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Politics & Government

Moon-Area Airmen Learn Leadership, Life Skills

Timothy Mobley, a Patch contributor and Air Force reservist, attends a leadership course at the 911 Airlift Wing.

For the past two weeks, 24 other airmen at the 911th Airlift Wing and I have attended a non-commissioned officer leadership course.

The 10-day workshop, first introduced in 1990, was specifically designed for Air Force reservists. It consists of leadership lessons that a reservist may use in civilian life and a military career.

Students then are offered an opportunity to teach the skills to other Air Force reservists throughout the United States.

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The civilian portion was taught by retired Air Force Col. George Updegrove, who has taught leadership classes to Duquesne University students and business executives.

This portion included lectures and discussions of life skills and such issues as emotional intelligence, stress management and communication styles. Updegrove used many stories from his lengthy Air Force career to illustrate his lessons.

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Updegrove included a discussion on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in his lesson on stress.

"In World War I it was called 'shell shock,' " he explained. "In World War II it was 'combat fatigue.' Then in Vietnam it was called 'combat stress.' But it's all basically the same thing."

Updegrove shared tools he has used to deal with the stresses of combat and conflict between a military career and civilian life.

"I never heard about emotions before," said Technical Sgt. Ralph VanHoutem, a former Army sapper and one of the students in the class. "We only talked about PTSD when we came back, but never with our troops. It was a 'mission-first' attitude."

During the civilian portion of the course, we took self-assessment evaluations covering  aspects ranging from time management to communication styles. We learned tools for interacting with different personalities -- "inside and outside the fence," as Updegrove put it.

For the military portion of the course, students worked in groups reviewing several real-world scenarios. These scenarios reinforced the Air Force core values of "Integrity First, Service Before Self and Excellence in all we do."

"In a lot of ways, military and civilian life is not that different," said Master Sgt. Travon Dennis, one of the military trainers for the course. "We find a problem and work towards a solution.

"I think the main thing is to reingage the problem again and again with a focus on empathy, concern and active listening."

Students were encouraged to take lessons they learned back to their units and employ them to make a difference, primarily in the relationship of leaders and subordinates.

"This is a way to change the culture of the Air Force Reserve," said Senior Master Sgt. Ken Sloat, an evaluator for the course.

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