Cornwall resident takes command of New York National Guard brigade

Orange County now has a direct line into one of New York’s largest National Guard formations. Cornwall resident Col. Matthew Kilgore took command of the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team at West Point, putting a local officer in charge of a Syracuse-based unit of more than 4,000 soldiers whose readiness reaches across the Hudson Valley.

The change of command took place Sunday at the United States Military Academy, where Maj. Gen. Ray Shields, New York’s adjutant general, presided and passed the brigade colors to Kilgore as Col. Bradley M. Frank stepped out of command. The brigade’s new senior enlisted leader is Command Sgt. Maj. Jonathan Cross of Lakeview, giving the unit a leadership team with roots in communities across the state.

Kilgore’s path to the brigade command runs through West Point and the New York Army National Guard’s own headquarters structure. He received his commission from the academy in 2002 and later served as chief of staff for the 53rd Troop Command at Camp Smith in Cortlandt Manor, a post that tied him to the Guard’s day-to-day operations in the lower Hudson Valley. He was promoted to colonel on July 25, 2025, at the Hotel Thayer at West Point, a step that foreshadowed the bigger role he took on less than a year later.

Official Guard materials described Kilgore as a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, underscoring the experience he brings into a formation that sits within the 42nd Infantry Division. For Orange County, his appointment is more than a ceremonial career milestone. It gives Cornwall and the surrounding region a visible connection to how New York trains soldiers, prepares for domestic emergencies and supports the families and civilian employers who keep Guard service possible.

The 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team has long been one of the state’s major combat formations, and the June 14 ceremony continued a leadership pattern already familiar within the unit. Bradley Frank had taken command on July 7, 2023, and now passes the colors to Kilgore as the brigade continues its next chapter under new leadership from Cornwall to Syracuse and beyond.