Twenty-seven students receive their wings during UPT Class 25-14 graduation

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  • 71st Flying Training Wing Public Affairs

VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. – Twenty-seven students in Undergraduate Pilot Training Class 25-14 received their wings during a ceremony held Aug. 22 at Vance Air Force Base.

The newly pinned pilots completed their initial aviation training at Vance and will continue in either the T-38 Talon here or in their assigned aircraft at their next base.

The graduation speaker at the Class 25-14 ceremony was retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Nicholas Gentile. His last position before retiring was Deputy Director of Operations, Headquarters North American Aerospace Defense Command, Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado.

Gentile is a command pilot and a commercial air transport pilot, with more than 3,000 hours in U.S. Air Force aircraft, including 440 combat hours. He has flown the T-37, T-38, AT-38, F-16, B-727, MD-88, B-737, B-757 and the B-767.

Gentile earned his pilot wings in the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program in 1991 at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas.

Class 25-14 award winners were:
1st Lt. Tristen Paller received the Academic Award;
Capt. Austin Buettner received the Leadership Award;
2nd Lt. Kipp Knecht received the Flying Training Award, the Air Education & Training Command Commander’s Trophy and was named a Distinguished Graduate;
2nd Lt. Nathan Meyer was named a Distinguished Graduate;
2nd Lt. Michael Chang received the Wingman Award.

Also receiving their pilot wings during the ceremony were:
1st Lt. Connor Chase
1st Lt. Jaden Clunie
1st Lt. Isabella Gentile
1st Lt. Suhas Jeevanand
1st Lt. Price Johnson
1st Lt. Homin Key
1st Lt. Joseph McCollum
1st Lt. Justin Parsons
1st Lt. Ethan Patel
1st Lt. Christian Presas
1st Lt. Nicholas Reid
1st Lt. Alexandre Some
1st Lt. Micah Treptau
1st Lt. Karli Wallace
2nd Lt. Sophia Augustine
2nd Lt. Nathanael Broz
2nd Lt. Sam Campbell
2nd Lt. Julien Clements
2nd Lt. Trevor Dark
2nd Lt. Katlyn Keating
2nd Lt. Margaret Marlow
2nd Lt. Jimmy Wright