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Tech. Sgt. Dontavius Craft, 19th Force Support Squadron Airman Leadership School instructor, has been awarded the EPME Noncommissioned Officer of the Year at the Air Mobility Command level, June 16, 2025.
Craft, who has been an instructor for two years, will go on to compete at the Air Force level for the 2024 Enlisted Force Development and Education Awards.
Prior to becoming an instructor, he worked in the 19th Security Forces Squadron as a Base Defense Operations Center (BDOC) controller.
“I love being an instructor, I’m able to touch a different crowd.” Craft explained with a broad smile. “In security forces we’re working 14-hour long shifts, so you maybe touch 20 to 30 Airmen, but in ALS, where I’m able to develop and touch a wider horizon of Airmen, I just love seeing others grow.”
As an ALS instructor, Craft is entrusted with delivering the curriculum to roughly 250 students a year, providing them with the tools and experience to build a leadership mindset.
When he first enlisted seven years ago, he says he never imagined becoming a teacher, let alone that his efforts would lead to him being named Air Mobility Command’s nominee in his category of nearly 100 other instructors.
“Tech. Sgt. Craft has been an invaluable member of the team,” said Master Sgt. Chelsie Long, 19th FSS ALS Commandant. “His exceptional character significantly shapes his interactions with both his Airmen and his work.”
Craft described receiving the news of his award win with mixed feelings of happiness and humbleness.
“It shows that the things I try to instill in others when developing them, it works. I like the confirmation the work I put in is working for people,” he admitted. “However, I’m not the person that likes being the face of everything. I like being behind the scenes, working with people personally.”
Craft’s policies and impact reaches beyond the classrooms of LRAFB; while he was deployed in the United Arab Emirates teaching 26 other students, his methods reshaped the procedures of the schoolhouse there.
With his goal of developing and mentoring people in mind, Craft also created the Airman Helping Airman program for junior enlisted to be mentored by NCOs across different career fields at Little Rock AFB.
“His willingness to mentor Airmen in his own time highlights his integrity and directly reflects his leadership approach,” Long said. “His reputation as a trusted mentor means Airmen often seek his counsel.”
Craft has continued to lean into opportunities like the Airman Helping Airman program and the importance in people interacting with those not only beyond their rank, but also beyond their career field, asserting that programs such as these are what gave him the confidence to become an ALS instructor.
“I would say the best piece of advice I’ve ever gotten was from someone outside the security forces career field,” he said. “It allowed me to connect the dots and see how the Air Force worked together as a whole and not just within individual occupations.”
| Date Taken: | 07.07.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 07.07.2025 14:45 |
| Story ID: | 542134 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 14 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, ALS instructor's greatness is measured by the success of others, by SrA Isabella Ortega, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
