Air Force Lt. Gen. Joseph Lengyel, vice chief of the National Guard Bureau, has been nominated by President Barack Obama to lead the bureau in Washington.
Obama also endorsed the 35-year Air Force veteran for promotion to the rank of general, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said in a Defense Department news release published Tuesday.
Lengyel previously served as chief of the office of military cooperation, senior defense official and defense attache for the U.S. Central Command in Cairo, Egypt.
He has logged at least 3,000 flight hours as a command pilot for the F-16 fighter jet as well as T-37 and T-38 planes.
He started his career in the service branch as an F-16 instructor pilot and weapons officer.
Lengyel is a former commander of the Air National Guard Readiness Center, 455th Expeditionary Operations Group and the 182nd Fighter Squadron.
He has been deployed to international assignments in South Korea, Germany and Afghanistan.
He is a recipient of the Defense Superior Service Medal, Air Force Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster and the Joint Service Achievement Medal, among other awards.
