Budraitis new USAACE, Rucker Deputy Commanding General

For the first time in more than a decade the United States Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Rucker has a brigadier general as deputy commander.

“This day has been a long time coming,” said USAACE and Fort Rucker Commanding General David J. Francis as he welcomed the COVID-19 mandated, socially distanced group of civilian and military officials to the Assumption of Responsibility Ceremony held Aug. 14 on post.

Francis welcomed many viewing the ceremony via Facebook Live and a deliberately limited group in the viewing stands at Howze Field to what he called a “remarkable day for Army Aviation.”

A Mississippi native and a Mississippi National Guardsman, Brig. Gen. Stanley E. Budraitis is an Army Aviator with more than 25 years of service and more than 2,000 flight hours in the UH-1, OH-58 and UH-60 helicopters.

With two overseas deployments to Afghanistan and Kuwait under his belt, Budraitis began his aviation career as Distinguished Honor Graduate of the 1990 Aviation Officer Basic Course at Fort Rucker.

Calling Budraitis’ National Guard experience “pivotal,” Francis noted that more than 51 percent of the aviation branch is comprised of National Guard and Reserve components. “The role of the National Guard and Reserve is absolutely critical.

“When we modernize our force and develop our leadership to face the threats of the future, we aren’t just doing it for the active forces,” Francis said. “We are a total aviation force comprised of Active Duty, National Guard and Reserve forces.

“I can’t think of a better choice,” Francis said about Budraitis, noting that it has been more than a decade since a brigadier general has occupied the position of deputy commander at the Home of Army Aviation.

“It is an honor to serve each day in the greatest, most lethal, most powerful Army in the history of mankind,” Budraitis said.