Christine Burckle
Christine Burckle is a retired brigadier general and retired Commander and Assistant Adjutant General - Air of the Utah Air National Guard. In August 2016, Willis was the Utah Air National Guard's first woman to achieve the rank of brigadier general. Early life and education Burckle was born in Ohio and raised in Connecticut. Burckle attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she majored in mathematics. Military service In 1988, Burckle received a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant through the Reserve Officer Training Corps at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Burckle intended to become a fighter pilot. However, her vision disqualified her. In lieu, she chose navigation and requested bombers. At the time, the US Army did not allow women to serve on combat bomber aircraft. In 1990, she graduated first in her navigator training class at Mather Air Force Base. She served over eight years on active duty in the US Air Force at Carswell Air Force Base in Texas and at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. In 1996, she joined the Utah Air National Guard as a navigator for the KC-135 military aerial refueling aircraft, eventually logging more than 3000