Sgt. Brendan Lenane of Dorchester is on his way to becoming a US Army pilot after serving a tour of duty and completing the necessary requirements to achieve that goal. 

The 22-year-old Lower Mills native, a graduate of Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy and TechBoston Academy who grew up on St. Gregory Street, enlisted in the army four years ago. After completing basic training, he deployed with 2-508 Parachute infantry regiment to Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.

While in Iraq he served as the Fire Support Non-commissioned officer for Bravo company serving under Lieutenant Dixon Johnson. Upon returning to the US, he began training a new team of soldiers fresh in from basic training. 

“Now that I have completed my goal of reaching the rank of sergeant and deploying with the 82nd Airborne, I’m moving on to my next life-long goal of becoming a pilot,” wrote Lenane. “I have just passed the SIFT test (Selection Instrument for Flight Training) and plan to immediately begin completing the rest of the process now that I have reached all the requirements.”

In the next step of that process, Lenane will be headed to Fort Rucker in Alabama to complete his flight training.