An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Measure of leader is result of mentoring

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. David Ceurvels and Master Sgt. David McLane
  • 16th MSG
Hurlburt. Field, Fla. --  How do you prepare your subordinates to be the next generation of leaders?

You’ll have great success if you promote and prepare your troops for professional military education, coupled with mentoring and training them and providing them the lessons learned from your experiences.

One of the first topics for your mentoring sessions should include PME.

Some of us think of PME as Airman Leadership School, NCO Academy and Senior NCO Academy, but PME also includes the First Term Airmen’s Center, known as the Commando Pride Airmen’s Center here, and leadership enhancement and development seminars.

The first seed of Air Commando leadership is planted in Airmen at CPAC. You should properly prepare your troops for CPAC by encouraging them to listen and learn all they can. Inspect their uniforms to ensure they present a professional military image.

Check on them periodically during the course and attend their graduation. They will take your lead, and the enthusiasm you show will go a long way. After graduation from CPAC, your troops will have three good years of mentoring and training before they’re sent to ALS.

Know the background and needs of your troops while maintaining a professional relationship. Provide quality and honest feedbacks – set measurable and attainable standards.

Train them to accomplish the job with perfection in a timely manner. Don’t forget to include your experiences as a boss and assign your troops some responsibility and delegate appropriately.
Take your mentoring session out on the track and run with you troops. Your mentoring and training will prepare your troops to succeed in ALS.

According to the results of 600 student observations over two years, there’s a trend with mentored troops. Mentored troops are more upbeat and want to attend ALS.

They want to learn all the tools needed to make them effective supervisors. We noticed mentored troops are more disciplined, strictly adhere to instructions and exceed the standards.

It comes full circle – once they used to be the young, ambitious troops learning from their mentors and now they have become the seasoned leader. It’s now their responsibility to mentor and shape the minds of young enlisted personnel.