The 147th Attack Wing hosted its third annual Leadership Development Course at the Lone Star Museum in Houston, June 1-4, 2023.

The four-day course covers a variety of topics, to include communication skills, time management, conflict resolution, developing and demonstrating discipline, interpersonal skills and more. In addition to the course material, the LDC also offers members the opportunity to learn alongside their peers and foster stronger networks of leadership. Master Sgt. April Miller, 147th Operations Group), attended the LDC last year as a student, and decided to return this year as a course facilitator.

“Going through the course last year completely re-motivated me, to where I took the lessons I learned back to my unit and began taking on more of a leadership role,” said Miller. “What’s great about doing it this year is that I still learn so much as a facilitator in this course.”

The LDC facilitators collect and review feedback from students after each course to make changes and improvements to the curriculum. This year, they added the “5 Voices of Leadership” assessment, which helped students identify their unique leadership style.

“The leadership assessment really helped drive home that whole team concept,” said Miller. “You get to see how you are as a person in a group, and why you think the way you do. That was the most involvement I have seen out of this course so far.”
In addition to new changes to course materials, the 147th was invited members of the 136th Airlift Wing and 149th Fighter Wing to the course to help facilitate professional development and networking across multiple wings.

“This is my first time here, and it’s been a great experience,” said Senior Master Sgt. Celeste Larouche, senior enlisted leader for the 149th Host Aviation Resource Management Office. “There were a lot of new leadership concepts I had not yet been exposed to and I truly appreciated learning about them; there’s a lot of new tools that have been offered to me through this course.”

Reflecting on her first visit to the event, Larouche expressed her appreciation for the opportunity to learn new leadership concepts, expand her tools of leadership, and build lasting relationships with peer-leaders.

“This event was well worth the time,” said Larouche. “I’ve truly gained a lot of experience, I’ve networked here, and I’ve accomplished a lot of personal and professional development here.”