{"id":6983,"date":"2018-12-06T07:57:19","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T12:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=6983"},"modified":"2018-12-07T10:55:51","modified_gmt":"2018-12-07T15:55:51","slug":"what-right-looks-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2018\/12\/06\/what-right-looks-like\/","title":{"rendered":"What \u2018Right\u2019 Looks Like"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alumnus Lt. Gen. Leslie Smith is Highest-Ranking Military Official in University History<\/em><\/h2>\n

\"\"Lt. Gen. Leslie C. Smith (\u201885) is charged with a mission unimaginable to many of us.<\/p>\n

As the 66th Inspector General of the U.S. Army, Smith works for the Secretary of the Army and is tasked with the enhancement of total readiness for 1.2 million Army soldiers and civilians stationed around the world. He\u2019s the highest-ranking military official Georgia Southern has ever produced. Out of more than 6,000 second lieutenants commissioned in 1983, Smith is one of only 52 who have reached the rank of general.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s ascent to Army leadership would have proven an improbable path for anyone. But considering the challenges he faced at a young age, and the humble beginnings from which he emerged, the achievement is even more remarkable.<\/p>\n

When Smith was only five years old, his father, Calvin, a veteran of the Korean War, died suddenly. In his absence, Smith\u2019s mother, Lillie, raised her three children on her own, and worked hard to create an environment where they could succeed. To hear Smith tell the story, however, it was all part of a plan \u2014 a higher calling in his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell my kids all the time, you got to go through in order to get to what God wants you to do,\u201d he said. \u201cSo while you\u2019re going through it, you don\u2019t understand. Why do you have to be the guy to go make the first step? Because you know the way is already paved for you to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Smith, the way was paved by his family and his community, who expected great things from him, who invested in his life, and who taught him \u201cwhat right looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though his father wasn\u2019t there to help him, Smith had the benefit of his father\u2019s large family \u2014 10 brothers and sisters. They kept him tethered to his father\u2019s memory, and instilled a sense of pride in his heritage.<\/p>\n

Calvin Smith was born and raised in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, which holds a special place in African-American history. Founded by former slaves in 1887, Mound Bayou was designed to be a selfreliant, autonomous, all-black community, populated by entrepreneurs who had a vision for progress. Renowned educator and intellectual Booker T. Washington praised it as a model of \u201cthrift and self-government,\u201d and former President Theodore Roosevelt called it \u201cThe Jewel of the Delta.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every summer, Smith traveled from his hometown of Atlanta to visit Mound Bayou and reconnect with his history. With every visit, the town and his family came to serve as the foundation upon which his character was built.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t know as kids growing up the things that we needed to do,\u201d said Smith. \u201cBut we knew that there were high expectations. Because from that family, those 10 brothers and sisters, one was the dean of Alcorn State University College of Mathematics. Another worked for FedEx and then became a postman. Another worked down on the farm. Another was a teacher in Memphis and her husband drove trucks. So there were high expectations that were there.\u201d<\/p>\n

A large part of his father\u2019s legacy was military service, and several of Smith\u2019s family members served in different branches of the military, including his brother and sister. Lola, who served in the Marine Corps for three years, led a charter elementary school and now is a teacher in Atlanta. His younger brother, Lawrence, served three years as an Army officer and now serves in the business field in Orlando.<\/p>\n

\"\"Lt. Gen. Leslie C. Smith flanked by his wife, Venedra (left) and mother, Lillie (right).<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Smith pursued the call to military service in high school, and joined the Junior ROTC program at Frederick Douglass High School in Atlanta. He later entered Georgia Southern\u2019s newly reinstated ROTC program in 1981 on the Simultaneous Membership Program, which allowed him to become a second lieutenant in two years while serving in the Georgia Army National Guard.<\/p>\n

At Georgia Southern, Smith found a mentor in Sgt. First Class William Saunders, who taught him what it meant to be a good soldier and to strive for excellence in any mission. As a young soldier in Vietnam, Saunders lost most of his platoon. Due to that experience, he focused on developing great officers to lead in the Army.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were focused on the mission because of him,\u201d said Smith. \u201cHe told us, \u2018You will be a Lieutenant if you\u2019re going to be in my program…you have to be the best in the job. You have to be squared away. You have to exercise. You have to do what things you need to do because that\u2019s what the nation needs you to do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduation, Smith was assigned as a Chemical Officer, which drew jeers from his classmates. \u201cThey gave me a brochure and said, \u2018Hey! You\u2019ll be wearing your gas mask all day! Hahaha!\u201d Leaning on the lessons he\u2019d learned at Georgia Southern, however, Smith took the job seriously, and worked to be the best in his division.<\/p>\n

By the summer of 2001, Smith had worked his way up to Commander of the 83rd Chemical Battalion, and reported to Fort Polk, Louisiana, to assume command. Just a few months later, on 9\/11, all of his previous training was put to the test. After the terrorist attacks, Smith\u2019s unit deployed soldiers to Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan and other parts of the world every 90 days. And in the wake of the anthrax scares all over the country, his unit deployed to the Pentagon, where they set up bio-detection systems on all five corners of the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt changed our way of life,\u201d he said. \u201cIt changed the military way of life. I think it shook the foundation of the United States, and it really tested us to do what we needed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith spent the rest of his career in the Chemical Corps, serving on staff in the Army G-8, as the Deputy Division Chief and Chief of the NBC Branch for the Full Dimensional Protection Division. In 2005, he assumed command of the 3rd Chemical Brigade at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and later served as the G-3, 20th Support Command for CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High-Yield Explosives), and the 25th Chief of Chemical and Commandant of the United States Army CBRN School.<\/p>\n

He became the first Chemical Officer to command the 20th Support Command, and the first Chemical Officer to command the Maneuver Support Center at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He was appointed Deputy Inspector General in 2015, and assumed the role of the Inspector General in February of 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople always say, \u2018Well, what was your favorite assignment?\u2019 I said, \u2018All of them!\u2019 I mean, some of them may have been harder, but they were good assignments because they helped prepare you for what you are going to do,\u201d said Smith. \u201cYou know, your competence and commitment you get over time. Your character is what your family helps you develop, and all those things come together into developing an Army leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

No matter how far Smith has ascended in the Army ranks, he always makes time to invest in others. Even before his daughter Tori attended Georgia Southern and graduated in May, Smith would visit his alma mater at least once a year to speak to cadets, business students or anyone else he felt he could inspire. He\u2019s hosted groups from the Boy Scouts and other organizations, and was recently added to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America Alumni Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the way he gives back to the people who helped him become who he is today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you help somebody else, you think you\u2019re helping them but you\u2019re really helping yourself,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re not only helping yourself, but you\u2019re helping your family and all those other people who come behind you \u2014 because investment in others is how you move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Doy Cave<\/em><\/p>\n

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed by Lt. Gen. Smith in this article are his personal views and do not necessarily represent the views of Department of Defense or its components.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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