Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) named newly elected Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) to three Senate committees Tuesday, including the powerful Armed Services panel.

Brown also received spots on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs panel and the Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

“As a 30-year member of the National Guard, I am honored to have received these appointments,” Brown said in a statement. “We are currently involved in two wars, and these committees are critical in keeping our country safe, as well as protecting the men and women who defend us. It is equally important that the men and women in uniform receive the care and benefits they have earned through their selfless service. I look forward to working with my Republican and Democratic colleagues to carry out the important work of these committees for the good of our state and our country.”

Brown still holds the rank of lieutenant colonel in the National Guard, his statement noted. The Massachusetts Republican won the seat formerly held by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D), who died last August of brain cancer, and gave the GOP 41 seats — enough to sustain a filibuster.