Brig. Gen. Joe Jarrard is known as “Traveling Joe” within the Georgia National Guard.
He got that nickname for his frequent trips to military bases in other states, where he greets fellow Georgia Guardsmen returning home from overseas missions. Jarrard knows what it’s like to be away from home and family, having served as an Army regular twice in Iraq and once in Afghanistan as a U.S. Defense Department contractor.
Other senior officers say that sensitivity will serve Jarrard well when he takes over command of the Georgia National Guard on Sunday. Jarrard is being promoted to adjutant general as part of a Cabinet reshuffling for Gov. Nathan Deal’s second term.
“It’s important that when they step off that plane that there is somebody from their leadership in Georgia there to shake their hands and welcome them home,” said Jarrard, 48, a retired Army lieutenant colonel from North Georgia who now serves as the state’s assistant adjutant general.
When Jarrard assumes his new role, he will oversee a $534.9 million budget and more than 15,000 Guard soldiers and airmen, State Defense Force volunteers, and others.
Jarrard will be taking on his new responsibilities at a tricky time for the U.S. military. Russia is flexing its muscles after annexing Crimea. A murderous offshoot of al-Qaida is rampaging across the Middle East. And the U.S. military is bracing for deep budget cuts as part of an overall retrenchment.
Georgia Guardsmen have been in the thick of the action. They deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years and continue to nurture a military partnership with the nation of Georgia, which shares a border with Russia.
Georgia’s citizen soldiers have also been called upon for more unorthodox missions. Georgia helicopter troops helped thwart illegal immigration when they patrolled the Rio Grande Valley this year. Others traveled to Guatemala and Honduras, where they trained local authorities to fight drug cartels. Small-scale missions to Egypt and Kuwait are planned for next year.
Jarrard said his top priority as commander will be ensuring the readiness of his troops. That means the Georgia Guard will be fully staffed, medically ready, properly trained and sufficiently equipped.
“We provide soldiers that are trained and ready to the governor or the president if called upon, and we can’t half-step that readiness,” he said. “We have got to send soldiers completely ready, completely trained and completely equipped to go do that mission or we are doing a disservice to them and their families — and to the nation.”
Jarrard grew up in Gainesville and has strong ties to Deal. His father is a former Deal law partner, and his son worked as a GOP tracker videotaping Deal’s Democratic challenger — state Sen. Jason Carter of Atlanta — in this year’s gubernatorial election.
At 6 feet and 3 inches, Jarrard played guard for the North Georgia College and State University basketball team. He doesn’t brag about his skills on the court, saying: “I helped them out, but I wasn’t a star basketball player. I hustled a lot.”
Lt. Gen. James Terry, who taught Jarrard at the university, praised his humility, calling him the perfect fit to command Georgia’s National Guard.
“Joe was one those talented young cadets that you always kind of had your eye on,” Terry said in a telephone interview from Iraq, where he is overseeing efforts to combat Islamic extremists there. “You always knew he was going do some good things down the road.”
Jarrard graduated from the university and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the regular Army in 1988. He served on active duty for more than 20 years and retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2009. Three years later, his promotion to assistant adjutant general required the Georgia Legislature to rewrite state law. The law required people in that position to have at least five years of Guard experience. Jarrard had none.
Jarrard’s ascension to adjutant general closes a controversial chapter for Deal’s administration. He will replace Maj. Gen. Jim Butterworth, a former Republican state senator who will lead the Georgia Emergency Management Agency starting in January. Democrats accused the governor of politicizing the Guard in 2011 when he appointed Butterworth — a former captain in the Air National Guard — to lead it. His promotion to major general met with some skepticism in military quarters.
David Poythress, a former Georgia adjutant general who ran unsuccessfully for governor as a Democrat, was among those who criticized Butterworth’s appointment. One of Jarrard’s key responsibilities, Poythress said, will be advocating for the National Guard amid military budget cuts.
“There is always a big struggle between the active components (of the military) and the Guard for resources, and that is underway as we speak, primarily on the Army side,” Poythress said. “Having someone with recognizable rank like Jarrard will be a real advantage for Georgia.”
Brig. Gen. John King, the director of the joint staff of the Georgia National Guard, defended Butterworth as an adjutant general who worked well with his senior officers. King called Jarrard a “calming force” and a thoughtful leader with many military contacts.
“He spent a career on active duty,” King said. “I can go all over the world and people will say, ‘You work there with Joe Jarrard.’ He is very well known in the Army.”
Butterworth singled out Jarrard’s compassion for fellow troops.
“He has a very big heart and he cares for this organization and the people in this organization,” he said. “And I think that’s probably the thing that makes me the most comfortable about him stepping into this job.”
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