FAQs for virtual in-resident remote NCO Academy and Airman leadership school

FRIENDSVILLE, Tenn. – With so many things impacted by COVID-19, the U.S. Air Force response included a suspended NCO academy and Airman leadership school for Airmen. Both courses are requirements for promotion to NCO and senior NCO, as well as provide essential knowledge for aspiring leaders.

Here’s the good news: they are available remotely now through virtual in-resident remote enlisted professional military education.

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USAF instructors prove their agility with classroom-to-camera skills

LOUISVILLE, Tenn. — U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Megan Francolini and Tech. Sgt. Renee Wiederspahn recorded sessions in the I.G. Brown Training and Education Center TV studio, June 4, on McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base in East Tennessee, during camera-work for virtual in-residence remote NCO academy for the total U.S. Air Force.

Their efforts are among just a few weeks’ worths of turnaround by TEC’s Lankford Enlisted Professional Military Education Center – the Air Force’s largest EPME center – as it kicks off VIR-R NCO Academy as well as VIR-R Airman leadership school mid-month.

U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Steven Durrance, the EPME center commandant, said in March that his team was focused on preparations to instruct a new curriculum as well as alternative learning methods.

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Instructors learned television-studio camera skills from broadcasting experts, including reading from a teleprompter, to record their curriculum. TEC operates the Air National Guard’s broadcast center and Warrior Network television studios.

“This was an extremely quick turn for Lankford; especially considering the circumstances,” said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Michael Beiting, NCO academy superintendent. “It really has been a massive effort with a lot of challenges.”

The Air National Guard’s Lankford Center is a total force institution and graduates thousands of students annually. The 38 faculty include 19 enlisted Airmen from the regular Air Force, 18 from the National Guard, and one from the Reserve Command, as well as three support staff. They focused on coursework revisions and transformations from home since the worldwide pandemic suspended classes on campus.

More than 250 EPME students will connect from their homes across the nation beginning June 15.

Airmen interested in these courses should speak with their assigned education managers concerning VIR-R EPME opportunities.

Virtual in-residence remote EPME scheduled for 251 Airmen

LOUISVILLE, Tenn. — U.S. Air Force professional military education instructors assigned to the I.G. Brown Training and Education Center in East Tennessee were wrapping up the final recordings for virtual in-residence remote NCO academy and Airman leadership school this week for the total U.S. Air Force.

TEC’s Lankford Enlisted PME Center began developing the inaugural VIR-R classes in March through telework and in the TEC-TV studios when classes suspended on campus due to COVID19.

More than 250 EPME students are scheduled to connect from their homes across the nation beginning June 15.

Airmen interested in these courses should speak with their assigned education managers concerning VIR-R EPME opportunities.

U.S. Air Force Airmen use the TEC-TV studios during a recording session of Virtual In-residence Remote NCO Academy for the total U.S. Air Force, June 2, 2020, at the I.G. Brown Training and Education Center in East Tennessee. TEC’s Lankford Enlisted Professional Military Education Center instructors begin teaching the inaugural VIR-R NCO Academy as well as VIR-R Airman leadership school for more than 250 students, connected from homes across the nation, beginning June 15. (U.S. Air National Guard photo/Master Sgt. Mike R. Smith)

U.S. Air Force switchboard in the TEC-TV control room during a recording session of Virtual In-residence Remote NCO Academy for the total U.S. Air Force, June 2, 2020, at the I.G. Brown Training and Education Center in East Tennessee. TEC’s Lankford Enlisted Professional Military Education Center instructors begin teaching the inaugural VIR-R NCO Academy as well as VIR-R Airman leadership school for more than 250 students, connected from homes across the nation, beginning June 15. (U.S. Air National Guard photo/Master Sgt. Mike R. Smith)

U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Erik Gallion manages the TEC-TV control room during a recording session of Virtual In-residence Remote NCO Academy for the total U.S. Air Force, June 2, 2020, at the I.G. Brown Training and Education Center in East Tennessee. TEC’s Lankford Enlisted Professional Military Education Center instructors begin teaching the inaugural VIR-R NCO Academy as well as VIR-R Airman leadership school for more than 250 students, connected from homes across the nation, beginning June 15. (U.S. Air National Guard photo/Master Sgt. Mike R. Smith)

Longest-serving on TEC staff, Billie Laux, dies at 85

FRIENDSVILLE, Tenn. — Billie Laux, who provided decades of service and support to the Air National Guard training and education center, died Sunday, May 24, at 85.

Laux was hired in 1968 by the Director of the Air National Guard to serve as a civilian administrator at the ANG’s first NCO Academy. She was among its six initial instructors and staff, including a deputy commandant, U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Paul H. Lankford, and a commandant/commander U.S. Air Force Maj. Ed Morrisey. Continue reading “Longest-serving on TEC staff, Billie Laux, dies at 85” →

Interactive gatherings bypass traditional auditorium events

FRIENDSVILLE, Tenn. — The Air National Guard’s training and education center in East Tennessee recently held two core organizational events virtually that would fill an auditorium under normal circumstances.

The interactive gatherings online included the I.G. Brown Training and Education Center’s quarterly commander’s call, as well as the organization’s all-staff tactical pause day. They are the most extensive and latest gatherings of assigned personnel to be affected by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. Continue reading “Interactive gatherings bypass traditional auditorium events” →

The combat effective couch commando

FRIENDSVILLE, Tenn. – “I forgot how to do homework. My back is killing me. I need to get off of this old couch.”

“Then you need to take care of that,” my wife recently told me over the phone from Missouri. “There’s no one there besides you to see it and point that out.”

“You’d think for a writer that I’d have telework down,” I replied. “I need to use a desk and a good chair. I’m too old to get by long with poor posture.”

Alright. In perspective, my aches and pains are small potatoes in this terrible pandemic. Hardship and suffering are rampant. And I was not battling the virus or at any significant risk, unlike our courageous health care workers and essential services workers. I was working from home, writing an article about how U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to the I.G. Brown Training and Education Center are teleworking.

As it turns out, that and my hurt back all got me thinking about ergonomics. Continue reading “The combat effective couch commando” →

Shared online workouts lift spirits during detachment’s home isolation

FRIENDSVILLE, Tenn. — U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to the Air National Guard training and education center in East Tennessee are not taking their current seclusion for the global pandemic sitting down but instead exercising through shared video workouts.

The I.G. Brown Training and Education Center’s online fitness classes are a means to tackle the COVID-19 adversity together, said the staff and faculty.

The Tuesday through Friday, 10:20 a.m., workouts are challenging. Still, there is plenty of camaraderie and encouragement that radiates from the computer screen, tablet, or smartphone. The 25-minute Zoom meetings that began on April 7 are open to service members and their families and continue for the foreseeable future.

Continue reading “Shared online workouts lift spirits during detachment’s home isolation” →

National Guard training and education center outlines strategic plan

The Air National Guard’s training and education center in East Tennessee this month released a five-year Strategic Plan designed to outline its priorities and lines of effort from 2020 through 2024.

The I.G. Brown Training and Education Center will work on its main priorities: Take Care of Team TEC; Increase Readiness; Develop Exceptional Leaders.

Also, the Strategic Plan calls for the engagement of its staff and faculty to reach their full potential. Each priority identifies a team, and a deliverable date, as well as lines of effort, key terms, and focus areas for progressing into the future. The plan’s guiding values are respect, trust, and engagement. Continue reading “National Guard training and education center outlines strategic plan” →

Air Guard’s primary learning center transforms through homework

FRIENDSVILLE, Tenn. – The Air National Guard’s primary learning and broadcast center is generating military education solutions for the total U.S. Air Force in immediate and long term challenges, said its Airmen teleworking in East Tennessee this week.

The I.G. Brown Training and Education Center staff are following the guidance and directives of the CDC, the National Guard Bureau, and the Department of Defense concerning COVID-19, which includes personal distancing, teleworking, and other actions to stop the spread.

Continue reading “Air Guard’s primary learning center transforms through homework” →

Is respect changing?

Editor’s note: Commentary by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Mike R. Smith. This is the sixth article in an ongoing series in which the I.G. Brown Training and Education Center staff and faculty share their perspectives and spark discussion about the organization’s lines of effort.

There are people in this world that I’ve never met that would stand unfulfilled in an extended handshake to me as well as there are strangers that I would risk my life protecting. In my face-to-face dealings with leaders, coworkers, people, and groups, gaining and giving my respect lies somewhere subjectively between those poles.

I believe that understanding respect is an introspective journey to how and why we value others, organizations, and ourselves. As they say in the office and on the battlefield, leaders cannot demand our respect; they must earn it through repeated actions that support our ideals.

Continue reading “Is respect changing?” →