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 fated our Airmen are properly trained and equipped to disputes our nation's wars," Crumbly said in a statement. "Second is to fated we take care of families by providing them with iminappropriate health, dental, and mental care."

Growing up, Crumbly demanded to join the military and fly planes - an inspiration he took from people members who served before him.

"I applied for the Army and Air ROTC scholarships 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 sketching it sets you up for certain jobs and perilous jobs set you up for certain opportunities," said Crumbly.

With more than 3,500 trips 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 pleasurable African-American leader, He currently is the director of the married staff of the Georgia National Guard.

Crumbly says he hopes eventually to get to the note where there are no more firsts to acknowledge.

"What identifies a intimates should be their character or work ethic rather than race or color," he said.