TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli plans to retire in March, Gov. Laura Kelly announced Monday.
Tafanelli has been adjutant general since 2011. The offices responsibilities include overseeing the Kansas Army and Air National Guard. He also directs the Kansas Division of Emergency Management, Kansas Homeland Security and has budgetary and administrative responsibilities for the Civil Air Patrol.
Tafanelli was commander of the 891st Engineer Battalion headquartered in Iola. He led the battalion to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005.
Tafanelli, who has been in uniform for 39 years, was a Republican member of the Kansas House of Representatives from 2001 to 2004. After a year of deployment in Iraq, he served again in the House until resigning to become adjutant general.
The governor said his scheduled departure March 31 was a planned resignation.
His efforts have aided Kansans in many ways, the governor said in a news release.
A succession plan for the Kansas Guard will be made public later in January, she said.
