JBER pioneers improvements for senior leader course

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON — The Elmendorf Professional Military Education Center is pioneering an innovative approach to bridging gaps in professional military education for enlisted personnel at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Sept. 11, 2024. JBER’s Development Advisor and the PME instructors worked together to assemble and train an all-volunteer instructor cadre consisting of experienced SNCOs across JBER to instruct the SNCO Foundations Course 700 (SNCOFC700) to 68 Master Sergeants and Master Sergeant-Selects.

SNCOFC700 is a 5-day course that provides SNCOs with foundational skills and knowledge needed to develop, advise, and successfully lead teams. Moreover, the course assists students in learning how to build and maintain social relationships to maximize influence and informal power within their organizations.

"The course curriculum is fairly new,” said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Max-Eddie Ibarrientos, NCOIC of Professional Development for the Elmendorf PME Center. “But through the combined efforts of our PME Instructors and the Development Advisor, we trained our volunteer instructors on how to teach the curriculum similar to how our PME Instructors teach Airman Leadership School (ALS) and the Non-Commissioned Officers Academy (NCOA).”

Instructors facilitate discussions on maintaining a healthy organizational culture and aligning work center operations with strategic objectives. SNCOFC700 will become a mandatory prerequisite for attending the Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy effective 31 Dec 2025; and the Elmendorf PME Center plans to set the Air Force standard for how this course along with the Junior Enlisted and Noncommissioned Officer Foundations courses should be executed.

Students attending SNCOFC700 underwent an educational experience similar to ALS and NCOA by utilizing classrooms when both courses are not in session. Students were split into five separate flight rooms with a dedicated team of volunteer instructors assigned to each room. JBER is the first installation in the Department of the Air Force to execute a Foundations course at this large of a capacity, increasing student throughput 5-fold per session. The Elmendorf PME Center is also the only professional development center in the Department of the Air Force where PME instructors and the Development Advisor work side by side in the same building, further enhancing the quality of professional development and professional military education for Arctic Warriors across JBER.