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The 171st ARW Hosts 6th Annual Enlisted Development Program

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Bryan Hoover
  • 171st Air Refueling Wing
Coraopolis, Pa --  The Enlisted Development Program (EDP) returned to the 171st from November 17th through the 19th, 2021. Previously, the course halted for public health concerns due to the pandemic. The EDP helps provide all enlisted Airmen with the skills they need to be effective leaders.

Enlisted development in the Air Force ensures Airmen have the tools they need readily available and consists of three different tiers of professional military education (Airman Leadership School, Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) Academy, Senior NCO Academy) that are spread out during an Airman’s career. The EDP helps bridge the gap between these different courses and takes a deeper dive into developing an Airman’s ability to perform in both written and verbal communications as well as leadership and supervision.

Tech. Sgt. Jacob Linsenbigler, the NCO in charge of Public Health within the Medical Group was an integral part in reviving the program. Along with a handful of other Guardsmen from the 171st, Linsenbigler attended a Leadership Development Program hosted by the 193rd Special Operations Wing in Harrisburg. He found the program extremely beneficial and wanted to bring it back to Pittsburgh. “It was a fantastic program, we wanted to bring it back home but tailor it in a manner that could benefit all of our enlisted force on base,” said Linsenbigler.

This is the 6th rendition of the EDP hosted at the 171st with five of their courses tailored towards the junior NCOs and one for the senior NCOs. This year, the course concentrated on increasing the trainee’s knowledge of force management, fiscal management and responsibility, career development strategies, administrative duties such as enlisted development report writing, award writing or counseling sessions and documentation, professionalism, supervisions skills, and soft skills for personnel management.

The EDP added a field trip this year to tour the Carnegie Mellon University, National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC). The tour connected Airmen with Mr. Jeff Legault, an Associate Director at the NREC who illustrated some of the projects previously designed. The theme of the tour stressed to Airmen that there is always a way to finish the mission. The NREC finds ways to automate processes and forces engineers to think outside of the box. “This tour was something we wanted to show to our junior NCOs that no matter what rank you are, innovation is a little idea coming from a person wishing to make a big difference. That is one of the overall qualities of a good leader,” said Linsenbigler.