In January 2026, there will be three new Foundations Courses to enlisted Airmen’s professional military education and the Enlisted Force Development Model continuum here at the 445th Airlift Wing, something already implemented on the active-duty Air Force side.
The new five-day courses will be the Junior Enlisted Foundations Course 300, Noncommissioned Foundations Course 500 and Senior Noncommissioned Officer Foundations Course 700 and will consist of four days of standardized content and one day of Major Command and wing specific focus.
“It will fill in that gap in between our normal, regular PME,” said Master Sgt. Jason Cordle, 445th Airlift Wing first sergeant and the primary program manager for the wing’s foundation courses. “It will help people stay sharp as Airmen with leadership qualities.”
The junior enlisted course bridges the gap between technical school and Airman Leadership School. The course provides students with the foundational skills and knowledge needed to conform to standards, customs and courtesies, and offers guidance to help enhance the students’ focus on becoming highly efficient career field and 5-skill level agents.
“The Air Force has done a great job at providing force development to the officer corps,” said Chief Master Sgt. Gordon Wager, 445th Airlift Wing command chief. “Comparatively, officers receive a very large percentage of Operation and Maintenance dollars set for senior leader development and PME. However, leading to the Foundations Courses coming online, the shift in adversarial threats and the New Strategic Environment, there was a need to close the developmental gap.
“We needed to become more intentional developing our enlisted corps at the lower echelons for mission command,” Wager continued. “If we are in the Indo-Pacific Region, we may have our NCOs making decisions based off the commander’s intent. We need to educate our Airmen and then provide space and grace to our NCOs now to make them comfortable with future decision points.”
The NCO course replaces the base level NCO Professional Enhancement Seminar and will be a prerequisite for the NCO Academy. The course will assist students in grasping the connection between attention to detail, establishing impactful communication and fostering a culture of trust.
The senior NCO course replaces the base level SNCO Professional Enhancement Seminar and will be a prerequisite for the SNCO Academy. The course assists students in engaging in strategic leadership at the 9-skill level, offering a rich arsenal of influence tactics for changing people’s viewpoints and behaviors.
The courses will be conducted in-house in the 445th Force Support Squadron auditorium. Cordle explained the course will be full days of learning, conducted from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.
“You are there for that day; you’re learning what the course has to offer; then you are off,” Cordle said. “There is no outside work that we put on your plate. You just got to give us those five days; that’s what we are asking.”
Cordle said the courses involve a lot of group activities and discussions.
“It’s very interactive and engaging,” he added. “We want you up moving around.”
The foundations courses will be 20 Airmen per class. The current formula for deciding who gets those seats is evolving, but as of right now, squadrons will have one seat per 10 Airmen qualified. Air Force Reserve Command has a priority set for each course, and if qualified to those standards, Airmen will be picked by their own individual unit.
In an example of how Airmen are chosen, Cordle said, “Potentially 238 Senior Airman are qualified to enter the Foundations 300 course – priority being they have not attended Airmen Leadership School, and they have 24 months’ time-in-grade. Of those Airmen qualified, training managers and senior enlisted leaders will choose.”
The courses will run once per quarter and have already been scheduled for the fiscal year. The calendar will be pushed out to the appropriate SELs and training managers.
“We have a lot of people to push through right now,” Cordle said. “This will be another requirement for Airmen, and it’s another thing you will have to be put on orders for.”
To help with adding something else to an Airman’s workload, they have aligned course dates with unit training assemblies. The idea behind the scheduling is to alleviate some stress for Airmen, especially for those traveling from out of town.
“I’m excited about it and I’m looking forward to it,” Cordle explained. “Personally, coming from working with the D&TF [development and training flight] Program, this kind of puts me back in that realm of standing in front of people and sharing my experiences. I think it’s going to be good for everyone to keep everybody engaged with leadership qualities, quality-type training, and I think it will be a good bridge in between PME.”
| Date Taken: | 01.01.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 01.09.2026 10:42 |
| Story ID: | 555907 |
| Location: | WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, OHIO, US |
| Web Views: | 14 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, New 445th PME courses develop enlisted corps for New Strategic Environment, by TSgt Joel McCullough, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
