Head of Georgia National Guard moving on to new national position in Colorado

ATLANTA — Lt. Gen. Thomas Carden has led the Georgia National Guard through one of its most remarkable eras marked with challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest.

He told Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne that when the guard came in to help restore order in the wake of angry protests in downtown Atlanta, his men and women succeeded without a single violent encounter.

“Particularly when we were dealing with civil unrest, that falls in our wheelhouse and we don’t get to pick and choose our mission, but if you were to ask me which one is on the very bottom of my list, that is one,” Carden said. “If you don’t get it right you could be ripping at the fabric that is the United States of America.”

Carden said in May 2020 the Georgia National Guard he commanded was less than three months into a major role in the state’s response to COVID-19.

Only a few months before that, hundreds of Georgia soldiers had come home from Afghanistan and the ever-present threat of enemy fire.

But on that evening in May, he was watching a car fire from home.

“I turned on the television and I saw an Atlanta police car catch on fire and I saw you down in Centennial Park. I then started some conversation with the governor’s office about what we needed to do,” Carden told Winne.

Carden’s five-year-plus tenure as leader of the Georgia Guard ended Saturday -- the same day he pinned on his third star as he readied to take on a new job with national scope as the deputy commander of NORTHCOM/NORAD, which is headquartered in Colorado.

“Our job is to provide the relentless defense of North America,” Carden said.

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“When you started as a private with the Georgia National Guard in 1986 did you dream, ever think…”

“Oh, absolutely not. You couldn’t have convinced me, but it just goes to show you that our organization is a leadership factory, it’s a potential factory,” Carden said.

He says he’s immensely proud of the multi-faceted response his men and women made to COVID, including infection control teams for long-term care facilities that he’s convinced, saved countless lives.

“We built 63 teams. Literally did thousands of missions,” Carden said.

In an era when the Georgia Guard responded to civil unrest and natural disasters while some of its soldiers and airmen remained deployed around the world, Winne asked about guideposts.

“I think it comes down to mental physical and spiritual fitness,” Carden said. “I’m a believer and I spend a lot of time praying and then I spend a lot of time making sure that we do those actions that I do those actions as a leader to model the right behavior.”

Carden said his soldiers and airmen always responded to Gov. Brian Kemp’s direction to help in a variety of crises.

Throwing credit to his men and women seemed a persistent theme throughout Winne’s interview. He said they are responsible for all of the success of the organization. Any failures would be his.

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