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Local fighter wing members attend satellite NCO Academy

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Phil Fountain
  • 149th Fighter Wing
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Ten members of the Texas Air National Guard 149th Fighter Wing began the satellite Noncommissioned Officer Academy at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, last week.
The course fulfills a professional development requirement which must be completed before a technical sergeant can be promoted to master sergeant. The 149th FW is the only unit in Texas to participate in the program.
Beginning in 1994, the satellite program allows members of the Air National Guard to attend evening classes at their home station for 12 weeks. After completing the local portion of the course, members deploy to McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base in Knoxville, Tenn., to complete a two-week capstone seminar which includes all official testing and evaluations.
The current satellite NCO Academy class at Lackland is the third to be held since becoming available to the 149th FW in 2007.

Via satellite link with the lead training facility at McGhee Tyson, 144 Airmen from across 14 Air National Guard units are participating. In addition to the classroom-based satellite format, members of the Air National Guard have the option of completing the NCO Academy by correspondence or through the traditional training in residence for six weeks.

"Students are trained on the duties and role they will play when assuming greater leadership and management positions as a senior NCO," said Master Sgt. Pete Soriano, 149th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron F-16 avionics technician.
Sergeant Soriano said they receive pay for a drill period per class, points toward military retirement and college credit for attending.
Sergeant Soriano said the course is considered to be in residence, which makes a graduate eligible for the U.S. Air Force NCO Professional Military Education ribbon.

By extending resources across multiple units and keeping students at their home station for the majority of the course, the format of the satellite NCO Academy creates an economy of scale for the National Guard Bureau to provide in-residence training to its NCOs.
The satellite program is perceived to increase the quality of education available to traditional NCOs compared with the correspondence course. Previously, PME by correspondence would have been the typical route to completion for a traditional member of the Air National Guard who has to balance military and civilian careers.
Now, that same NCO can use annual training tour of duty to complete the capstone course, instead of the traditional six-week in-residence course.

Chief Master Sgt. Ed Hobbs, 149th FW command chief master sergeant, said he made it a mission to make PME more accessible to his Airmen and NCOs. He spearheaded the effort to bring the satellite NCO Academy to the 149th FW.
Chief Hobbs is working to make a satellite Airman Leadership School available to the unit, which will serve a similar purpose for a senior airman preparing for promotion to staff sergeant.

In addition to Sergeant Soriano, Master Sgt. David Lopez and Tech. Sgt. Alan Colombo, 149th AMS, and Master Sgt. Nicole Seigler, 149th Security Forces Squadron first sergeant, are certified to facilitate the course.

Chief Hobbs said that the 149th FW has great facilitators for this type of training, which he considers to be the wave of the future.

"It's every NCO's responsibility to develop our fellow Airmen," he said. "PME should be considered professional development and not just a square to be filled."