LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Thirty-five 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 Sept. 18, 2025. Laughlin exceeded their 345 target and graduated 362 student pilots for the fiscal year.
“It was a wing effort to graduate 362 pilots this year,” said Col. Joseph McCane, 47th Operations Group commander. “We also graduated more T-38 students than we were programmed for this year, and I can’t be prouder of our OG and Team XL.”
Using 5 years of historical data, the 47th OG developed an aggressive month-by-month plan of exactly how many sorties needed to be accomplished to graduate every possible student in the Laughlin Undergraduate Pilot Training pipeline.
“Every efficiency was found and utilized in order to cut waste and make every flight count,” said Lt. Col. Richard Kabanuck, 47th OG deputy commander. “No single sortie went unnoticed and every opportunity to make the syllabus efficient for the intention of making a pilot was taken.”
The guest speaker at the Class 25-15 graduation ceremony was U.S. Air Force Col. Kathleen M. Hasson. Hasson is the acting Commander of the 305th Air Mobility Wing, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. She is a command pilot with over 2,500 hours, primarily in the C-17 and over 1,000 combat hours. She has joint experience at Allied Joint Force Command, Naples, Italy, and an Air Operations Command tour in the 613 AOC, JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, where she served as Chief, Air Mobility Division.
Receiving their pilot wings during the ceremony were:
Capt. John Zuzich
1st Lt. Sebastian Giraldo
1st Lt. Aedin Hernandez
1st Lt. Wen Zhang
2nd Lt. Brock Allen
2nd Lt. Christian Andrews
2nd Lt. Geronimo Anzola
2nd Lt. Caeden Arnett
2nd Lt. Wesley Bailey
2nd Lt. Tristan Boerner
2nd Lt. Brandon Bostwick
2nd Lt. Brandon Burris
2nd Lt. Blake Carette
2nd Lt. Dmitri Davila
2nd Lt. Cameron Dowiat
2nd Lt. Noah Fairhurst
2nd Lt. Coby Fan
2nd Lt. Alexander Foster
2nd Lt. Grayson Gaubatz
2nd Lt. Cameron Hawthorne
2nd Lt. Tristan Hube
2nd Lt. Matthew Johnson
2nd Lt. Myles Jones
2nd Lt. Spencer Makar
2nd Lt. Thomas Maloney
2nd Lt. Camryn Mascarenhas
2nd Lt. Thomas Mckenna
2nd Lt. Andrew Millhorn
2nd Lt. Ryan Patricelli
2nd Lt. Charles Pumphrey
2nd Lt. Rachel Sutterer
2nd Lt. Payson Tabola
2nd Lt. Hayden Vandeoorde
2nd Lt. Daunte Wade
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.
“Tonight, we not only recognize the accomplishments of our pilots, but we take a moment to celebrate our Air Force spouses.” said Lt. Col. Aaron Borszich, 47th Student Squadron commander. “While not in uniform, spouses are the backbone of our Air Force community. We thank you for your love and support. We thank you for celebrating with us when we slip the surely bonds of earth. And we thank you for comforting and encouraging us after a flight does not go as planned. Tonight, you and your spouse have crested one of the hardest climbs in an Air Force career and you did it together. But this was just the start.”
In the days leading up to graduation, Laughlin’s aircraft maintainers and student pilots participated in an appreciation ceremony to recognize the partnership between their respective roles. Maintainers presented pilots with the wings they would pin during the graduation event. In return, the student pilots offered their class patch as a token of appreciation. The exchange serves as a reminder that successful flight training is a team effort, supported by the contributions of dedicated personnel across the base.
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.