Instuctor's effort produces effective leaders Published June 12, 2009 By Airman 1st Class Allison M. Boehm 2d Bomb Wing Public Affairs Barksdale Air Force Base, La. -- This article is part two of a series over special duty assignments. Barksdale's 2d Mission Support Group's Airmen Leadership School instructors focus their efforts on maintaining the highest degree of Air Force Core Values while assisting senior airmen in becoming the future leaders of the military during a five-week long curriculum. The purpose of these instructors is to teach senior airmen to be viable, functioning, well-trained supervisors. The Barksdale ALS staff is made up of three instructors and a commandant. Their purpose is to teach and enhance the skills needed to be an effective leader to the students. "It is important that we produce the best front line supervisors that we possibly can," said Master Sgt. Neil Heerdink, ALS commandant. "It is imperative that our senior airmen get the training they need to be quality supervisors -- not only for their subordinates, but for the overall Air Force mission." When the Air Force is in need of ALS instructors, notifications are sent out throughout the force. To apply, an individual must be E-5 or above and have copy of their physical fitness test, a letter of request and recommendation, personal resume, a copy of the individuals enlisted performance reports and a full-length photo. If the application is accepted, the Airman will then be interviewed inperson before being hired. After being accepted, the future instructor reports to Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., for a five-week long instructor course where they learn how to be an effective instructor, different teaching techniques, and accumulate 180 hours before being certified as an instructor. Instructors commit to a four-year controlled tour to their assigned school house after being accepted. Once in the school house, three flights are taught at any one time with no more than 16 in each class. The staff typically report to duty from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. On average, the instructors spend six to seven hours of the day in the classroom teaching. The commandant acts as a facilitator between the instructors and the center for enlisted professional military education at Maxwell to pass on the curriculum to the three ALS instructors. In turn, the instructors must constantly ensure teaching material is up-to-date so that the students are learning the most current information. "Getting all of the classroom material down is definitely one of the harder aspects of this job," said Tech. Sgt. Yvonne Dees, ALS instructor. "It is a lot of stuff to keep current--it takes a lot of time but once you understand the way the lesson plans are, the rest flows really easy." Instructors teach students on four different areas: military professionalism, combat leadership, supervisory Airmen and supervisory communication. Within each area, multiple lessons are taught including how to handle Airmen situations, public speaking and how to write bullets. Although an ALS instructor must focus their efforts on the managerial side of the job, they also give the majority of their exertion to the students. Because Airmen who attend ALS are held to a set standard that may vary from their work place, the instructor is responsible for enforcing disciplinary actions when necessary. Instructors must act swiftly to correct actions undesirable of a leader. "Of course we will try and sit down with the student on their first offense and have them tell us how their behavior will change, but once they are in the school house they are giving a standard and we will hold them to it," said Sergeant Dees. "We will hold them accountable for their actions because from day one they know what we expect--we are teaching to lead and we can't expect these students to be effective leaders if they can not follow simple rules." However, with the stress that comes with developing future leaders, the ALS staff believes the rewards overshadow the negative. "Yes, my job entails that I deal with disciplinary issues, but I also get to speak with the majority of the students on a positive standpoint," continued Sergeant Heerdink. "Like any other job, when you are responsible for training future leaders, there is a bit of stress involved but all in all, the outstanding parts of the job outweigh any negative parts. It's amazing to see how much they can grow in five weeks. "I absolutely love my job--I can't believe they pay me to do this, it's truly the best job in the Air Force. I get to use my 15 plus years of experience to council our future leaders in the direction they need to go." For more information on becoming an ALS instructor, contact Master Sgt. Neil Heerdink at 456-3298.