Wing Commander pins on first star

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Missy Sterling
  • 442d Fighter Wing
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  Family, friends and service members gathered to celebrate with Brig. Gen. Brian K. Borgen, 442d Fighter Wing Commander, during his promotion ceremony May 6 at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri.

Borgen began his military career in 1990 when he commissioned into the Air Force and completed his undergraduate pilot training at Williams AFB, Arizona.

The presiding officer was Brig. Gen. James F. Mackey, Mobilization Assistant to the Director of Operations at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia. Both officers have intermittently worked together since Borgen was a cadet at Kansas State University.

“He’s a team builder,” said Mackey about Borgen’s leadership abilities. “He finds great people, gives them direction, lets them work and then he takes care of them on the back side of that.”

“All the people that are in this room are the reason I get to wear this rank,” said Borgen. “This is not my rank. You earned it, and I get to wear it.”

With nearly 1,000 wing members amongst the crowd, Borgen pledged to facilitate the mission to the best of his ability and continue to be a better officer and leader.