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Enlisted professional military education: Air Force

Professional Military Education is designed to help airmen acquire the management and leadership skills they will need to be successful at each step of their careers.

The controlling instruction for Air Force Professional Military Education is Air Force Instruction 36-2301.

Enlisted airmen have four levels of Professional Military Education, with graduation from in-residence PME required for promotion to certain ranks:

• Airman Leadership School, for promotion to staff sergeant

• NCO Academy, for promotion to master sergeant

• Senior NCO Academy, for promotion to chief master sergeant

• Chief Master Sergeant Leadership Course.

The in-residence courses are scheduled based on projected grade, date of rank and availability.

The College for Enlisted Professional Military Education at Air University has direct oversight of the AF Enlisted Heritage Research Institute, the Air Force Senior Non-Commissioned Officer Academy, Air Force CONUS Non-Commissioned Officer Academies, and the Educational Programs Cadre while lending guidance to overseas NCOAs and Airman Leadership Schools worldwide.

Airman Leadership School

The first level of enlisted PME, Airman Leadership School consists of 192 curriculum hours conducted over 24 academic days. The primary instructional methodology is the guided discussion. Instruction covers three broad academic areas: profession of arms, communication skills and leadership. Flight chief’s time and collateral curriculum round out the course.

Students are senior airmen or staff sergeant selects with 48 months time in service and six months retainability in the Air Force upon graduation.

Airman Leadership School is conducted at 72 locations worldwide.

NCO Academy

Students at the NCO Academy are technical sergeants and technical sergeant selectees with six months of retainability upon completion of the NCOA. Students must complete the NCOA before they assume the grade of master sergeant.

The NCO Academy’s 223-hour curriculum consists of three academic areas — profession of arms, communication skills, and leadership. The principal method of instruction is the guided discussion.

Currently, nine NCO academies aligned under CEPME operate in CONUS at Goodfellow, Gunter, Keesler, Kirtland, Lackland, McGuire, Peterson, Robins, and Tyndall Air Force bases. An NCO academy at McGhee Tyson Airport, Knoxville, Tenn., is under the functional control of the Air National Guard. Air Force major commands overseas operate their own academies. Pacific Air Forces has three academies, located at: Elmendorf AFB, Alaska; Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan; and Hickam AFB, Hawaii. US Air Forces, Europe, has one academy at Kapaun AS, Germany.

Senior NCO Academy

The Air Force Senior NCO Academy is located at Air University. The seven-week course is intended to prepare master sergeants and senior master sergeants for the increased leadership and management responsibilities of chief master sergeant.

Graduation in-residence is mandatory before promotion to chief, so any senior master sergeant on the chief’s list who has not attended gets priority.

But every NCO selected for promotion to master sergeant also has the opportunity to enroll in the Senior NCO Academy correspondence course. And about 70 percent of students in in-residence classes are master sergeants. With the creation of the Chief Master Sergeant Leadership Course in 2004, the Air Force goal is to reach 100 percent Senior NCO Academy attendance opportunity for master sergeants in the future.

Chief Master Sergeant Leadership Course

Created in 2004, the Chief Master Sergeant Leadership Course is intended to provide new chief master sergeants with foundational strategic-level leadership knowledge considered invaluable to the employment of air and space forces in support of national security.

The course, consisting of 69.5 academic hours spread over eight days, is conducted at the Senior NCO Academy and includes formal lecture, informal lecture, guided discussion, question and answer sessions, panel discussions, and guided activity.

Active duty chief master sergeant selects with at least six months’ retainability may attend. Chiefs selected for promotion are not required to complete CLC prior to pin-on, and with few exceptions, will attend within the year selected.

Useful Web sites:

• Air Force Instruction 36-2301.

• College for Enlisted Professional Military Education

• CEPME Catalog