Topeka ? A Lawrence resident and former Jefferson County prosecutor is taking command of a Kansas Army National Guard unit as part of a Guard reorganization move.

Col. Victor J. Braden, 45, takes over the reigns of the 69th Group Command and will be in charge of preparing units for deployment, commanding and controlling the rear detachments of deploying units and resetting returning units for future operations.

“I anxiously await the opportunity to successfully take on the challenge,” Braden said.

Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the state’s adjutant general in charge of the Army Guard, said the Guard is making changes in keeping with the nationwide restructuring of the Army into an expeditionary force.

The Kansas Guard is adding two brigade level commands and standing down another brigade command.

The 69th Command under Braden, which provides command and control of infantry, armor, aviation, engineer, transportation and quartermaster units, will move from Wichita to Topeka.

Braden received his officer commission through the ROTC program at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in 1982. He served with the Army until 1993 when he joined the Kansas Army Guard. He has served in positions at the battalion and brigade level, including a deployment in 2002-03 to Bosnia-Herzegovina as commander of a battalion task force.

Braden recently completed serving on a military fellowship through the Army War College at the National Security Program, JFK School of Government, Harvard University. He currently is the state Army Aviation Officer for the Guard. In his civilian job he is the deputy Riley County attorney.

Braden served for several years as deputy Jefferson County attorney and has worked as a lawyer in Lawrence.