Col. John Walsh, a Butte native who led Montana troops for more than a year in Iraq, is the new adjutant general of the Montana National Guard, Gov. Brian Schweitzer announced Tuesday.

Schweitzer made his announcement at a brief Capitol ceremony where he praised outgoing Gen. Randall Mosley, whose last day will be Sept. 6 after 38 years in the military.

“He is a Montana guy from a good Montana family raising another good Montana family,” Schweitzer said of Walsh. “He’s also a combat leader.”

Schweitzer said he selected Walsh in large part because of his combat leadership experience. Walsh led Montana’s 163rd Infantry Battalion when the troops were deployed to Iraq from November of 2004 until December of 2005.

Montana’s troops will be called up again in large numbers later this year or early next year, Schweitzer said.

“These are serious times,” Schweitzer said, adding that he wants to be able to tell the mothers, wives and children of Montana troops overseas that “they are the best-trained warriors we have ever sent.”

Walsh also led 2,000 Montana troops in the explosive fire season of 2000, when the Guard was pressed into service battling wildfire. A 28-year Montana National Guard veteran, Walsh is currently Mosley’s top advisor. He graduated from the U.S. Army War College and holds degrees from Carroll College, University of the State of New York and Butte High School.

Walsh said he is “extremely honored” to be chosen and said his combat experience will help him train and empathize with Montana soldiers sent into battle.

“I truly feel as they are going to feel when they are deployed,” he said.

Walsh said in an interview later that he would hope Montana troops wouldn’t have to go back to war, but “our job is to make sure they are trained and ready to go back.”

He also praised Mosley for leaving the Guard in better shape than how he found it.

The adjutant general is the commander of the Montana National Guard, the Montana Air National Guard, and also serves as Cabinet-level leader of the Montana Department of Military Affairs.

The salary is $93,596.

Mosley announced in May he was retiring after four years at the post and almost 40 years in the military. He said Tuesday he will miss serving alongside Montana’s guardsmen and women.