The making of NCOs Published Sept. 5, 2025 By R.J. Oriez 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi once asserted that leaders are born, not made. The people at the Chief Master Sgt. Grace A. Peterson Airman Leadership School on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base would like to disagree. Senior Airman Jason Dean, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Victim Council, leads members of the Chief Master Sgt. Grace A. Peterson Airman Leadership School Class 25-F into their graduation ceremony August 28, 2025, at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Airmen and Guardians from across the area attend the course, offered by the 88th Force Support Squadron, as a requirement to be promoted to staff sergeant. (U.S. Air Force photo by R.J. Oriez) Photo Details / Download Hi-Res “Everything! Fit, ready leaders,” was the response from Staff Sgt. Tahmeira Kelley, ALS lead flight instructor, when she asked what the Air Force gets from ALS. “(The Air Force) is getting these leaders that are ready, not only to make decisions, but are able to make them without being told to do so. That's a really big thing.” According to Master Sgt. Michael Fromme, the school’s commandant, a little more than 200 students pass through the 24-day course’s seven cycles each year. Course completion is required for Airmen being promoted to staff sergeant and, thus, becoming noncommissioned officers. However, not all the students are Airmen. The student body can be a mix of active duty, Air National Guard and reserve Airmen, Space Force Guardians, members of the Coast Guard and civilian employees. The school, and its faculty, are accredited by the Community College of the Air Force which awards each student six credit hours upon completion. On Aug. 28, 2025, 30 more students earned their diplomas as Class 25-F held their graduation ceremony at the Wright-Patt Club. Each class is assigned a mentor, a chief master sergeant who takes the class under their wing to answer questions and give advice. 25-F’s mentor was Chief Master Sgt. Timothy Wieser, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center command chief. The 26-year Air Force veteran said he also learned a lot about what the Air Force needs today from the experience. Senior Airman Jason Dean, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Victim Council, leads members of the Chief Master Sgt. Grace A. Peterson Airman Leadership School Class 25-F into their graduation ceremony August 28, 2025, at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Airmen and Guardians from across the area attend the course, offered by the 88th Force Support Squadron, as a requirement to be promoted to staff sergeant. (U.S. Air Force photo by R.J. Oriez) Photo Details / Download Hi-Res “I learned more from that class than they learned from me,” Wieser said. “They taught me that they care about people, and the mission, at a high level. They want to lead at a young age and a young rank, and they want to continue to make the Air Force great.” Another tradition is a volleyball match of the class of younger Airmen against chiefs and first sergeants from around the base. The match gives the Airmen an opportunity to work as a team and a chance to talk with the senior enlisted Airmen. The win/loss record is heavily in favor of the seasoned chiefs and first sergeants over the younger Airmen. Not this time though. The members of 25-F won easily in the first two games of the three-game match. One of the chiefs tasting the agony of defeat was Chief Master Sgt. Keelye Coffin, Air Force Material Command First Sergeant. Before assuming that position, she was the senior enlisted leader of the 88th Force Support Squadron on Wright-Patt, the squadron the school comes under. “ALS for me, is providing all the mentorship and training we can so our airmen are the best noncommissioned officers that they can be,” Coffin said. “So, if they're going through something in the future, they can come back to one of us and ask us questions. But really, it’s just to give them a bunch of stuff in their toolbox to enable them to be a good supervisor in the future.” Senior Airman Jessica Hess, 88th Inpatient Operations Squadron, salutes during a flag lowering ceremony August 18, 2025, at the Chief Master Sgt. Grace A. Peterson Airman Leadership School at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The school teaches military heritage and leadership theory to Airmen and Guardians advancing to the noncommissioned officer ranks. (U.S. Air Force photo by R.J. Oriez) Photo Details / Download Hi-Res It has been 20 years since the Lebanon, Ohio, native went through ALS herself, but she remembers what she got from it. “Confidence,” she said. “I think you're a little scared when you're becoming an NCO, because you're getting an airman, maybe a couple Airmen, so you're about to supervise. It's a little stressful when you're a supervisor. So, I think again, the networking was probably the biggest part.” Staff Sgt. Hannah Jaime-Vogel, National Air and Space Intelligence Center, is one of the very few Airmen able to put on her stripes before starting the class. She assumed the role of Patterson Field Flight leader. “It gave me a better perspective on who I am as a person and what kind of leader I want to be,” Jaime-Vogel said. “It was very different from what I expected. There was a lot of work, and a lot of stress involved, but I think that was a good thing.” Jaime-Vogel is new to Wright-Patterson and feels the school gave her the opportunity to hone her networking skills. Chief Master Sgt. Tessa Fontaine gives closing remarks at the Chief Master Sgt. Grace A. Peterson Airman Leadership School Class 25-F graduation ceremony August 28, 2025, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Fontaine welcomed the graduates to the noncommissioned officer “family”. (U.S. Air Force photo by R.J. Oriez) Photo Details / Download Hi-Res “I really think that it did,” she said. “I came here brand new to the base, I had been here for one week, and I got to meet so many Airmen in all these different units. So, it's kind of nice learning about everything from just the small class that we were in.” At the graduation ceremony, after the awards had been announced and the diplomas had been given out. Chief Master Sgt. Tessa Fontaine, 88th Air Base Wing command chief made her closing remarks. “Welcome to the club. Welcome to the family,” Fontaine told the soon to be NCOs. “Now you have been given one of, in my opinion, the most distinct responsibilities—taking care of others. I know that you are ready. It is going to be challenging, but it is going to be probably one of the most rewarding things that you ever do.” The graduates of Class 25-F are: 88th Air Base Wing Senior Airman Kyle Evans 88th Communications Squadron Senior Airman Leon Gonzalez Senior Airman Gage Grabarkiewicz Senior Airman Travis Jarrett Senior Airman Gage McDonald Senior Airman Tory Trembley 88th Comptroller Squadron Senior Airman Jacob Hornbrook 88th Health Care Operations Squadron Senior Airman Andrew Geringer Senior Airman Makayla Proctor 88th Inpatient Operations Squadron Senior Airman Jessica Hess 88th Medical Support Squadron Senior Airman Daniel Loofboro Senior Airman Lafayette Ragsdale Senior Airman Jayden Vanbuckley 88th Operational Medical Readiness Squadron Senior Airman Michael Barbee 88th Operations Support Squadron Senior Airman Jeremiah Johnson 88th Security Forces Squadron Senior Airman Kaleb Miller Senior Airman Christopher Williams 788th Civil Engineer Squadron Senior Airman Julian Miller (John L. Levitow Award, top graduate) 115th Logistics Readiness Squadron, Air National Guard Senior Airman Katelyn McKenzie 183rd Air Mobility Operations Squadron, Air National Guard Senior Airman Derek Myers 311th Recruiting Squadron Senior Airman Zachary Feldman Senior Airman Marissa Kastler 445th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Senior Airman Nathan Ernest (Leadership and Distinguished Graduate Awards) JAJS (Victim Council) Senior Airman Jason Dean National Air and Space Intelligence Center Senior Airman Jacob Bryan Senior Airman Michael Cummings Senior Airman Chevelle Gauntlett Senior Airman Chris Jackson Staff Sgt. Hannah Jaime-Vogel (Academic Achievement and Distinguished Graduate Awards) Senior Airman Hunter Winingar