Personnel | Adjutant General's Biography | Command Message | TAG Policies |
I am Brig. Gen. Paul Bishop, a 35-year veteran of our New York Air National Guard and Chief of Staff for the New York Air National Guard at the Joint Force Headquarters.
I’ve also been “dual hatted” as the Air Guard Assistant to commander of 1st Air Force, Air Force North, and Air Force-Space.
I am excited for the opportunity to serve the five flying wings and the Eastern Air Defense Sector, while continuing my homeland defense service to the nation working for 1st Air Force.
I also look forward to working with New York Army National Guard, Naval Militia, and New York Guard leaders and service members in defending our state and nation.
I hail from Oriskany, while my wife of 31 years is from Whitesboro. We have two remarkable daughters: graduates of the SUNY system, one from Brockport the other from Cortland.
After graduation from Oriskany Central High School, I attended Mohawk Valley Community College before leaving to enlist in the 174th Fighter Wing as an avionics component and test station repair specialist for the F-16. In 1991 I deployed with the 174th for the Persian Gulf War.
After returning home, I transferred to the 113th Air Control Squadron, also at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1993.
In 1994 my unit was “repurposed” to what was then the Northeast Air Defense Sector, because the Air Guard had been given the task for air defense of the United States. I am proud to have been in the initial Air National Guard cadre for that mission.
My command highlight was from May 2020 to May 2023 where I was lucky enough to command the fine patriots who watch the skies at what is now the Eastern Air Defense Sector.
My family and I are proud, life-long Central New Yorkers and love to travel all over the state.
This connection makes me extremely proud of the storied history of New York, especially as it relates to the key campaigns fought here during the Revolutionary War. The tenacious American militia —the ancestors of our National Guard today— routinely bested the professional armies of Great Britain.
A key battle of the Saratoga campaign took place near my home in Oriskany.
Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer, leading a militia force of roughly 800 men, was headed to Fort Stanwix in present day Rome to help relieve a British siege.
Herkimer’s Tryon County militia was intercepted and ambushed by British and Indian forces. That fight turned into one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War.
Tactically, the battle could be seen as a devastating loss to the militia. Hundreds of Americans were killed and Herkimer ultimately succumbed to his battlefield wounds.
But ultimately the battle contributed greatly to the pivotal American victory at Saratoga, tying up and bogging down British forces, rendering them unable to reinforce British forces at Saratoga, leading to their surrender in October 1777.
Notable allies to the American forces were 80-100 Oneida Nation Indian warriors who fought shoulder to shoulder with the militia. Meanwhile, the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga nations were allied with the British causing a great rift in the Iroquois Nation. This is how the Oneidas came to be informally considered our nation’s “first ally.”
I bring up this history of Oriskany as an important event to remember and re-tell. The spirit of those citizen Soldiers, so committed to the idea of a free America, gives me strength.
Many generations later, today’s citizen Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors and Marines across the Empire State are still at it, defending both the U.S. and her partners abroad from perilous threats every single day. We are inextricably tied to our past; it helps us define our future.
I am humbled beyond words to have this amazing opportunity to continue in the service of my nation, my state, my family, and brothers and sisters in Arms—all of YOU, TEAM NEW YORK.