Photo By Michael Mascari | Dr. "Jay" Boyd instructs students from the Chaplain's Basic Officer Leadership Course...... read more read more
All good things must come to an end.
Dr. John “Jay” Boyd, United States Army Chaplain Center and School (USACHCS) Historian, made the most if his last day on the job. Boyd led a Chaplain Basic Officer Leadership Course (CHBOLC) class on a staff ride at the Cowpens National Battlefield near Cowpens, S.C.
“I am trying not to get emotional, but I went out the way I wanted to,” Boyd said “As a military historian, the way I wanted to spend my final day was to be out in the field, on a staff ride, on a Historic Battlefield, with troops.”
Boyd began his military career as an Enlisted Soldier but commissioned into the Infantry. Having a Masters in History, Boyd had his first opportunity to ply his first love as a Military History Detachment Commander following a Bosnia Deployment. He served nearly 30 years as a Soldier in multiple components of the US Army, retiring at the rank of Colonel.
Boyd, armed with many years of experience, a love for history and a Doctorate parlayed these tools into a position with the 81st Division, then known as the 81st Regional Readiness Command in Birmingham, Ala., before the Command relocated back to Fort Jackson, S.C.
He left to become the US Army Reserve Command (USARC) Historian in 2014 before making one last move in to take over as the USACHCS Historian in 2016. Despite leading many staff rides in his career, Boyd says he hasn’t seen it all.
“What never ceases to amaze me is that there is always something new to learn. There’s always something a student brings to the fore. One student discussed the overconfidence of leaders, which dovetails to an article I recently read about overconfidence and how it can sometimes suppress ideas from junior leaders. It can result in executing a plan flawlessly that turns out not to be the best plan. That was brought out today.”
That student, 2nd Lt. Channing Blake, played the role of Banastre Tartleton, famed British General defeated in the Battle. Blake, a Chaplain Candidate for the 98th Training Division, learned several lessons from her study.
“It’s really important to seek counsel, to seek advice,” Blake said. “Take the time to receive it when you have the time before you dive in, especially when you are the one bringing the battle. If you are on the receiving end, when the battle’s being brought to you, that may be different. Had Tarleton taken the time to properly plan, and taken advice from his officers, the trajectory of the battle might have been different.”
Boyd led the students through the battlefield with the assistance of Allen Skinner, 81st RD Historian, as he often does, teaching leadership and tactics training. Students prepare for the event by studying famous battles, with each one taking a specific role or topic to present to the class. They take the role of leaders or staff to discuss logistics, strategies, intelligence, planning and other facets of operations. For a Chaplain Candidate, the lessons extend to what they will face in the field, to include morale, tending to wounded Soldiers and P.O.W.s and death.
Boyd said these and other lessons will enable leaders to make better decisions that might result in victory on the battle field and lives saved. He said it was a great way to finish his career. He appreciated the enthusiasm of the students and said he was glad to be able to work with his friend and colleague for the finale. The feeling was mutual.
“It’s always great to work with Dr. Boyd,” Skinner said. “We’ve worked together as colleagues for a while, almost four years, and we work well together. We can accomplish a lot more than we can separately. I will definitely miss him. He’s a great colleague, a great person, and it will be very hard to replace him.”
| Date Taken: | 03.15.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 03.25.2019 16:34 |
| Story ID: | 315621 |
| Location: | COLUMBIA, FORT JACKSON, SOUTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 165 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Cowpens Staff Ride into the Sunset, Chaplain School Historian leads one last mission., by Michael Mascari, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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