BISMARCK TRIBUNE STAFF
The North Dakota National Guard officially has a new leader.
Brig. Gen. Mitchell Johnson took over as commander of the state Guard on Sunday during a ceremony in the Raymond J. Bohn Armory in Bismarck presided over by Gov. Doug Burgum.
Johnson takes over for retiring Maj. Gen. Alan Dohrmann, who had served in the position for more than eight years. Dohrmann in April announced his intent to retire at the end of September. He was honored at a retirement ceremony following the change-of-command ceremony Sunday.
Burgum in June named Johnson as Dohrmann’s successor. Johnson led the Fargo-based 119th Wing of the state’s Air National Guard from March 2021 to this past January, overseeing about 1,200 personnel. He previously served as vice commander of the wing for more than two years, and has served in a variety of other command and flying roles in North Dakota, Florida, Oklahoma and Arkansas since 1998.
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He’s an alumnus of Michigan Tech University and University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, and has graduated from Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College, and the Air War College. Johnson has also logged more than 5,000 flight hours, including more than 1,000 in combat, and has served overseas in six deployments.
Under Johnson’s leadership, the 119th Wing was presented with the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies’ General Atomics Remotely Piloted Aircraft Trophy for 2021, according to U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who attended Sunday’s ceremony. The 119th Wing was recognized by the U.S. Air Force as outstanding unit of the year in 2022.
As adjutant general Johnson also will serve as director of the state Department of Emergency Services.
Maj. Gen. Alan Dohrmann was honored at a retirement ceremony on Sunday in Bismarck.
PROVIDED, N.D.NATIONAL GUARD
Dohrmann was first appointed by then-Gov. Jack Dalrymple to lead the Guard in December 2015, then reappointed by Burgum in 2018. He helped lead the state’s response to protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 and 2017, and supported the state’s Department of Health and Human Services and local public health agencies amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The North Dakota National Guard has about 4,200 service members and facilities in 13 communities around the state.
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Publish date : 2024-09-15 12:00:00
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