Joint PME provides valuable leadership insight

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Corey M. Pettis
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Service members from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and the Japan Air Self Defense Force integrate with Airmen to attend an Air Force professional military education course at Kadena Air Base, Japan.

"It's a very uncommon opportunity for them to gain some Air Force knowledge and perspective," said Tech. Sgt. Lauren Strike, NCO Academy flight instructor. "What they bring to the Air Force is an outside view of how the Air Force conducts its operations.

The students at NCOA are attending a seven-week course that covers leadership issues over a wide range of topics from sexual assault to stress management.

"We cover a lot of very broad topics, things that might be considered higher Air Force level, but it's really getting them to understand what their roles in those topics are," said Strike. "Things like resource stewardship, why it is important for NCOs to be good resource stewards and how they fit in, in terms of leading their Airmen."

Not only are they getting leadership education, the members of different branches of service get a different perspective on how to lead their troops and handle different situations.

During lessons and discussions on leadership topics, they can lend their experience on how they have seen it done differently in another branch. Airmen are gaining valuable insight on how their sister services operate and other services can take home valuable lessons from the Air Force side

"It's just all about learning and gaining knowledge," said Strike. "Learning how the other services conduct business and learning how Airmen fit into a joint service"

With the military these days becoming more and more integrated, leaders at every level must know and be comfortable operating in a joint environment.

"The things that I learned here for the Air Force, helps the way I make decisions in the Navy," said U.S. Navy Petty 1st Class Quan Hancock, NCOA student. "Even though it's another service we experience some of the same issues leadership wise as the Air Force does and it teaches me a little bit about myself and how I am as a leader."