ARLINGTON, Va. – U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Michelle Sabala was promoted to colonel during a ceremony at the Vaught Center at the Military Women’s Memorial here, July 29.
Maj. Gen. Duke Pirak, acting director of the Air National Guard, presided over the ceremony and said Sabala earned a reputation for candid advice and trusted judgement throughout her career.
“When somebody like Michelle says something, you know it to be true,” Pirak said. “The highest compliment I can give any officer, any member of the Armed Forces, is to say, ‘I believe you,’ and that’s true of Michelle.”
Sabala serves as the chief of the Director’s Action Group for the Air National Guard, where she leads strategic planning and executive communications.
A native of Alaska, Sabala has served at Eielson Air Force Base, Kulis Air National Guard Base, Maxwell AFB, Montgomery ANGB, Savannah ANGB, National Guard Bureau, and U.S. Space Command.
She has deployed four times in support of Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn. Before her current assignment, she served as deputy division chief for Space Command’s Joint Warfighting Development Division.