German sergeant enrolls in USAFE NCO Academy

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Scott Wagers
  • Air Force News Agency
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany (AFPN) --  German air force Master Sgt. Holger Fels is no stranger to teaching professional development to airmen in Germany's 70,000-member "Luftwaffe." What he's not so familiar with is how to impart the same type of knowledge is to Airmen in America's Air Force.

Recently hand-selected from 200 of his fellow professional military education instructors at Germany's "Unteroffizierschule der Luftwaffe" (Noncommissioned Officer School of the Air Force), Sergeant Fels is preparing for an upcoming special duty assignment as an exchange instructor at the U.S. Air Force's Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.

Wanting a firsthand look at the "philosophies and teaching styles" of the U.S. Air Force PME curriculum, Sergeant Fels decided to join 139 technical sergeants in a six-week course at U.S. Air Forces Europe's Kisling NCO Academy at Kapaun Air Station in Kaiserslautern. A week before graduating the course, the a 15-year professional military education instructor veteran reflected on his experiences.

"I've learned a lot," he said. "There's a nice atmosphere here. In general, (the instructors) are all relaxed, friendly, and asking a lot of questions."

Some of the most frequent questions posed to Sergeant Fels by fellow students query the differences in German and American military culture.

During a class discussion on subordinate-centered problem solving, Tech. Sgt. Treena Merk, the phantom flight instructor, asked Sergeant Fels if he commonly involved subordinates in the problem-solving process at his work center.

"Yes," he replied. "It's normally done in my office with the young (airmen) and we use solutions that are usually mine."

The remark triggered laughter and smiles throughout the class.

Sergeant Fels further explained that the Airmen he instructs are between 18 and 22 years old and often still live at home. He attributed young age and lack of independence to their having fewer life experiences and lower maturity levels than that of the average American Airmen. For this reason, he justified using a more directive style of leadership.

Looking beyond the uniquely mottled field uniform and the Germanic dialect, Sergeant Fels appeared right at home amongst his 14 American classmates. In the beginning of the six-week curriculum; however, he said he felt out of place when he first witnessed the classroom liberties afforded to Kisling NCO Academy students.

"You can eat something if you want, drink something if you want, stand up and move around if you want (during class)," he said. "It's no problem. In our school, it's forbidden. That's why we have class breaks. In the first week, I thought to myself, 'This can't be true. How can they learn in this atmosphere?' But now I can see that it works. It's a good atmosphere to learn (in)."

In addition to learning U.S. Air Force acronyms -- which the German Air Force also has -- and understanding the difference between bullet statements, memorandums and narrative writing, Sergeant Fels has had to adjust to the way in which information is structured and presented in class.

"In our school, one flight may be doing PT while another flight is in the classroom learning about leadership and another is in the field on the shooting range," he said contrasting the German NCO school's curriculum to Air Education and Training Command's uniform style of having all flight instructors presenting the same information simultaneously.

"American instructors must follow plans and outlines, and we have the freedom to do what we want and how we want," Sergeant Fels said. "But in the end, everyone has learned the same."

Sergeant Fels has spent all but the first year of his enlistment in the German air force as an instructor in one capacity or another. A year after joining in October 1992, he was selected to become an instructor specializing in air base ground defense. Later he became a nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare instructor for predeployment training. In 1999, he began instructing at the German air force's NCO school in Appen, located just outside the northern port city of Hamburg.

Little did he know upon becoming an instructor at the Appen-based Noncommissioned Officer School that the academic institution had formalized an exchange instructor partnership with the U.S. Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy.

In the nearly 12 years that the exchange instructor program has existed between Air University's top enlisted school and the German air force, the three exchange instructors that have filled the four-year special duty assignment ahead of Sergeant Fels have come from his school.

Similarly, the U.S. Air Force has reciprocated in this exchange program by sending American PME instructors to teach in four-year special duty billets at the Appen NCO school. Because of the requirement for American instructors to be fluent in the German language, the challenge for the Air Force to find suitable candidates has been much greater.

One of Sergeant Fels' classmates, Special Agent Seth Flinchbaugh of Office of Special Investigations Det. 515, said sharing the six-week course with Sergeant Fels has been enjoyable.

"His English is impeccable for a non-native speaker and his briefings are better than some of those done by fellow classmates," Special Agent Flinchbaugh said. 

Special Agent Flinchbaugh learned German and Arabic through the Defense Language Institute and said he assisted Sergeant Fels when he had questions about the English language.

"I know that if I have to speak German more than one hour in my job, it's mentally draining," he said. "I can't imagine how tiring it must be to speak another language for eight hours a day."

Another fellow student, Tech. Sgt. Eric Corriveau of the 435 Security Forces Squadron, said it would be beneficial to have foreign nationals in all professional military education classes.

"It always adds something to PME," Sergeant Corriveau said. "He knows a lot about our military and customs, and knowing he will be a Senior NCO Academy instructor, I'd recommend him to any of my co-workers."

Pondering the disparities between the German and American air forces, the 35-year-old husband and father of two said the two militaries are more alike than different and that the international partnership "is like a friendship" that requires a commitment to spending time together.

After laying his book bag on a desk, Sergeant Fels pulled out a small grey book with silver embossed text bearing the words, "TEAM LUFTWAFFE."

Translating part of the cover he said, "It's our book of moral guidelines."

Opening the book, he loosely translated a few of its passages that rang eerily familiar.

"Be tolerant. Know your history. Use creativity. Service before self. Support your comrades."

Sergeant Fels is scheduled to report for instructor duty at Maxwell AFB in April 2009.

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