Photo By Senior Airman Keira Rossman | U.S. Air Force Airmen from graduating Class 24-14 break their wings at Laughlin Air...... read more read more
Twenty-seven U.S. Air Force officers were awarded the coveted silver wings as a symbol of their hard work and training during a graduation ceremony held Aug. 23, 2024.
Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) is a training program that helps prepare prospective military pilots. Upon completion of the program, graduates earn their silver wings as Air Force aviators.
The guest speaker at the Class 24-14 graduation ceremony was Col. Joseph McCane, 47th Operations Group commander, at Laughlin AFB, Texas. He leads 1,100 personnel in training U.S. and allied pilots. McCane commissioned in 2001 through Air Force ROTC at the University of Oklahoma and started his career at Laughlin as a first assignment instructor pilot. He has since flown various aircraft, including the C-17A and C-130, and deployed multiple times in support of global operations. McCane is a command pilot with over 1,500 combat hours and over 5,800 hours in the T-37C Talon, T-6A Texan II, T-1A Jayhawk, C-17, C-130 E/H, BE-350, DHC-6, and C-208.
Receiving their pilot wings during the ceremony were:
Capt. Matthew Nielsen
1st Lt. Josiah Anderson
1st Lt. Sean Bedwell
1st Lt. Christopher Chwa
1st Lt. Bradley Guild
1st Lt. Christopher Kirk
1st Lt. Emily Oakley
2nd Lt. Jae Man Bae
2nd Lt. Valerie Calvert
2nd Lt. Isaac Chang
2nd Lt. Patrick Delle
2nd Lt. Cassandra Dudas
2nd Lt. Michael Francheschi
2nd Lt. Derian Gewecke-Kreutz
2nd Lt. Brianna Giardino
2nd Lt. Ana Gomez-Martinez
2nd Lt. Derek Lesueur
2nd Lt. Zachary Lietzke
2nd Lt. Jonah Loewe
2nd Lt. Grace O’Brien
2nd Lt. John Paschall
2nd Lt. Ian Rodriguez
2nd Lt. Patrick Ryan
2nd Lt. Rupert Shaw
2nd Lt. Zachary Thorley
2nd Lt. Emily Vance
2nd Lt. Jesse West
In addition to the graduation ceremony, a special emphasis was placed on recognizing the sacrifices and contributions of military spouses. It served as a reminder that while the graduates were the ones receiving their wings, their achievements were also a testament to the love, sacrifice and constant support of their spouses, who serve alongside them in spirit and strength.
“Military spouses are often said to ‘live in the shadows’,” said Lt. Col. Elizabeth Music, 47th Student Squadron commander. “Although not in uniform, spouses have an essential role to play and are the backbone of the military community. Tonight is about your pilots earning their wings, but also a recognition of you. Your love, sacrifice and ad nauseam quizzing of bold face procedures has not gone unnoticed.”
The ceremony proceeded with the breaking of the wings, a tradition symbolizing the start of a new journey for the novice pilots. According to the tradition, the first pair of wings a pilot receives should never be worn. Instead, the wings should be broken into two halves to invite good fortune throughout the pilot’s aviation career. One half is kept by the pilot, while the other is given to a significant person in their life. To preserve that good luck, those two halves are said to only be brought together again in the next life.
The event culminated in the pinning of the wings, where friends and family members affixed a pair of silver wings onto the graduates’ uniforms. This gesture signified the official transition of the students into winged aviators, fully prepared to embrace the forthcoming roles within the United States Air Force.
Pilot wings are a symbol of hard work, training, and dedication. Aviation wings are issued to pilots who have achieved a certain level of proficiency or training.
| Date Taken: | 08.26.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.27.2024 09:37 |
| Story ID: | 479769 |
| Location: | LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 8 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Graduating the future of flight: Class 24-14, by SrA Keira Rossman, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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