Photo: Indiana National Guard
Then-Col. Brian Copes was the commander of the Indiana National Guard 119th Agribusiness Development Team in Khost Province, Afghanistan.
Indiana‘s newest Brigadier General has been formally promoted. Brigadier General Brian Copes was officially promoted on May 1 but a Saturday‘s ceremony marked the public celebration.
Copes says he got the news face-to-face from Major General Martin Umbarger, the Adjutant General of the Indiana National Guard. Copes has been the Chief of Staff of the Indiana National Guard and says his title will now be Joint Chief of Staff, meaning he has explicit oversight of the Indiana Army National Guard and the Air National Guard. He says the transition has been a little awkward.
“My first name when I answer the phone has been ‘Colonel’ for about twelve years and so I still routinely stumble in answering the phone because it‘s as though they have changed my first name all of a sudden,” Copes says.
Among his assignments with the Indiana National Guard, Copes led a team of Indiana soldiers tasked with teaching farmers in Afghanistan how to improve their crop yields and improve irrigation
