Airman Leadership School: listening to wind of change Published Jan. 29, 2008 By Senior Airman Oleksandra G. Manko Nellis AFB Public Affairs NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- The mission of Airman Leadership School is to prepare Senior Airmen to be professional, war fighting Airmen who can supervise and lead Air Force work teams to support the employment of air and space power. As the Air Force is going through significant changes with Force Shaping and the Expeditionary Force concept implementation, ALS has evolved as well. "Times change and so does our curriculum," said Master Sgt. Robert Brooks, Nellis ALS flight chief. "Since ALS offers nine college credits, it's important to maintain the integrity and the timeliness of change." The ALS curriculum is constantly being revised and minor improvements and corrections are made routinely, said Sergeant Brooks. However, recently the entire program has been rewritten to be in line with a combat expeditionary mindset and streamline Enlisted Professional Military Education. Throughout their careers, Airmen go through three PME schools: ALS, the Noncommissioned Officer Academy and the Senior NCO Academy. Each has its own team of curriculum developers who independently determine what information should be taught at each stage. It has been noted all three schools essentially teach the same subjects, only on different levels. This time they decided to put the developers all in the same room, explained Sergeant Brooks. One of the changes in the ALS curriculum was ensuring the terminology remained consistent throughout the schools. Other changes involved the timing of certain lessons. As opposed to being taught over the course of several days in small portions, information now is given in cohesive blocks. The history of the Air Force, taken out of the curriculum a few years ago, is now back on the schedule. While the students in the first class of the new curriculum would hardly know the difference, the ALS instructors have definitely felt it. "As instructors, we had to learn all of the new lessons, create new power point slides, take the tests - the same as students, but required to pass with 90 percent or greater before we were allowed to teach," said Sergeant Brooks. "That in and of itself was extremely challenging while still teaching the previous lessons, but our instructors are phenomenal - dedicated, motivated, and enthusiastic to meet this objective. "Meanwhile, during this learning transition, we had our highly successful tri-annual inspection by the College of Enlisted Professional Military Education, where we received very positive remarks," said Sergeant Brooks. Additionally, Staff Sergeant Chelsea Iudiciani, an ALS instructor, was step promoted to technical sergeant for her initiative and organizational skill to lead these changes. Airman Leadership School is a vital developmental step for an Airman getting ready to become an NCO. Nellis ALS on average graduates 420 students per year.
