TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A Tucson native now serving in the U.S. Air Force as Lieutenant General came home today. He played a major role in removing troops from Afghanistan and took a break from his work in the Middle East to pay a special visit.
“I love how they push you out of your comfort zone to help you become a leader and become a better you,” Alyssa de la Torre, Senior at Cholla High School.
Alyssa de la Torre was recently named Battalion Commander in Cholla High School's JROTC program. Her parents, principal and fellow classmates were there to cheer her on. Among them, a hometown hero, Lieutenant General Gregory Guillot. Guillot is a Tucson native who graduated from Sabino High School in 1984. He then went to University of Arizona for a year before transferring to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado.
“Military influence was my dad who was an airfare officer stationed here at Davis Monthan-Tucson Air Force Base a couple times," Guillot said. "And growing up I never thought of doing anything else other than going into the air force.”
Guillot is now a three star lieutenant general in charge of the U.S. Air forces in the Middle East. He commands 20,000 airmen in 21 different countries. One of them being Afghanistan.
“We were part of moving 124,000 evacuees out of Afghanistan," Guillot said. "I think we were really proud to be a part of that because we had a role in bringing hope and opportunity to over a 100,000 people that a couple weeks prior didn’t have either.”
He took a pause from his service to talk to encourage students to serve. It’s part of the air force’s new outreach program called GO Inspire.
“I wanted to come back to the hometown because it meant so much to me growing up in Tucson and the influences that I had here that I wanted to try to share those from my end back to the students of today,” Guillot said.
He also spoke at the University of Arizona today and will stop at his alma mater, Sabino High School.
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