Photo By Lt. Col. Nicole M Reigelman | Pennsylvania Air National Guard state command chief, Chief Master Sgt. Paul Frisco,...... read more read more
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FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. — After 41 years of service, the Pennsylvania Air National Guard’s tenth State Command Chief, Chief Master Sergeant Paul G. Frisco, bids farewell to his extensive career as he prepares for retirement in July 2024.
Following his previous duty as the 111th Attack Wing Command Chief, Frisco has served as the senior-most enlisted advisor to the three Wings across Pennsylvania and has cared for the State’s 4,100 Airmen during his tenure as State Command Chief. This responsibility to the Wings and the airmen under him, he said, is a role he has taken on with great pride over the last four years.
Frisco, a Pottstown native, started his military career by enlisting in the active-duty Air Force. Joining with a desire to serve, his career took him across the country to his first duty station at Cannon AFB, New Mexico, where he was assigned as a Vehicle Dispatcher and Heavy Equipment Trainer. Although he enjoyed the experience, Frisco said his home state was calling. Eventually transitioning to aircraft maintenance and onwards into leadership roles at the 111th ATKW, Frisco spent the next 38 years of his career serving in the place he knew best – in the PAANG.
Frisco’s main focus since assuming his position as State Command Chief has always been Airmen first, he said.
“The greatest honor of this role has been to serve the Airmen of Pennsylvania and to do it with my fellow command chiefs,” said Frisco. “I’ve been privileged to wake up every morning and help make the Air Guard better each day for the airmen under me by working collaboratively between the Wings, recognizing Airmen accomplishments, and caring for their professional development.”
As the first full time State Command Chief, Frisco was able to help expand leadership development programs and streamline processes for the Wings such as the Outstanding Airman of the Year Program. He credited much of this success to his ability to be always available and readily communicate.
If there is anyone he could not have completed all these years without, Frisco said, it would be his wife, Lori.
“My wife and I grew up in the same neighborhood,” said Frisco. “When I came back from active duty, a year later we started dating. Two kids and six grandkids later, she’s been through 38 years of the military with me and has never balked at anything.”
In his soon-to-be retirement, Frisco is looking forward to relaxing, spending time with his family, and catching up with the hobbies he enjoys. With six grandchildren, he said that he has enough to keep him busy after the high-speed pace of the last 10 years.
When reflecting on his service to the Airmen of Pennsylvania, to the State, and to the Country, the tenth State Command Chief said that he does not like to think of his legacy as “what he has accomplished,” but rather “what people have seen in him.”
As part of his final farewell, Frisco states, “I’m thankful for the opportunity to do this all these years, for the people who have come before me, and for the Airmen who will go after me.”
| Date Taken: | 07.15.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 07.15.2024 12:30 |
| Story ID: | 476205 |
| Location: | FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Hometown: | POTTSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 104 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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