Airman Leadership School: Shaping future leaders for tomorrow’s Air Force Published Dec. 1, 2011 By Senior Airman Gino Reyes 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- Non commissioned officers (NCOs) are considered the back bone of the Air Force, and Airman Leadership School (ALS) ensures that Airmen who are ready to take on that responsibility have all the basic tools to become an effective supervisor. "We provide a service, where we take in Staff Sergeant selects or seasoned Senior Airmen and give them the fundamentals to effectively lead," said Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Lash, ALS instructor. ALS consists of three flights, Eagle, Mustang and Sabre. Each flight consists of 15 students and one instructor. The course is six weeks long and consists of two parts. The first part deals with military professionalism and expeditionary Airmen. This portion of the course teaches the students about unprofessional relationships, uniform regulations, substance abuse, conduct, human relations, professional behavior in the workplace and how being a supervisor will affect them in their respective shops. The last part of the course goes more in depth on how to be a supervisor and what responsibilities it entails. Course instruction includes communication skills, writing, public speaking, evaluation writing, bullet writing, proper counseling and interpersonal communication. "Some of the challenges we face with our students is that they believe it will be hard to go back to their respective shops and make changes for the better because of the routine that is already set in place," said Staff Sgt. Justin Davis, ALS instructor. Along with a difficult classroom curriculum, the class also goes through a vigorous physical fitness program four days a week. Although a fitness test is not required to pass the course, it is in no way overlooked by the ALS instructors. "We enforce all physical training standards on our students," said Davis. "For the most part our students show great improvement throughout our course." ALS is designed to be difficult and sometimes students will struggle academically. When a failure occurs students report in front of an academic board to decide if they will be able to continue the course. If a decision is made to fail a student out of the course, they will have to wait six months before being eligible to retake the course. ALS is the first step into the world of non commissioned officers. It is a place where the future leaders of the Air Force are born. "I love being an instructor," said Staff Sgt. Carl Ratliff, ALS instructor. "Being able to shape our future NCOs and seeing your work first hand is a great satisfaction for me."