Airmen and guardians traded in a traditional auditorium for the ballpark as they celebrated their graduation from the Donald L. Harlow Airman Leadership School at Nationals Park in Washington, yesterday, leaving with a bigger takeaway than a certificate: the ability to lead others.
Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson attended the ceremony hosted by the 316th Wing at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. She used her remarks to draw a straight line between her recent transition and the one the graduates are about to make.
Washington Nationals Senior Vice President of Community and Government Engagement Gregory McCarthy introduced Wilson, and the ceremony — complete with colors, anthem and invocation — gave the graduates and their families a moment to pause and celebrate together.
"Now you're stepping into the transition [Airman Leadership School] is built for: moving from being the one who gets the job done — to being the one who makes sure the team gets the job done," Wilson told the service members.
The leadership school is the first level of enlisted professional military education and a milestone required before being promoted to staff sergeant, Wilson said. The course is 192 hours over 24 academic days focused on culture, mission, leadership and problem-solving — training designed to help the service members think and respond when the environment is "complex and ambiguous."
Wilson didn't spend much time on the curriculum, however. Instead, she spoke about what happens when responsibility shows up faster than you expect.
"A lot of you are in the same [stage] of life I'm in," she said.
Not long ago, Wilson said, she was early in her career, "learning fast, trying to earn trust," working in communication, where the pace is relentless and mistakes travel fast. Then she took the oath as a presidential appointee and became the Pentagon press secretary.
"Overnight, my job changed. I didn't just have tasks — I had a mission," she said. "And I learned quickly that leadership is not about having a title. It's about carrying responsibility."
That's the same shift the Airman Leadership School is built to reinforce, Wilson told the graduates — becoming the first line of leadership for junior enlisted who are learning the job, testing boundaries and sometimes wondering if they belong.
Wilson offered three lessons she said apply "directly to the stripes you're stepping into."
First, she told them, "clarity is key." New supervisors shouldn't hide behind buzzwords or overcomplicate guidance.
"Give clear standards, clear expectations and clear feedback," she said. "Confusion is not a strategy. Clarity is."
Second, Wilson said, "standards are not optional." Leaders can feel pressure to make things easier or accept "good enough," she warned, but subordinates watch what supervisors tolerate. "If you want a culture of excellence, you must enforce excellence — quietly, consistently, every day."
Finally, Wilson reminded the service members to take care of people "the right way — by building them into warfighters."
Mission and people aren't competing priorities, she said, the mission depends on warfighters who are trained, disciplined and trusted — and leaders who coach, correct and protect them "not from standards, but from confusion, chaos and bad leadership."
With the ceremony taking place in a baseball stadium, Wilson used the setting to make her point. "Leadership is not a solo sport," she said, comparing effective supervision to teams that do the basics together: communicate, cover each other and adjust when something goes wrong.
In a class made up of active-duty service members from 19 career fields and units across seven major commands, Wilson said the details of each job may differ — but the expectations of a noncommissioned officer don't.
"You are ready for that — not because you're perfect, but because you've been trained, you've been tested, and you've chosen to step forward," she said.
Before leaving the podium, Wilson thanked the families and friends for standing behind the graduates, then closed with a reminder meant to sound simple — and to be taken seriously.
"So let me be crystal clear on one last point: you earned this. Congratulations!" she said. "Now go lead."
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