The incoming head of the Vermont National Guard is going to be sworn in during a ceremony at the Guard’s headquarters in Colchester.
Brigadier Gen. Steven Cray was elected adjutant general by the Legislature last week. He’s set to be sworn in on Friday afternoon.
Cray succeeds Maj. Gen. Thomas Drew, who assumed the job last summer after Michael Dubie resigned to take a Homeland Security job.
Cray takes office on the same day that automatic federal funding cuts are expected to be implemented.
He says the cuts will cost about 500 guard employees about 20 percent of their incomes and says budget uncertainty is the biggest challenge he will face when he assumes command of the 4,000 men and women of the Vermont.