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Professional development: Not just a block to be filled

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Jason Devereaux
  • FTAC superintendent
Whether it is airman leadership school, NCO academy or senior NCO academy, we all have professional military education we have to attend throughout our careers.

However, there are other courses that can enhance your supervisory and leadership capabilities: the NCO enlisted professional enhancement and the senior NCO EPE courses.

The NCO EPE course is not a required course, but a highly recommended course to all staff sergeants and technical sergeants that have not had a PME course within three years. The senior NCO EPE course is required for all master sergeants.

These two courses are not designed to "re-blue you," but more to get you refocused and caught up on any changes that may have occurred since your last PME course.

Sometimes, it can be easy to lose focus on what is important in your leadership development. We can also lose sight of something even more important: our Airmen.

You may be thinking PME and on-the-job training is all you need to develop your leadership abilities. Truth is, learning to be a true leader should be a never-ending process.

You should be constantly seeking out opportunities to increase your leadership capabilities, whether it is a leadership role within your shop or a class.

Those that attend NCO or senior NCO EPE because they are told by their supervisor or to simply fill a block for their enlisted performance report are not getting everything they can out of these courses. You should see these as opportunities to excel and extract knowledge not only from those that are teaching the course, but most of all, from your peers.

Networking is one of the best things you get out of these courses. A good leader will have several people he can go to for help in any circumstance. These types of networks can be formed in an EPE course. You'd be surprised how much time will be saved if you know the right person to get the mission accomplished.

By attending these classes, you also see many different perspectives of how to handle issues. The more tools you have in your toolbox to handle problems, the better you will succeed as a supervisor and leader.

The next time you are told you need to attend one of the enlisted professional enhancement courses, don't look at it as a chore. Look at it as an opportunity to gain knowledge to not only to help you succeed in your Air Force career but your in Airmen's careers as well.