A New Hampshire Air National Guard officer has been awarded the Bronze Star Medal for leading security forces through repeated enemy aerial attacks at one of the most strategically important U.S. air bases in the Middle East. The recognition ceremony for Maj. Joel Loranger took place on May 2 at Pease Air National Guard Base in Newington, where Loranger serves as the security forces operations officer for the 157th Air Refueling Wing.
Loranger earned the decoration for his work as defense force commander at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq from April through October 2025, a six-month combat tour during which the installation came under sustained hostile fire after a long quiet period. His selection for the role itself reflected the trust the National Guard Bureau placed in the New Hampshire wing, and the announcement comes as one more reminder that Granite State Airmen continue to carry meaningful weight in U.S. operations abroad. As reported by the National Guard, Loranger oversaw base defense, coordinated response operations, and ensured the safety of personnel and critical assets during one of the more dangerous chapters in Al Asad’s recent history.
A Quiet Base That Was Quiet No More
When Loranger arrived at Al Asad in April 2025, the installation had gone an extended stretch without coming under attack. That changed during his tour. Throughout the deployment Al Asad faced repeated aerial attacks, all of them, according to U.S. military accounts, intercepted before they reached the base by the robust U.S. air defense systems in place. Loranger’s job was to lead the security forces who had to operate under that threat, day in and day out, knowing that any individual incoming round had to be assumed serious until the moment it was neutralized.
“The mission in Iraq was unique and critical to U.S. operations in the region,” Loranger said, in remarks released alongside the ceremony. He described his Airmen with unmistakable pride, recounting how non-essential personnel would head to bunkers when incoming fire was detected while his security forces moved in the opposite direction toward the threat. “When we had incoming fire, all non-essential personnel would go to bunkers, but all my defenders were going out there and putting themselves at risk without even thinking about it,” Loranger said. “Sometimes as a leader you can get frustrated with certain things, but when you see that kind of bravery, that kind of sacrifice, it is inspiring to me.”
The complexity of the work extended beyond the immediate threat picture. Al Asad sits at the intersection of multiple command structures, with U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, and coalition partner units operating from the same footprint and reporting to leadership scattered across the theater and the world. Loranger’s role required him to coordinate force protection across those structures while answering to higher headquarters that in some cases were thousands of miles away. He credited his team for navigating that environment under conditions that would have rattled less seasoned units.
A Career Built From The Ranks Up
Loranger’s path to the Bronze Star reflects a profile that has become more common in the modern Air National Guard but remains the gold standard for security forces leadership: an officer who came up through the enlisted ranks. He enlisted in security forces and served for 13 years before commissioning in 2013. The Iraq tour was his first as a commissioned officer in a command role, but it was not his first deployment. He previously served in Baghdad in 2008 as an enlisted noncommissioned officer.
That background is what colleagues at the 157th say sets the tone for how he leads. Maj. Michael Petrin, commander of the 157th Air Refueling Wing Security Forces Squadron, called Loranger “a stellar officer and operations officer” and “exactly the kind of leader you want in a challenging environment.” When the National Guard Bureau reached out to the squadron looking to fill a major’s billet for the Iraq mission, Petrin said, Loranger was the clear choice. He had been slated for a different assignment, but the wing pivoted to put him where he was needed most.
Senior Master Sgt. William J. Werner, the squadron’s standardization and evaluation superintendent, has worked with Loranger for nearly a decade. “Major Loranger has always been a ‘for the troops’ type of leader,” Werner said. “I believe that stems from his time as an enlisted Airman, where he has never forgotten where he came from. He loves to be with the troops; he can commonly be found with them in the field. I know I speak for the masses when I say that I would follow Major Loranger anywhere.”
That kind of unsolicited endorsement from senior enlisted leadership is the strongest currency a security forces officer can earn. It is also a reminder that the small-unit leadership chemistry inside a Guard squadron is built over years of drill weekends, deployments, and shared work, not assigned by orders.
A Granite State Wing With An Active Operational Role
The 157th Air Refueling Wing flies the KC-46 Pegasus tanker out of Pease, and its security forces squadron is responsible for the ground side of that mission, both at home and downrange. Pease, located in Newington next to Portsmouth International Airport at Pease, has long been one of New Hampshire’s most strategically significant military installations. The wing has been featured nationally for accomplishments including a 22-hour KC-46 endurance flight in 2022, but its security forces work is less visible by design. The Bronze Star ceremony pulled back the curtain on what Granite State Airmen are actually doing when their wing surges to support a combatant command’s request.
Loranger’s recognition fits a broader pattern across the Air National Guard right now, in which security forces officers and noncommissioned officers from state wings are being decorated for deployments to bases that have once again become contested ground. Last month a New Jersey Air Guard master sergeant from the 177th Fighter Wing received the Bronze Star for similar work at a different location. The trend reflects both the operational tempo of Air Force base defense missions and the depth of experience that part-time Guard Airmen bring to the wartime force.
A Civilian Career That Mirrors The Mission
Outside the Guard, Loranger serves as a patrol sergeant with the Westbrook Police Department in Maine, a civilian law enforcement career spanning more than two decades. The dual track is common in security forces, where the discipline, escalation judgment, and team leadership required at home translate directly to base defense work overseas. Petrin described it as “a wealth of knowledge to our Airmen from his extensive expertise, both as a defender and from his career in civilian law enforcement.”
Loranger lives in Biddeford, Maine, with his wife and two children, including a 19-year-old daughter in college and a 14-year-old son. Asked about how he keeps the demands of two careers in balance, he pointed to small daily anchors: a cup of coffee at sunrise, ice hockey when his schedule allows, and time at home that does not always survive contact with the next call from the squadron or the police department.
His reaction to the medal itself was characteristic. “I am immeasurably honored and humbled to receive this award, but it’s not about me,” Loranger said. “It’s about the men and women I serve with every day.”
Why It Matters In New Hampshire
Stories like this one do not always make front pages, and they should. The Bronze Star is awarded for heroic or meritorious achievement or service in a combat zone, and Loranger’s citation acknowledges leadership under fire of a kind that few civilians will ever face. For New Hampshire, the recognition is also an institutional moment. The 157th Air Refueling Wing is a Granite State asset funded by Granite State taxpayers and staffed in significant part by Granite State neighbors. When one of its officers is decorated for defending a critical air base through repeated attacks, that is a reflection on the wing, on Pease, and on the seriousness with which New Hampshire’s Air National Guard prepares its people for the missions the country actually asks them to do.
Readers interested in related coverage should also see our reporting on the strategic role Pease and the 157th Air Refueling Wing play in northern New England’s defense posture and our broader coverage of veterans and military issues affecting Granite State families.
