COLCHESTER — The spokesman for the Vermont National Guard who became a familiar figure to people across the state during the deployment of 1,500 of the state’s soldiers to Afghanistan has retired after a 33-year career.

Lt. Col. Lloyd Goodrow of Essex Junction retired at midnight Wednesday.

A ceremony was held in his honor Thursday at the American Legion hall in Colchester. A formal retirement ceremony will be held today at Vermont National Guard headquarters at Camp Johnson, also in Colchester.

“I’ve always kind of looked at my job as putting a face to the generic name of the National Guard. It’s more than an organization. It’s an organization of people who are willing to put their own lives on the line for a higher cause,” he said at the Thursday ceremony. “And, man, talk about blessed. I got to represent that and I became the person who helped put the face of those people in the news media. I can’t think of a greater calling than that.”

The 58-year-old Goodrow has spoken on behalf of soldiers and airmen who flew over the rubble of the World Trade Center after 9/11 and those who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and then returned home to help Vermont recover following Tropical Storm Irene.

He said the hardest part of his job was dealing with the families of soldiers who died while in service.

Capt. Chris Gookin is succeeding Goodrow.