U.S. Air National Guard Senior Master Sgt. Frank King is retiring after 41 years of service to the Air Force and the Air National Guard.

King, who lives with his family in Guyton, ends his career as the operations group superintendent of the Combat Readiness Training Center in Savannah. The CRTC is a part of the Georgia Air National Guard and is based at the Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport.

A Savannah native and graduate of Tompkins High School in 1971, King enlisted in the Air Force in 1972. He was assigned to Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi as an air operations specialist in squadron operations in the publications bookstore.

As the Vietnam War came to a close, the Air Force went through staff reductions in 1973 and 1974. King, then a senior airman, elected to continue his service with Georgia Air National Guard. Initially he joined the 116th Fighter Wing, then headquartered in Marietta, but soon transferred home to Savannah, joining the 165th Airlift Wing.

In 1987, he found a home in the Combat Readiness Training Center, serving in ever-increasing levels of responsibility within the unit until being named the superintendent of the Operations Group in 2008.