MAXWELL AFB, Ala. -- The Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education’s Foundations curriculum achieved full operational capability July 19, 2024, after nine months of course testing and training.
The last Barnes Center mobile training team departed Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans after graduating 50 Louisiana Air National Guard Airmen from Airmanship 300, 500 and 700 courses. Since November 2023, 34 teams trained 1,386 total force Airmen.
“These Foundations courses were developed, tested and implemented in record time,” Col. Damian Schlussel, Barnes Center commander, said. “What would normally take a few years, we have done in months. I am so proud of our staff and impressed with the work our curriculum developers and instructors have accomplished.”
In a letter to the force on Sept. 18, 2023, then-Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown and then-Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Joanne S. Bass stated that Foundations courses will replace base-level professional enhancement seminars beginning in October 2023 and become prerequisite courses for enlisted professional military education starting in late 2024.
The Barnes Center, in conjunction with development advisors, major command functional managers and Headquarters Air Force, Force Development, developed the foundations courses as part of the Enlisted Airmanship Continuum, outlined in the same letter to the force. The continuum focuses on enhancing the professional military education and development of total force enlisted Airmen and fill the gaps between legacy professional military education schools such as Airman Leadership School and the Noncommissioned Officer Academy.
“Some Airmen go five or six years between PME courses, which is way too long,” Schlussel, said. “These courses close that developmental gap by delivering the right content at the right time in an Airman’s career.”
The BCEE Foundations curriculum team, along with 56 instructors from Airey, Sheppard and Mathies NCO academies, invested a collective 27,720 hours over 90 consecutive days to developing and refining course content between July and September of 2023.
“We started in July and were told to focus on the 500-level only, with a two-year timeframe,” Tech. Sgt. Kate Hytinen, Barnes Center Foundations noncommissioned officer in charge, said. “A few days later we learned we needed to develop 300-, 500-, and 700-level content by September to ensure the courses would roll out at the same time and to support reoptimizing the Air Force in an era of Great Power Competition. It was all-hands-on-deck.”
The team also hosted a 10-day seminar in October 2023, connecting 48 subject matter experts from all the major commands for a comprehensive course curriculum review. The seminar resulted in 53 complete lesson plans prior to initial operational capability testing, which ran from November 2023 to February 2024.
During IOC, 30 NCO Academy instructors formed mobile training teams for 12 locations. The teams taught 30 classes but were also responsible for evaluating curriculum and gathering course feedback from the 352 graduates.
During FOC, March to July 2024, 24 NCO Academy instructors continued to deliver course content and gather feedback at 22 locations, but also began training developmental advisors and equivalent Foundations instructors to facilitate base-level training across the force. The FOC training teams graduated 693 Airmen from 82 locations around the world and trained 341 developmental advisors or equivalent personnel.
“Our mission was clear and concise, and our team had support from the top down,” Hytinen said. “It was a lot of long days, weekends and late nights for the team, but we were able to do it, and do it well.”
Moving forward, MAJCOMs will incorporate the five-day Foundations courses into their bases’ educational catalogs. Base developmental advisors will lead and manage the courses. The Barnes Center will continue to provide 80% of the course content, while MAJCOMs and wings provide the remaining 20%.
In a July 12, 2024, memorandum to all MAJCOM manpower and personnel directorates, Crystal L. Moore, Headquarters Air Force, Force Development director, outlined the official policy and procedural guidance to implement the Enlisted Airmanship Continuum Foundations Courses, making Airmanship 300, 500 and 700 official EPME prerequisites beginning Dec. 31, 2025.
Hytinen will soon leave the Barnes Center, as she was selected to be a warrant officer instructor for the Warrant Officer Training School, soon to open on Maxwell. She credits her experiences in standing up the Foundations courses as the reason for her selection. “I’ve learned so much and it has given me more confidence in my abilities,” she said.