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Calif. tabs 1st woman to lead its Guard

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The first black woman to head the National Guard in any state took charge Tuesday in California, commanding the nation’s largest Guard unit.

Brig. Gen. Mary Kight was sworn in by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a former Air Force base outside Sacramento. She is the first woman to lead the 21,000 members of the state’s Army and Air National Guard.

Speaking during a change-of-command ceremony at the California National Guard Mather Flight Facility, the Republican governor called Kight a pioneer for breaking gender and racial barriers during her long career.

She is the state’s 45th adjutant general, assuming command from Gen. William Wade, who is leaving to help command a NATO force in Italy.

Kight said she learned only Monday, after her appointment, of the historic nature of her promotion.

“I’m extremely proud,” she told reporters after the ceremony. “I also feel responsible, however, to those that look to me because I happen to be of female gender or African-American.”

Kight, 59, said she also is part Filipino and Spanish on her mother’s side.

“There’s a little bit of everything in me. And whatever I represent to people, if it makes them proud, I’m proud,” she said.

She has spent nearly 25 years with the California Guard after seven years in the Air Force.

State Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, who was the first black woman to head a state legislative body, praised Kight for providing inspiration to those who will follow.

“Today is a very exciting day in history,” said Bass, a Democrat from Los Angeles.