(industrial music) - The airports have housed the creation of a new information operations technical training school. So in our business, national security, where our job is to fight, fight, win, we better be masters at this game of innovation. - Airport basing military training has an updated curriculum with a new focus on readiness and lethality. - This is the Developing Mach-21 Airmen Podcast. (explosion) - Hey everybody, welcome in to Developing Mach-21 Airmen. Thanks for the subscribe, stream, or download, however you might be checkin' us out today. If you get a chance to throw us some stars or possibly even a review our way, we certainly would appreciate that as well. Let us know how we're doin'. We're gonna give you timely and relevant information across the recruiting, training, and education field. My name is Dan Hawkins from the Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs Office, and your host for this professional development podcast, and we certainly hope that you're enjoying all the insight tips, tricks and lessons learned that we bring you every week. This edition of the pod, ton of great information out of Air University as Senior Airman Francisco Melendez, from the Maxwell Air Force Base public affairs team, sits down with Tech Sergeant Joshua Stewart and Senior Master Sergeant Markiesha Crawford from the Barnes Center at Air University, and they're gonna talk about all things enlisted professional military education. And it's pretty good stuff, Sergeant Stewart talks to the enlisted PME Instructor Course, including what the course is all about, and who actually attends, as well as how it prepares airmen to become instructors and get comfortable facilitating and teaching in the classroom. Senior Master Sergeant Crawford goes really in depth on her roll as the superintendent of the team that develops the curriculum across enlisted PME, including how that curriculum is developed from a strategic perspective in an agile and adaptive way that thinks about the whole airmen concept, as well as the continuum of learning and how people grow through education, and much, much more. So lots to unpack here, lets get to it. "Lets talk Enlisted PME Developing Mach-21 Airmen" starts right now. (swooshing sound) - Good afternoon listeners, this is Senior Airman Francisco Melendez, live from AUTV, here at Maxwell Air Force Base. This is the pilot episode of "Voices of Maxwell", and this show is primarily about, as the name implies, the voices of Maxwell, the instructors, the schedulers, the civilians, the doctors, essentially the people who are the driving force of education, of leadership, of, you know there's a lot of adjectives I could attribute to the speakers, but I am looking forward to starting off this show with a bang. I have two guests, not one but two, Technical Sergeant Joshua Stewart. - Hello. - And Senior Master Sergeant Markiesha Crawford. - Hello! - Did I pronounce your name right? - Absolutely, Markiesha. - Perfect! (Markiesha laughs) Perfect! So, how I like to start off my show is, I like to get to know my guests just a little bit better, I like to ask the traditional age old question, why did you join the Air Force, because after all, underneath this uniform, there's a human being. Who would have guessed, right? (both laugh) So, Technical Sergeant Stewart, lets start off with you, sir, why did you join the Air Force? - Uh, long story short there's nothing big or anything behind it. I'm originally from Alabama, about an hour and a half down the road from here, and I was 23 years old, I worked at Wal-Mart, it was time to see the world. It was time to get out. I had gone to college, I didn't feel like it was for me at the time, that college lifestyle, and I'd always kind of looked at the military, looked at the army, and decided, you know, I think I'm gonna go with the Air Force. And it was really just to get away from the home town, and try to get better really. - No, fair enough. Has the Air Force been good to you, sir? - Absolutely. You know, everything has it's ups and downs, but if you look at the overall, the Air Force has been awesome to me. Wouldn't be the person I am today without it, so. - That's fantastic. That's fantastic. - Mmhmm. - Senior Master Sergeant Crawford tell me, why did you join the Air Force? - Wow, I've always been a very independent person, so from the time I graduated high school I knew it is time to do something different. I am from Baltimore, Maryland, so being from the inner city, I decided I'm gonna do it completely different than I've seen in the past, and I ended up across the country in Tucson, Arizona, and from that point forward the Air Force has been amazing. One career after the next, so I've had the opportunity to hold a number off careers, and just experience after experience, person after person, I am just so grateful to the Air Force for the opportunity and experiences, not that I've had only, but my family, you know, being in the Air Force I've been able to get married, have children. Oh my goodness! The whole storybook thing. But, that's why I joined the Air Force. I joined the Air Force for change, to set a bench mark for my family for what should be next, and what we can aspire to, so yeah, that's why I'm here. - Well, I'm truly happy for the two of you, have joined the Air Force, and observe, listen to your stories, uh, the Air Force has definitely done a lot for me as well. It's always kind of humbling when you go back home and see your friends and loved ones, and you share those stories, and they're always so impressed with the amount of things that we can accomplish, if we put our hearts and minds to it. Oh man, that was really sappy, but it's the truth, isn't it? (Joshua laughs) - Yeah, yeah - It's the truth at the end of the day. So, I'm gonna start off my show by giving each of my guests kind of like, a spot light moment, oh, let's call it that. (Markiesha laughs) A spotlight moment. - Okay. - I love it. - After all, this is our pilot episode so we're kind of figuring out this as we go along, but we're having fun along the process. All right, so. Technical Sergeant Steward, your duty title is EPMIC, Instructor at the Barnes Center. Did I butcher that? - EPMEIC, but otherwise it was fantastic. - Well, I'm trying. (all laugh) I'm learning, I'm shooting, I'm going. All right, fantastic. Could you tell me, uh, what is EPMIC? - Okay, uh, so, it's the Enlisted Professional Military Education Instructor Course, and basically what it is, is if you were going to be an instructor teaching PME, you're gonna come through our course, so that you can learn this is how we deliver the material. - Okay, fair enough. And how long have you been doing this? - I have been an EPMEIC Instructor for, since last August, but I've been an instructor in the PME realm since 2016, I taught Airmen Leadership school at Minot Air Force Base, for a couple years before I got down here. - And who goes to your course? - All right, as far as that goes, we talk about PME, you're talking about the whole thing. You're talking about Airmen Leadership school, NCOA, the Non Commissioned Officers Academy, Senior NCOA, you're talking about the Chief Leadership course. Yes I can, as a Technical Sergeant, have Chief's in my classes, learning. Hey, this is how we're, this is some tips on how to instruct, to get more comfortable in the classroom. - Fantastic, fantastic. I actually minored in public speaking myself, and it is, it can be stressful at first, but there is nothing more empowering than going in front of a large group of people, and just sharing your ideas, your message, it's very powerful stuff, right? Uh, so what can a person expect when they come to EPMEIC? - Uh, so a lot of people, they will get the job, and they come down here, and they think "Okay, this is my chance to learn the material, I'm gonna go to this class, and they're gonna teach me what I need to know so I can go into the classroom and be a subject matter expert." That's a little bit of a misconception, the instructor course is just for you to come down here and learn how to be comfortable in front, and it's not really about the content, it's about the content of PME, it's how to teach and deliver the material. There's a little bit of misconception, as far as what EPMEIC is, we're instructors teaching instructors how to instruct. It's not, you're not gonna come to my class and I'm gonna say, "All right! Lets do emergent leadership issues!" and let me tell you all the in's and out's about it. No. I'm gonna say, "Okay, well you're in a class and someone's talking smack to you, how do you react? How can you bring it back to the positive?" So, when they leave our course, they should be comfortable being handed any lesson plan, whether they know the content or not, and be like, "Okay, I know how to at least facilitate, teach, direct, whenever I get in front of a classroom." - You know, going through high school, or college even, students seldom remember uh, sometimes course material, but they will remember their instructors. - Oh yeah. - You can, off the top of your hat, recall your favorite and least favorite instructor. - Mmmhmm. - So it's pretty amazing to me that your job entails making sure that these instructors are ready to bring the fight on. (laughs) - Right, right. - Hopefully no bad students, or even how to praise the good students. - Mmhmm. - So, um, so let's say I'm an anxious mess, this is actually kind of true, who isn't really good at public speaking. Could I make it as an instructor in your course? - Okay, so have you seen Ratatouille? - I have seen Ratatouille. - Okay, so everyone can cook, right? - Yeah. - Well, we at EPMEIC believe anyone can instruct. Uh, for those, three years ago if you'd have met me, and you'd have said "Hey, that guy's gonna be an instructor!" Uh, No. You'd have said "Absolutely not, so put him in the back somewhere, he is not gonna speak to anyone." But, going through EPMEIC, actually gettin' in front, and, it's not, it's more about gettin' past that mental boundary of "Oh, oh goodness I'm in front of people" and it's more about being yourself, connecting with the material on a personal level with you, that way you can help connect it with the individuals in your classroom. So, you are an anxious mess, you can't public speak well? Absolutely fine, we can work with that. We can help you get to where you need to be to be comfortable in front of a classroom. And that's what it's really all about for us. - That's fantastic. So, what about those folks that are uh, non volunteered, uh, through DSD so become instructors, what advice could you give them? - Okay, uh, and Sergeant Crawford might be able to back me up on this one, as far as the folks who are non volunteered through DSD, we get folks like that all the time, they're like "Hey, I didn't ask for this, now I have to get in front of a lot of people? I'd rather have been a TI, I'd rather have been a recruiter!" The best advice that I can give them, is the same thing that you'll hear our current Chief Master in the Air Force say, Chief Wright, the DSD process is about developing folks around you, but it's also a good time to develop yourself. If you are in a career field that you haven't had the time to do those things for yourself, you haven't, you've been so busy on the flight lines, security forces, wherever the case may be, that you haven't had time to develop yourself, one of my favorite things Chief Wright says is "You're in the aircraft, all the masks come down, what do you do first? You put your mask on first." Being DSD'ed might feel, at first, like doom and gloom because you're gonna have to talk to people, you're gonna have to get in front of everybody, but this is the perfect time to put your mask on. You can develop from it. You can become a better, not just instructor, but person from it, and military member from it. And that's, to me, for the folks that are non voled into it, just go in to it with a fresh set of eyes, go in to it with, you know, this is a time for me to put my mask on. - Well said, Sir, well said. And truly, I think you are absolutely right. I think the people who would be scared of this shouldn't see it as an obstacle, they should see it as an opportunity for growth, because you can use public speaking in anything you can imagine. You can be an engineer, you can be a programmer, you can be hiding behind a computer all day, but there will be a day where you're gonna have to talk to your coworkers, and if you're a decent public speaker, that can only do wonders for you and your career. Excellently said, Sir. All right, so now we are going to take it to our second guest before we move on to the round table segment. Here we have Senior Master Sergeant Markiesha Crawford, she is the superintendent of the EPME curriculum. That sounds very difficult and complicated? (all laugh) I'm not gonna lie. Mam, tell me, uh, what is your role in the Air Force? What do you do? - Wow, so what I do, and what is my role. I am on the other side of the coin from Sergeant Steward. So where Sergeant Steward is getting people in, and getting them ready to be the instructors, what myself and my team, we're doing, we're developing the curriculum for those instructors to deliver out into the different schools, and that's across EPME, so that's ALS all the way to the Chief Leadership course, and that's what we're doing. As a superintendent I'm working with some amazing rock stars that get in there, and they're really nugging out as far as that thinking, and getting those ideas down, and it's a task because there's so much that goes in to what happens in a PME classroom as far as the material itself, behavior, you name it. So, that's what happening. We're digging up rocks and taking down things, and making sure we hit it on the head, getting that leadership down just right. - Fantastic. So, how did you get here? How did you end up with this job? - See, I love that, I love that question, I love that I'm going behind Sergeant Steward. So, I ended up with this job, the road less traveled maybe, but it's DSD as well. So, the people over in the Barnes Center, and where, Barnes Center is located, Maxwell-Gunter. So we're the annex. We're across town, and if you think Maxwell-Gunter, I'd like you to think EPME Mecca, right? Because that's where you'll find the Chief Leadership course, you'll find Senior NCO Academy. Right now we have the Airey NCO Academy here with everything going on at Tyndall. And then you have ALS at Maxwell however, but that's like the epicenter for enlisted EPME, and the headquarters is there, Barnes Center. So, again, I was DSD'ed as an instructor. However, there's a small group of people inside the Barnes Center, that are working on the curriculum. And from the time I was DSD'ed, came in, we did the EPMIC to learn the methodologies, and then we were kind of farmed out into that curriculum side of the house, and we're kind of broken out into the team, so you have your ALS group, the NCO, CUNCO and Chief Leadership Group. And those people are looking specifically in those areas, but where it's dynamic is, we're making sure the continuum of education is kept intact. So, just because you're over in ALS, that doesn't mean you're not contacting the person in the Chief Leadership course, because as we think about it, you're continually growing, you're continually learning, and as the person comes in, what you get as an Airmen, you're still gonna be building upon those skills when you're a Chief, or when you're that day one retired member, because you had that stuff from day one. So, that's what we do. That's how I got there, DSD, and you kind of ask the question about, what's the thought in DSD? You grow the most when you're most challenged. And DSD can be challenging, and it takes you out of your comfort zone, because most people are super skilled rock stars when they're coming out of their career field because they may not have been DSD'ed if they weren't. And you're taking that piece of humble pie, and starting from the beginning, and it's an amazing opportunity. - And it, it sounds like a fantastic opportunity. It sounds to me like you're extremely proud to be at the nerve center of Senior Leadership developments. - Absolutely. - In a way. So, you mentioned it, but I'd like to retouch the subject, where is that job located? - Again, it's Maxwell-Gunter. So, you come to Maxwell in Montgomery, Alabama, so you're gonna go across town a little bit, and you're gonna go to Gunter. And Gunter has some of the things the Air Force, the backbone of the Air Force. So, there's the Air Force Life Cycle Management there, there's a EPA there, there's a recruiting station there, you would not know all this stuff is going on at Gunter. A little hidden gem, but we're doing amazing things over there. - It sounds like it. So, what does, what role does your job have on the continuum of education? - Okay, so when we speak about continuum of education, it's a part of a larger conversation. So when you think continuum of anything, it's from the beginning, and then as you go throughout your time, it's gonna keep going. Continuum of education, when I think about it, it's about, from the time you enter, your first experience with enlisted professional military education, to the time you're Mr or Mrs whomever, that's what we're thinking about. We're thinking about what things we can tell you today will have the sustainability and transfer, and mean enough to you that you have value for them, and it takes you throughout your life. So in that continuum we're focusing in on people as individuals, we're trying to get to the point where, what we do in PME is student centered. Like we were talking prior to the podcast, you said you had a life prior to coming into the military. And what we want to recognize in EPME is, a lot of people had lives prior to coming to the military. and coming in to EPME under that continuum, we can pull upon that, when we focus on areas of critical thinking, when we focus on areas of leadership, and the mission of the Air Force, or even the culture of the Air Force, is getting that, all of those threaded pieces to connect. And that's the continuum. What you learn, what you learn or what I learn as Airman Colbert, or Crawford, married lady now. (all laugh) What I learn as Airman Crawford, it would not be for naught. It's something that will continue to grow, and at the end of my career, as my Mrs Crawford, Ms Crawford, then it's, wow. When I got this stepping stool, now I can execute in this manner. And I've seen it develop and mature over my time, and it's value added for me. - Now that's fantastic. It seems to me like you've gained a lot from it. Not only did you contribute a lot to the mission, but it seems like the mission has done a lot for yourself as well, and correct me if I'm wrong, you also have a lot in common with Technical Sergeant Stewart in the sense where you both kind of like, if someone is a blade, that you guys are the blacksmith, and you're sharpening that blade. You're helping people reach their true potential, and you're acknowledging that they're people before they came to the Air Force, and that can actually be a strength, because they have a lot to bring to the table. - Absolutely. - No pun intended, because we're all sitting at a table. (all laugh) Ah we like to laugh. So, tell me, what goes into creating the EPME curriculum? - Wow, it's like a, you mentioned earlier, Ratatouille, right? It's like a bowl of everything. So you have higher headquarters directives, like when you hear things from the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and different government leaders, you have things like Human Capital Annex, the National Defense Strategy, there's different DOD instructions that would go in to it, things that are very important to the Air Force, and then institutional competencies. Those are those things where as we go forward in our careers, throughout our careers, there's different things we pick up as we go. So, your leadership abilities, your ability to think strategically, and putting all these things together and manipulating your people, and your space. So, when we think of what's going into the curriculum, it's that. And then it's the needs of the people. So, there's information that goes out, and say "hey, what do you need to execute your mission? What do you need to be a better supervisor? What do you need to be a better manager? What do you need to be a better follower?" So, there's that as well. And then, there's the additional portion of, so how do we stay relevant? How do we continue with innovation? How do we get all of those pieces into it? So, EPME is a hodgepodge of all things important to the military, to sharpen those enlisted leaders, for the future and then the ones right now, because we're all leaders in our own right. So, if I'm sitting line by line, if I'm in the pharmacy, right on the front line with someone else, you and I are leaders. I am in charge of what I am doing right here, and what I do affects what you do. So we want to get that at it's grass roots, and get everybody in the understanding of you are a leader and you're writing your experiences, and everything you have going on with you has a benefit or effect, either positive or negative, on the person beside you. So, when you think curriculum, think everything. So, half directives, you know. Any kind of changes, joint initiatives, you think of it. If it's shiny and new? EMPE curriculum. (Laughs) - Fantastic. So, what warrants changes-- - Right. - To the curriculum? - So, with changes to the curriculum, like I said, it has to be agile, it has to be adaptive. So, if our Air Force decides that there's something that's important that needs to go in there, or there's something that we used to think that was important that, not no longer that it's not important, but now there's something that may trump that. That needs to go in there. When there's initiatives that are put out there that says, "Hey, we're doing this now, but this is where we need to be." Things like that would warrant a change. Or, if we're just sending it out there to the field, and our stakeholders, you know, our commanders, our supervisors, our people that work beside you are saying "This makes no sense guys. This isn't value added for the force." Those type of things initiate change within EPME. - Correct. And, let me ask you this, on a personal note, what makes what you do worthwhile? - Wow. You touched on that as well, when you talked about sharpening people. What we do in EPME, it touches every member of the Air Force. And a lot of people say, "No, it can't touch every member because it's Enlisted PME." It's every member. Because every enlisted person that's working beside an officer, beside a civilian, you know, a contractor, they are getting some form of EMP, EPME. And it's so important that we get it just quite right. That we're working on that intellectual capability of that individual, we're working on those leadership skills. You know, we're constantly feeding in to the fact that we want to think critically. We want you to take a situation, not saying take the situation and not do what you're supposed to do, but take the situation and think, "How can I make this better for the Air Force? What can I do in this small process that makes it either more time efficient, more cost efficient, or just more efficient." So when I think of worthwhile, it's the reach. It's the overall, what we can touch, how we're touching it and the intent behind it. Just making us a stronger force, a smarter force, a faster force. Man, EPME is everywhere, and I'm excited to be a part of it, I'm just, I'm grateful that the cards worked out how they did, as far as my DSD is concerned, and I wouldn't change a thing. I've learned so much, and I'll say it. You know, Senior Master Sergeant Crawford, has learned so much. You never stop learning. You gotta have that piece of humble pie, and take it in while you can, because these opportunities are fleeting, and EPME will continue to grow, and I'm not trying to say EPME is perfect, but I will say it's continuing to grow, it's going to always try to strive to be better, and be that cutting edge, as far as the Department of Defense goes, and how we're educating our enlisted people. So, that's what makes it worthwhile for me. - Well, thank you so much for your input, and your role, Senior Master Sergeant Crawford. It seems to me that the two of you have one primary thing in common, and that's passion. You guys truly do care about your roles in the Air Force, and the Air Force is truly lucky to have the two of you educating the leaders of tomorrow, and assisting them in every capacity possible. So, now this brings us to the last segment of the show, where, which I like to call, kind of like the round circle chapter, remember it's a work in progress. (all laugh) I hope you guys like it. Do you guys know that King Arthur had a round circle because he did not like to have his back turned to his knights, he wanted to treat everyone as equals, and I think that's a good motto in the Air Force. We all like to strive to treat, we should all start to treat each other as equals because at the end of the day, it's one team, one fight. And if I fail, then someone else suffers for it. And so on. So, in this portion of the show, we're gonna be talking a little bit about how, uh, we're gonna get to know each other more in sense of how it is, your role for example Sergeant Crawford, helps Sergeant Stewart do his job better and vice versa. Sergeant Stewart how does your role in the Air Force help her. So, tell me Sergeant Stewart, how does Sergeant Crawford help you achieve your goal of instructing the instructors. - Uh, well, when it comes to that they do a lot for us at the Barnes Center. It's where all of it comes from, you know, it's where all of PME comes from. And while I'm getting everybody prepped up to get in front of the classroom to instruct, facilitate, they're only as good as the material that they get. And, uh, going throughout the Air Force I'm sure you've heard people talk ill of PME. Or, yeah, go to ALS, go to this, but when you come back, get ready for the real Air Force. And honestly, I've heard so much about the real Air Force, that I don't know if I've ever seen it? You know? You hear it all the time. But, basically, Sergeant Crawford, they give us the Lego blocks, and it's my job to say, all right y'all, when you go into the classroom, you give them a bucket of Lego blocks, and you dump them on the floor, and you tell them, hey, you build a Batmobile for this person. You build a castle for this person. And is the castle gonna work for everybody? No. Is the Batmobile gonna work for everybody? Absolutely not. But what we have kind of in the Air Force now is the Barnes Center, who'll give us the Lego blocks, we tell them "hey, you're gonna have to build these things." And they go back to their office and they dump them on the floor, and how bad is it to step on Lego blocks? - Terrible. - Yeah! And we have a lot of people just stomping the Lego blocks, and saying, "Ah it's horrible!" Like, okay, look. We have to be able to clean up our mess as well, and that's what they help us do. They give us this nice, this bucket of Lego blocks, so that we can say "Hey, look. 60% of the time, it works 100% of the time" (laughs) And this is how we communicate that to our, uh, students. Because it is rhetoric versus reality. You can go in there and Air Force it up all day long. You can go in and be like, "Well that's the Air Force answer!" Nope, that, mkay, nope, stop saying that. But, you gotta be real with them. And they help us do that with what she said, one of the key words that she said, relevancy. If it wasn't relevant, then we wouldn't be able to do that. - And on that note, I would like to say that I would like a Batmobile Lego. (all laugh) Okay, I love castles, but a Batmobile. - Yeah. - I mean, come on. And, uh, Senior Master Sergeant Crawford, how does Sergeant Stewart's role help you in your role? - So, Sergeant Stewart's role, and then his entire team at EPMIC, their benefit to not only us, at the Barnes Center and in the curriculum side of the house, but their benefit to the Air Force. You know, I would be remiss if I did not say, the students that come in through them, are all over the world. Right? So they come in, they become these instructors, and they're out delivering it. And they're giving them these methodologies, they're telling them the intent behind why they do what they do, and being their true self, and that method of being able to transport any information that we provide. I've been told a million times that, you know, PME is where experience and education converge. Right? And what Sergeant Stewart and his team are, they're harnessing these experiences of these people, and developing them into instructors. We've had amazing instructors everywhere. So, the curriculum is just curriculum on a paper until you have someone to execute. And his team, they're building the executors. Our NTO's all over the where, all over the world, and TOA's, ten of them, then there's 68 ALS's, the one and only, you know, Senior NCO Academy and then the Chief Leadership course. But they're coming through EPMIC. And while I'm super passionate about what we do on the curriculum side, I'm even more passionate about what he's doing, because they're our execution vehicles. They're actually getting out there, putting that experience that they have, that good information that they've gotten from Sergeant Stewart and his team, and then they're doing it. They're making it come to life. That's where the magic happens, when you get them, and a little bit of our curriculum stuff, and that experience from that individual in the classroom in front of all of those Airmen, that's when the magic happens. - Wonderfully said. I want to thank the two of you so much for coming to the pilot episode of "Voices of Maxwell." I would love for you guys to eventually join me back again, maybe we can even discuss further subjects, further events happening around the base. - Sure. - Once again, thank you guys so much for what you bring to the table. Truly the Air Force is blessed to have you guys on it's team. And that does it for us today. Please tune in on Facebook for further updates of the podcast. We truly hope that all of you enjoyed, have a wonderful day, and remember, fly, fight, win. Have a great day listeners. (swooshing noise) (industrial music) - Great conversation today with Sergeant Stewart and Senior Master Sergeant Crawford, you can just feel the passion for preparing Airmen to be instructors in the EPME world, and developing world class curriculum across the enlisted PME spectrum. Big thank you to Senior Airman Melendez from the Maxwell Public Affairs Team for knocking this pod out of the park for us as well, really did a great job. So, thank you to him. As a reminder you can follow Air Education and Training Command via social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as on the web at www.aegt.af.mil Thanks for checking out the podcast as we dive into the world of recruiting training and education. For our entire AETC Public Affairs Staff, I'm Dan Hawkins, so long. We'll talk to you next time, on Developing Mach-21 Airmen