Col. Alan Soldan set to become Kansas Army Guard’s new chief of staff

? The Kansas Army National Guard is getting a new chief of staff, a colonel who’s been serving as operations director for the Guard’s Joint Forces Headquarters.

The Guard’s commander, Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, says Col. Alan Soldan will become chief of staff on Jan. 15.

Soldan will replace Col. John Andrew, who is becoming chief of staff for the 35th Infantry Division at Fort Leavenworth.

Soldan joined the Army National Guard in 1979 and was commissioned as an officer three years later. He has served in Army National Guard infantry and aviation units and commanded an aviation unit that was deployed to Iraq in 2006 and 2007.