BANGOR

Change of command at Air Refueling Wing

The outgoing commander of the 101st Air Refueling Wing, Col. Frank W. Roy, relinquished command to Col. Matthew A. Bourassa during a socially distanced change of command ceremony in early August.

Brig. Gen. Steven Michaud, commander of the Maine Air National Guard, presided over the ceremony, which featured the transfer of the Wing’s guidon from Roy to Bourassa and remarks from each commander.

“I am indeed humbled and very proud to serve, thank you,” said Bourassa, of Bangor. “This is by far the finest military organization in the world. I am very confident that we can do great things together.”

Bourassa, 53, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1989 from the University of Maine’s ROTC program. He is a command pilot with over 6,500 combined flying hours on fixed wing aircraft during his time on both active duty and in the Maine Air National Guard. He joined the Air Refueling Wing in 2002, where his previous assignments include pilot, flight instructor, chief of training, operations officer and commander of the 132nd Air Refueling Squadron in Bangor, and served as the Maine Air National Guard’s director of operations at Joint Forces Headquarters in Augusta. He was appointed as the vice commander of in April 2018.