By: News Tribune staff, Duluth News Tribune

Retired Brig. Gen. Tim Cossalter, former commander of the 148th Fighter Wing in Duluth, is joining the Minnesota staff of U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar as outreach director for veterans affairs and military issues.

Cossalter, who recently retired from the Minnesota Air National Guard, was commissioned in 1971 and spent much of his career at the Air National Guard Base in Duluth, serving as commander of the unit from 2002 to 2004. From 1998 to 2006, he was commander of the 133rd Airlift Wing in St. Paul. Most recently, Cossalter was Assistant Adjutant General for Air with the Minnesota National Guard.

“Gen. Cossalter will help me represent and serve our Minnesota veterans, which is one of my top priorities,” Klobuchar said Tuesday in a prepared statement. “Gen. Cossalter has already had a distinguished career in public service, and I welcome the expertise and experience he will bring to this position.”

Cossalter also served two elected terms on the Esko School Board.

Martin Ludden, who has served as Klobuchar’s veterans outreach director since 2007, recently was appointed executive director of the Disabled American Veterans Foundation of Minnesota. He was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserves and was deployed in Iraq in 2009-2010.