ROME, ONEIDA CO. (AP) -- The military operation responsible for keeping the eastern United States safe from air attacks is getting a new commander.

A change of command ceremony is being held Friday at the headquarters of the Eastern Air Defense Sector in Rome, near Utica. The New York Air National Guard's Col. Dawne Deskin is taking command of the sector from Col. John Bartholf, who is retiring.

Deskins has been with the Air Guard since 1995 and has spent the past four years as vice commander of the Rome-based unit, which covers air defense for about a million square miles east of the Mississippi River.

She'll be the first female commander of the unit.

The Ithaca College graduate and former Air Force officer lives in Cazenovia in central New York.

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