisors. It is the first professional military education that enlisted Air Force members encounter. [1] ALS focuses on developing leadership abilities, the profession of arms, and building effective communication. ALS was established in the 1990s, replacing the Non-commissioned Officer (NCO) Preparatory Course and NCO Leadership School. [2]
Senior airmen with 36 months time in service or those with a promotion line number for staff sergeant are eligible to attend the school. The member must also have at least six months of retainability from the projected class graduation date before being enrolled.
Upon completion of ALS, the graduate is authorized to write performance reports on subordinates. [3] This allows the senior airman graduate the ability to supervise without promotion to staff sergeant.
Airman Leadership School provides training in combat leadership, military professionalism, supervision, verbal and written communication, and group dynamics. Other topics include diversity, airmanship, emergent leadership issues, and modern communication.
A majority of the instruction focuses around various Air Force rules and regulations.
A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who does not hold a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. In contrast, commissioned officers usually enter directly from a military academy, officer training corps (OTC) or reserve officer training corps (ROTC), or officer candidate school (OCS) or officer training school (OTS), after receiving a post-secondary degree.
The chart below represents the current enlisted rank insignia of the United States Air Force.
Senior airman (SrA) is the fourth enlisted rank in the United States Air Force, just above airman first class and below staff sergeant. It has a pay grade of E-4. Between its approval on 30 December 1975 and 19 March 1991, senior airmen wore sleeve chevrons with blue center stars instead of silver to distinguish them from the non-commissioned officer rank of "sergeant", also a pay grade of E-4. The latter was abolished in 1991 and the blue center star was changed to white to conform to all enlisted rank chevrons.
A Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon is an award presented by the United States Army, Air Force, and Space Force to recognize those noncommissioned officers (NCOs) who have completed a prescribed leadership course at an NCO training school. The Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard have no equivalent to the Noncommissioned Officer Development Ribbon.
James Mark McCoy was the sixth Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, serving from 1979 to 1981.
An Enlisted Performance Report (EPR) is an evaluation form used by the United States Air Force. Instructions for constructing an EPR appear in chapter 3 of Air Force Instruction 36-2406: Officer and Enlisted Evaluation Systems. The EPR replaced the Airman Performance Report (APR) in the late 1980s.
John Lee Levitow was a United States Air Force (USAF) loadmaster who received the Medal of Honor for exceptional heroism during wartime. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his acts of heroism while serving on board a Douglas AC-47 Spooky gunship of the 3d Special Operations Squadron USAF on February 24, 1969. An airman first class at the time of his actions, he became the first enlisted serviceman in the Air Force to receive the Medal of Honor, the United States military's highest honor.
Air University is a professional military education university system of the United States Air Force. It is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award master's degrees.
Rodney J. McKinley is a retired airman of the United States Air Force who served as the 15th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force from 2006 to 2009.
James A. Roy is a retired Chief Master Sergeant of the United States Air Force who served as the 16th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force from June 30, 2009, to January 24, 2013. He was previously the Senior Enlisted Leader and Advisor for United States Pacific Command.
All branches of the United States Armed Forces use the general term Enlisted Professional Military Education (EPME) to describe the formal system of education which each branch provides to its enlisted personnel. Each branch has its own system and sequence of courses, with the overall focus on leadership and management. Education generally increases in intensity and level of knowledge as individuals progress in rank and assume broader leadership roles. EPME is distinct from the technical training which service members receive for their Military Occupational Specialty (MOS), Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC), or Navy Rating.
Ramón Colón-López is a retired senior non-commissioned officer of the United States Air Force and a former pararescueman, and served as the 4th Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman (SEAC) from December 13, 2019 to November 3, 2023. In his role as SEAC, Colón-López is the most senior enlisted member of the United States military. In 2007 he was the only Hispanic American among the first six airmen to be awarded the newly created Air Force Combat Action Medal. He served as the Senior Enlisted Leader of United States Africa Command from September 2016 to November 2019.
The I.G. Brown Training and Education Center is a detachment of the Air National Guard Readiness Center and is located at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base near Knoxville, Tennessee. The TEC conducts an average of 16 Enlisted Professional Military Education courses and 40 Professional Continuing Education sessions throughout the year. Typically, the TEC accommodates 11,000 service members on campus annually from the Total Force, United States Coast Guard, and partner nation armed forces. TEC also manages the ANG's Warrior Network; a $7 m satellite broadcast enterprise with more than 186 downlink sites, providing training, education and command information nationwide. In addition, the studio and multimedia facilities support ANG video productions, senior leader conferences and general-to-career field-specific training.
Airman first class (A1C) is the third enlisted rank in the United States Air Force, just above airman and below senior airman. The rank of airman first class is considered a junior enlisted rank, with the non-commissioned officers and senior non-commissioned officers above it.
An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service.
James A. Cody is a retired airman of the United States Air Force who served as the 17th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force from 24 January 2013 until his retirement on February 17, 2017. He served as the personal adviser to the Chief of Staff and the Secretary of the Air Force on all issues regarding the welfare, readiness, morale, and proper utilization and advancement of the enlisted force.
Kaleth O. Wright is a retired senior noncommissioned officer in the United States Air Force who served as the 18th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force from February 17, 2017, to August 14, 2020. In this post he served as the personal adviser to the Chief of Staff and the Secretary of the Air Force on all issues regarding the welfare, readiness, morale, and proper utilization and progress of the enlisted force. Wright is the second African American to serve in this position. Wright is often referred to by the nickname “Enlisted Jesus” by airmen on the internet due to his successful advocacy and reforms on behalf of enlisted personnel.
JoAnne S. Bass is a senior noncommissioned officer in the United States Air Force and the nineteenth Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force. She became the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, and the first female to hold the highest senior enlisted rank in any United States military branch, on August 14, 2020, having been selected for the position on June 19. She is also the first person of Asian-American descent to hold the highest senior enlisted position in the Air Force. At the time of her selection, she was the Second Air Force's Command Chief Master Sergeant at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi, which she had reported to in July 2018. Air Force News reported "incoming Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown said Bass brings skills, temperament and experience that the job requires and an outlook on leadership that meshes with his own", and that he "could not be more excited to work side-by-side with Chief Bass."
Members of Civil Air Patrol are assigned various ranks, the titles and insignia of which are based on those used by the United States Air Force. Each grade and insignia corresponds to an equivalent United States Air Force enlisted rank insignia and an equivalent officer rank insignia.
David A. Flosi is a Chief Master Sergeant in the US Air Force, and is designate to become the twentieth Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, taking over from CMSAF JoAnne S. Bass.