Airman Leadership School (ALS) was a challenging and grueling experience. High stress and an extreme amount of work. And overall, at least in hind-sight, rewarding and enjoyable.
The big deal about this class is if you don’t pass, you don’t get the next rank of Staff Sergeant. The big deal about THAT rank is it’s the first Non-Commissioned Officer rank, the first real leadership rank. (and an increase of $200-$300 in monthly pay)
First day of class I walked in there expecting to set aside what I wanted to be as a leader and learn the Air Force’s version of leadership so I could get through the class. I figured I’d just have to learn the “Air Force Answer” like we do for so many things.
I sat somewhere in the middle of the group, waiting for our first instructions. As the instructors came in they started announcing who was going to be the Class Leader and who would be the Flight Leaders. My heart sank. I’m one of those six-year Senior Airmans. Most make the next rank of Staff Sergeant a year or even two before I did. I have my excuses but it boils down to me not studying as much as I should have (or at all depending on the year we’re talking about) for the test. But I’m probably one of the highest ranking Senior Airmen in the room. There was ONE who had already sewn on Staff Sergeant, so he got the Class Leader position. I was thrilled! But the Flight Leaders came next. I became the Flight Leader of Sabre Flight (yes that is spelled correctly. We think it’s the old spelling of ‘saber’, the type of sword used in the Air Force Academy). So now not only am I responsible for just me getting through this class, I’m responsible for everyone in my Flight too.
This school is 192 Academic Hours in 24 Academic Days. The main book we used was 4 pounds. Yes, we weighed it. And we went through EVERY single page. My usual day consisted of me getting up at 0500 (5:00 AM) and either heading out for PT (Physical Training) or getting on homework or study. Get out to the school at 0800 (8:00 AM) to get the flag raised, sing the National Anthem, and recite the Airman’s Creed. Back inside for class at 0815. We were in class until 1500 (3:00pm) or 1600 (4:00PM) depending on the class schedule with a lunch hour. BUT I was in the schoolhouse doing study and homework and helping others with homework most days until 1900-2000 (7-8PM) to go home to eat then more study or homework usually until 2100-2300 (9-11PM) with hopefully some sort of goofing off in between to keep a handle on the stress. Weekends consisted of study and homework too.
Distractions were a major issue. I had to figure out how to handle my A.D.D. while in class all over again. At work and home I do it by bouncing in between different jobs or chores. In class there was just class. In High School and Collage I would draw. But with only 14 people in each Flight I thought that would be rude to the instructors. So I ended up eating most of the class and picking on my fingers. They’re still healing LOL.
Alex in the Draft Cart
I also got a kit to get my dog Alex trained as a Draft Dog.
This is Alexander, a Lab/Basset mix on his first run as a Draft Dog 😀 he LOVES it! I tried to take him out every day to do some drafting through the time I was through this class. Loaded the cart down with weights and we went off for a mile walk.
We also were scheduled right after ALS ended to get Alex certified as a Therapy Dog through TDI: Therapy Dog International. We have been training with him for about a year and a half to get this certification and it was very important to me. When I told this to my co-worker he said “Oh! That’s easy then. You’ve been trying to make Staff for over three years!” Well that put that into perspective. Still, it was a major ‘want’.
The house was a disaster area, I had no time to clean and it was a stresser in and of itself. I had a new 53 gallon saltwater aquarium I was working on building with a 10 gallon sump system I was building myself (which I had never done before so naturally it wasn’t working out like I imagined) There were books I wanted to read and things I wanted to do. Most of which I had to (at least try) set aside all in the name of ALS.
I was thrilled to find out that class didn’t involve the instructor standing in the front and preaching to us what the Air Force wanted us to know about leadership. Most classes were guided discussions. Where the Flight talked about our experiences and feelings about the leadership we wanted to portray and the leadership that had been an example to us, both good and bad.
I was also thrilled to find out that I DID NOT have to set aside the leader I wanted to be in order to learn for the class what the Air Force wanted me to be. To me leadership is about taking care of the people you are responsible for. I figured the Air Force would preach Mission! Mission! Mission! Which it DID but it also understands that it’s the PEOPLE that make the mission happen. Take care of your people and the people will take care of the mission. They taught what I like to call the People Factor. Not everyone is the same. Not everyone will react the same way to the same leadership approach. There is no ‘one answer’ to how you lead people. They also stressed the importance of being on a personal level with your troops. In our shop we tease that our supervisors are our “Daddy” or “Mommy”. But in the military, and especially with the young Airmen that come in, sometimes we have to become that. We’re all separated from our families back home. That close support isn’t there like it use to be. Sometimes we have to teach people how to become an ‘adult’ to survive. If we don’t know our Airmen on a personal level, we’ll never know what issues they are having outside of work. And as much as we like to say ‘Leave it at home’, it never stays there.
We had speeches to do and writing assignments. On the final writing assignment I made ONE mistake and got a 98. I had edited a sentence and ended up putting a period after the edit. Well it ended up being in the MIDDLE of a sentence and it was already past 11 so I was dead tired. The re-read didn’t turn it up so I turned it in with that HORRIBLE obvious error. I was so mad lol. My speeches were nothing outstanding. I know how to write and I know how to inspire and even better, I know how to finish with a flourish but the delivery left much to be desired. I ended up passing but that’s about it. We also had to talk to and write bullets on our Paper Airman. One of the class mates acted as the Airman and we had to do counseling sessions in front of the class.
Each class was told to write rules on the board that the class and instructors had to follow as well as the resulting punishment. No cursing was a mandatory one but the punishment was left to us (10 pushups). We added things like “First to talk when the instructor walks in” (10 pushups) Tardiness was the classic bring donuts. We had an instructor who was OCD (or CDO as she calls it because they need to be, and I’m not kidding, in alphabetical order) who HATES desks being out of order and pen clicking. So we made a rule that there was no complaining about desks or pens. She then proceeded to tell us that she wasn’t going to complain, just order us to fix it XD we lost that game. Probably the best rule, and the one that was most put into play was “No rape invitations”. If any comment, even the smallest one delivered in innocence, could be construed to be thought of as a rape invitation, the rule-breaker had to stand up and sing the “Private Window” song and do 10 pushups. The Private Window song goes: “(singer wags finger in a ‘no’ gesture) No! Don’t touch me there! (singer moves hands to outline chest area in a square) These are (singer moves to groin) my private squares!” One had to do it twice because he sang ‘happy squares’ instead so was hit with the rule again.
The class was built to stress you out, and see if they can break you. The book is, no kidding, arranged in an order so that you had to learn it to be able to do your work. There’s no page numbers like a normal book and they don’t put it in order of the classes. They pile SO MUCH learning on top of you and you have to UNDERSTAND it and not just KNOW it for the tests. Very little was memorization. It was almost all comprehensive. People were constantly asking me how ALS is/was. I ended up just telling them it was “Basic Training for the Mind”. And it was. In Basic Training (Boot Camp) they physically and mentally push you and stress you to break you or wear you down, then build you up in the image of the Air Force. ALS was the same way but entirely mental. We did do PT but we didn’t do pushups for errors outside of cursing and other rules.
All-in-all I enjoyed the experience. If you had asked me how it was going during ALS all I could tell you was “it’s….insane” and be at a loss for words beyond that. Just like Basic Training, the time during was stressful and straining. But looking back, it was enjoyable and a thrill to have surpassed the challenges that had been put before us.
Military Oxymoron 