Airmen host Kyrgyz soldiers for professional development event

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Tammie Moore
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan (AFNS) --   Airmen from here and soldiers from the Koi Tash NCO Academy met for a professional military education exchange Nov. 10 here.

The event centered on the Airman Leadership School methods of course delivery and the four primary curriculum topics of expeditionary Airmen, supervisor of Airmen, military professionalism and supervisor communications.

"The program entailed showing the Kyrgyz military how we instruct our future NCOs to become effective leaders, so to coordinate it I needed to find a PME instructor," said Master Sgt. Chris Ellis, the Theater Security Cooperation Military-to-Military program liaison.

He found Master Sgt. Leenette Joseph who used to be a PME instructor. She jumped at the chance to be involved in the project.

"Sergeant Ellis told me some of the Koi Tash instructors wanted to learn how we instruct our future NCOs," said Joseph, the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Equal Opportunity Office director. "I was a PME instructor for three years, so I teamed up with him, developed a lesson plan and recruited a couple of people to take part."

The exchange started with a conversation about each service's force structure and covered topics like how people are promoted into the NCO ranks and the professional development required of service members.

"This was actually really fun, and it was interesting to learn about their military," said Master Sgt. Yvonne Lopez, the 376th Expeditionary Maintenance Group first sergeant and a former PME. "We had a lot of guided discussions and provided an overview of what is taught in ALS. I think it worked out very well."

The seven Kyrgyz soldiers who participated in the event have been part of prior exchanges with Airmen from the Transit Center.

"I'm very happy about these exchanges," said Kyrgyz Republic Chief Warrant Officer Ayzada Shamirkanova, a Koi Tash NCO Academy instructor. "I was not expecting this kind of training. I really liked it and I really enjoyed the method of delivery. I liked that we discussed a lot of things and we got to talk about these topics. The whole interaction was a lot of fun, and I think we will be using this type of method in our school too."

As the exchange wrapped up, Kyrgyz Republic Lt. Sheberbec Turdaliev announced to the group that two privates in attendance decided to become NCOs because of information they learned.

"Thank you very much for showing this to us," Turdaliev said. "This was extremely useful to these privates -- it will help them become the sergeants they want to be."

As Ellis traveled with the Koi Tash soldiers back to their installation, the group discussed the exchange at great length.

"On the way back, they talked about plans to incorporate the exercises they learned in future training plans," Ellis said. "The three instructors orchestrated the exchange perfectly. I received more positive reactions from the Kyrgyz (soldiers) on this exchange than any other military-to-military exchange I've arranged and conducted. This one hit a hom erun."