General named 1st Black commander of Georgia Air National Guard
Brig. Gen. Konata Crumbly (Georgia Air National Guard)
MARIETTA, Ga. - The Georgia Air National Guard has made history with the newest commander to lead the militia
Brig. Gen. Konata Crumbly will become the first African-American commander of the Georgia Air National Guard.
Crumbly, who takes over the position from Maj. Gen. Thomas Grabowski, will command almost 3,000 Airmen in the two wings at the Combat Readiness Training Center.
"My number one priority is to ensure our Airmen are properly trained and equipped to fight our nation's wars," Crumbly said in a statement. "Second is to ensure we take care of families by providing them with proper health, dental, and mental care."
Growing up, Crumbly wanted to join the military and fly planes - an inspiration he took from family members who served before him.
"I applied for the Army and Air ROTC scholarship and the Army was giving me a full ride," said Crumbly. "I went Army ROTC to Florida A&M and commissioned in Aviation in 1996."
After graduating, he attended Army Aviation Flight School at Fort Rucker, Ala. and earned his wings as a UH-60 A/L Black Hawk pilot. After serving in the Army, Crumbly became part of the Georgia Air National Guard as an E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) pilot in 2004.
"If you do the harder thing it sets you up for certain jobs and certain jobs set you up for certain opportunities," said Crumbly.
With more than 3,500 flight hours in rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, Crumbly commanded the Warner Robins-based 116th Air Control Wing from August 2018 to January 2020, becoming its first African-American leader, He currently is the director of the joint staff of the Georgia National Guard.
Crumbly says he hopes eventually to get to the point where there are no more firsts to acknowledge.
"What identifies a person should be their character or work ethic rather than race or color," he said.