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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

JACKSON, Miss.— Major General Janson D. Boyles, the adjutant general of Mississippi, announces the promotion of Col. Trent Kelly to brigadier general. The ceremony will be held Saturday, January 20, 2018 at the Mississippi National Guard Joint Force Headquarters in Jackson.

Kelly, 51, currently represents Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He will become the first sitting Mississippi congressman to also serve as a Mississippi National Guard general officer since Maj. Gen. G.V. Sonny Montgomery’s dual service to the state and the nation.

Kelly is currently assigned as Director, Joint Staff at the MSNG JFH. The Saltillo native has served in the Mississippi Army National Guard for more than 32 years as a combat engineer. In 1990, he mobilized for service during Operation Desert Storm and then to Iraq in 2005 and 2009 with Mississippi’s 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team.

During his distinguished career, the University of Mississippi alumnus has received two Bronze Stars, the Combat Action Badge, the DeFleury Medal, and numerous other federal and state awards for his service.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.