Frank Gorenc | |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | "Gork" |
Born |
Ljubljana, Yugoslavia |
October 14, 1957
Allegiance | United States |
Service/branch | United States Air Force |
Years of service | 1979 – 2016 (38 years) |
Rank | General |
Commands held |
|
Battles/wars | Gulf War |
Awards | See below |
Relations | Maj Gen Stanley Gorenc, brother |
Frank Gorenc (born October 14, 1957) is a retired United States Air Force four-star general who served as the Commander, U.S. Air Forces Europe; Commander, U.S. Air Forces Africa; Commander, Allied Air Command; and Director, Joint Air Power Competence Center. He previously served as the Assistant Vice Chief of Staff and Director, Air Staff, Headquarters, United States Air Force at the Pentagon. The general is a command pilot with more than 4,100 flight hours in the T-38A, F-15C, MQ-1B, UH-1N and C-21A. He assumed his current assignment on August 2, 2013.
Gorenc was born in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, present day Slovenia. Frank and his older brother, Stanley immigrated with their parents to the United States from the former Yugoslavia in 1962 when they were 8 and 4. After arriving in America, their father worked as a tailor, and their mother served as a factory machine operator. Gorenc said that he was required to go to summer school each year simply because the opportunity for education existed and was available. "We didn’t know the language," Frank said. "We didn’t know the culture, and we came to learn (that) the United States is truly a land of opportunity." Frank went to visit his older brother, then a freshman cadet, during Parents’ Weekend at the U.S. Air Force Academy, and there he developed his first interest in the Air Force. "As a freshman in high school walking on the academy campus, you couldn’t help but be inspired," the younger brother said. Coming from a lower-middle-class background, the opportunities seemed boundless.
Gorenc earned his commission in 1979 as a distinguished graduate from the United States Air Force Academy. He has commanded a fighter squadron, an operations group, two wings and the Air Force District of Washington. Gorenc has served in numerous positions at Air Combat Command, in the Pentagon on the Air Staff and The Joint Staff, and at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe as the special assistant to the Commander USEUCOM/SACEUR. Prior to assuming his current position, he was the Director of Air and Space Operations, Air Combat Command, Langley Air Force Base, VA.