A professional development course for the highest-ranking enlisted Airmen will go on hiatus for several months as the Air Force revamps its curriculum to reflect modern geopolitics, the service said in a recent release.
Overhauling the Chief Master Sergeant Leadership Course at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., aims to better prepare those Airmen for an era of “great power competition” as the U.S. vies for military supremacy with China and Russia, the service said.
“We are always striving to improve our curriculum and courses,” Col. Damian Schlussel, commander of the Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education at Maxwell, said in the release. “Our chiefs have a huge impact on our force, so we need to provide them the best professional military education possible—especially during a time of such consequence.”
The Chief Leader Course is the highest level of enlisted professional military education in the Air Force. It runs 10 times each year, with about 80 students in each cohort. About 2,500 chief master sergeants, or E-9s, currently serve in the Air Force, according to Pentagon data.
Over the course of two weeks, students prepare to serve in their first roles as chief master sergeants—who advise their unit’s top officer and are responsible for the welfare of troops under their purview—and learn to bridge their tactical experience with strategic goals. The class is targeted at squadron-level chiefs and is mandatory for Active-Duty Airmen within two years of being selected for promotion to E-9.
Once the final class of fiscal 2024 graduates Sept. 27, the Chief Leader Course will pause for about nine months while stakeholders from across the military design a new course to be rolled out in 2025.
Barnes Center officials said they hope to offer a more in-depth, rigorous approach to today’s military problems than the current curriculum provides.
“Two weeks was frankly not enough time for the outcomes we need at this level of leadership,” Chief Master Sgt. Bridget Bruhn, the Barnes Center’s command chief, said in the release. “We need to go deeper on topics such as operational teaming with partners, mission command, and joint warfighting for today’s fight.”
Airmen who had planned to attend the course in fiscal 2025 will be postponed until it resumes, Air Force spokesperson Marilyn Holliday said Sept. 23. Troops travel to Maxwell to attend the classes but don’t move there permanently as other professional military education programs require.
Air University at Maxwell will continue running other professional development courses for chiefs to attend while the leadership course is paused, the service said.
Air Force officials in recent years have begun to reimagine enlisted PME as part of a broader push to foster well-rounded Airmen who are as emotionally intelligent as they are technically skilled. Senior leaders hope to provide lessons that reinforce the service’s standards while becoming more relevant to the challenges supervisors now face.