The Airman Leadership School was officially established Oct. 1, 1991 by the Department of the Air Force. Now designed to prepare service members in the U.S. Air Force, Coast Guard, and Space Force for the challenges of leadership, ALS offers an expansive curriculum aimed at developing their skills, knowledge, leadership, and abilities to manage personnel and carry out the mission of their respective branches.

The ALS course on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson is focused on all of those things and shows its success in the most recent graduating class. Class 25A graduated over 100 students from the Air Force and the Coast Guard. The class itself spans over 192 curriculum hours and presents many obstacles for the students to overcome.

“I thought that I already had enough formal training in order to be ready to supervise and lead, but I was vastly mistaken.” said U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Blake Barbieri, 732nd Air Mobility Squadron. “The class taught a lot of interpersonal skills, and some I already knew, but it cemented my knowledge and helped me learn more.”

Students were challenged to find what leadership style best suited them while still emphasizing the core values of the military as a whole by participating in guided discussions and interactive scenarios. They would also participate in negotiation and problem solving.

“They get really stressed out and really bogged down with assignments, then they overcome them,” said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kohnke, ALS instructor. “We, as instructors, are so proud of them and they feel proud of themselves and it’s beautiful to see at the end.”

Professional Military Education Commandant Chief Master Sgt. Adam Peterson advises service members to come prepared physically and with an open mind.

“One of the best things about any level of PME is the relationships and networking that are built,” Peterson said. “Students get a chance to step away from their career fields for six weeks and learn with their peers while being instructed by some phenomenal noncommissioned officers.”

“It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard, it doesn’t matter what someone has told you about their ALS experience, come in with an open mind,” said Kohnke. “Your experience is going to be yours and if you can’t have an open mind, it’s going to make it harder for yourself.”

Now that graduates from have completed ALS, they are ready to step into positions of greater responsibility where they lead and supervise while gaining a broader understanding of their professions in their respective service branches.