AUGUST 7, 2026 — The shade of blue may be different, but the meaning behind the uniform remains the same. Brought together by their commitment to serve, Airmen and Coast Guardsmen worked together during Airmen Leadership School class 26-Foxtrot.
U.S. Coast Guard Yeoman Second Class Moisabley Gonzalez Guzman and Yeoman Third Class Maxwell Stillion traveled from the Pay and Personnel Center in Topeka, Kansas, to spend a month providing their expertise and learning from sister service professional military education instructors.
“As a commensurate leadership training regimen, ALS fulfills the Leadership and Management School requirements for enlisted members to advance to E-6 and to lead through more complex and dynamic situations, especially related to communicating effectively, influencing others positively, promoting teamwork, encouraging personal ethics and creating an environment that motivates performance while taking care of subordinates,” said U.S. Coast Guard Captain John Henry, PPC commanding officer.
The PPC is home to Yeoman Coast Guardsmen. The Yeoman career field acts as the human resources and administrative personnel for the service. Trained in California and assigned to different units, they help members with making sure their records, entitlements and pay are correct as well as assisting them with major life milestones.
For the first time in McConnell history, two U.S. Coast Guardsmen enrolled in ALS. The 22nd Force Support Squadron is giving the local Coast Guard unit two seats per class going forward to help fulfill a backlog in professional military education requirements.
“I didn’t have a lot of expectations,” expressed Stillion. “I didn’t know what this was going to be. I thought this was going to be more of a bootcamp style, where we were going to be doing push-ups and getting yelled at, but it has been more laid back and a lot of learning, which has really helped me. This is what I was looking for.”
ALS is a 5-week course that, traditionally, teaches senior airmen how to be non-commissioned officers and supervisors through lessons of emotional intelligence, Air Force writing, problem solving, negotiating, and ends with a week talking about the bigger picture and how their jobs relate to the Air Force mission. Students also complete an exercise that involves simulated tactical combat casualty care and care under fire, medical evacuation, post-attack reconnaissance sweep, and civil military operations.
“Having the Coast Guard students here is a significant and positive step for our ALS program,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Rebecca Goforth, 22nd FSS ALS instructor. “The fact that their leadership trusts us to help prepare their petty officers for leadership roles speaks volumes. We see it as a genuine privilege and a powerful vote of confidence in the quality of our team and curriculum.”
Upon completion of ALS, Airmen and Coast Guardsmen will officially be able to take on a supervisory role. Those with line numbers will be able to sew on the next rank, and all will receive the PME ribbon.
“The Coast Guard students have been fantastic in our class discussion,” said Goforth. “They bring a completely different viewpoint to the table coming from their world of maritime and law enforcement. It’s been a great contrast to the Air Force perspective, and it has helped all of us see the bigger picture of how our different branches have to work together to get the mission done.”
Bravo Zulu, ALS class 26-F!
Story by Staff Sgt. Felicia Przydzial
22nd Air Refueling Wing