A Soldier's Perspective

A Soldier Till The Day I Die: An Interview with SMA Jack Tilley

November 15th, 2007 by Admin

This is my official "I'm back" post! Back in June, I decided to take an "extended hiatus" and get my life in order. And while I've kept in touch with many through email and other venues, I'm glad to officially be back on ASP. What better time than when CPL M is also back? I wanted to do something grand (at least in my opinion) when I came back and I think this interview is it. As an NCO, there is no greater honor than talking a Sergeant Major of the Army – especially when it's one I highly respect and admire.

From my personal collection. SSG CJ and SMA Tilley (yes, I know it's blurry)

In the entire 232+ year history of the United States Army, we have only had 13 Sergeants Major of the Army. THIRTEEN PEOPLE!! By comparison, there have been 36 Chiefs of Staff of the Army.

The Sergeant Major of the Army serves as the Army Chief of Staff's personal adviser on all enlisted-related matters, particularly in areas affecting Soldier training and quality of life.

The SMA devotes the majority of his time to traveling throughout the Army observing training, and talking to Soldiers and their families.

The SMA sits on a wide variety of councils and boards that make decisions affecting enlisted Soldiers and their families and is routinely invited to testify before Congress.

The 12th Sergeant Major of the Army (SMA) was SMA Jack L. Tilley. SMA Tilley was truly a Soldier's Sergeant Major. He underwent basic training at Fort Lewis in 1966, went to parachute school at Fort Knox, Ky., and received orders for Vietnam in 1967, when the war was at its hottest. Tilley fought in the streets of Saigon during the 1968 Tet offensive, and then clawed furiously as half his platoon was overrun and killed one night. I'm not going to spend an exorbitant amount of time on his resume as that would necessitate a whole other post and deserves more than just highlights.

In December 2002, SMA Tilley visited us out at New York Kabal (Camp New York) in the desert of Kuwait. By that time, we had been in country for three months trying to persuade Saddam to give up peacefully to no avail. It was no secret that we were preparing for war. SMA Tilley brought with him a group of entertainers from the United Service Organization (USO), including country singer Daryl Worley, comedian Kathy Griffin, JAG star Karri Turner and World Wrestling star Bradshaw. However, as I recall, only Bradshaw came out to our dust-addled camp in the middle of nowhere. Ask any Soldier that remembers SMA Tilley what one thing defines him and they'd say "push ups".

From my personal collection.

With the prospect of war looming right over the horizon, I'll never forget his words of encouragement to a group of Soldiers who up to that point never knew combat. The training was getting repetitive and, frankly, we were getting bored in the desert with nothing to do. Because of the security situation, we weren't allowed to go into town. In order to travel to Camp Doha, we had to travel in huge convoys which required a lot of coordination. SMA Tilley responded to that feeling. "Boredom is good if it prevents us from having to send you home in a body bag," he said. "There are people out there that want to kill us. We have to keep our war face on at all times."

I had the opportunity talk one on one with SMA Tilley to discuss his involvement with the American Freedom Foundation. The AFF was started four years ago around the time that he retired from the Army.

I used to take Darryl Worley, Mark Wills, Kerry Turner and John Bradshaw overseas into Afghanistan and Iraq on USO tours. Along with Ted Hacker, we always talked about trying to help soldiers and doing more things with them when I retire. So when I retired, I gave Ted Hacker a call and said, “Hey let’s quit talking about it and get something done.” So, we did our first concert and we’ve got our fourth one coming up this year and we’ve just been building ever since. We went from Tampa and on to New York as part of the CMAs. This is our second year at constitution hall [in Washington, D.C.].

CJ: Is the festival held in a separate venue once a year or is it a traveling road show type thing?
SMA Tilley: No, the first two years were different venues. This year is the second time we’ve been in this venue (DAR Constitution Hall). Next year we’re probably going to go to another venue; probably farther south than the DC area. In fact, I think we’re looking at George Mason University, I guess. To answer your question, we only have one event each year right now.

CJ: How do you get the acts for these concerts? Do people volunteer or do you actively seek them out?
SMA Tilley: Ted Hacker is a professional manager and has been managing acts in Nashville for about 30-something years. He's the person mainly responsible for getting the acts. So far, they have all been mostly volunteers.

CJ: Are the artists paid and, if so, where does the money come from that is used to pay the artists?
SMA Tilley: It comes from sponsors. We have a list of sponsors: Revision Eyewear and George Dickel Whiskey, DOD Contractors and other large sponsors within the DC area to help us out. Darryl Worley and Mark Wills did it the first three years for absolutely nothing. We did have some acts in there that we paid money to, but this year will be the first year that we’re paying for acts. We’ll pay to bring acts in and perform and it’ll be the first year that we pay Darryl a little money, not a whole lot, but a little bit of money to perform.

CJ: What can people do to help or volunteer or contribute?
SMA Tilley: We’re not quite big enough yet, but if you want to volunteer you can go on the America Freedom Foundation website there is a link to send a message or you can contact me directly at jackltilley12@verizon.net. If you’d like to volunteer and we can use you, we’ll definitely use you. And if you’d like to contribute some money – no matter how small it is – you can go to the website and they have online donations through that. The neat thing about our foundation is that all the people who work on this are volunteers. We don’t pay anybody anything. They’re all volunteers. For the last four years, we’ve had people come in, volunteer to work, and get the job done and I haven’t paid them anything. As a matter of fact, the foundation will pay one night wherever we’re at in a hotel for them to stay in to help us work. Isn’t that neat?

CJ: That's absolutely amazing and I'm sure they appreciate it! Any stories that stick out in your mind since you’ve been doing this?
SMA Tilley: I think there are a lot of people that touch me. It’s nice to see the enthusiasm from the entertainers and the people that volunteer to help. The other thing is when you bring in some wounded warriors and family members. It always touches you because they’re so motivated and enthusiastic about their accomplishments in life and they’re not worried about whatever injuries they have. They’re just enjoying life and the moment – just being around people and trying to continue to help people is what touches me every day.

As an NCO, I also had some questions for the former Sergeant Major of the Army on leadership issues. As a First Sergeant who shares Tilley's love for and dedication to Soldiers, I wanted to know what advice he could impart to our young leaders out there (and to me by default).

CJ: Do you still find yourself mentoring NCOs or providing advice to NCOs as they seek you out on the road?
SMA Tilley: Oh sure. The answer is yes. Either people you’ve associated with or people you bumped into. They’ll ask you for advice or maybe ask how you’d take care of a particular situation. And I’ll tell you quite frankly, I really enjoy doing that because you can “retire” but you’ll never be retired. I’ll always be a Soldier till the day I die.

CJ: Do you have any advice for NCOs who aspire to become a Sergeant Major of the Army some day?
SMA Tilley: First of all, I’d say not to set your goal to be Sergeant Major of the Army. The guy that really becomes Sergeant Major of the Army is the guy that really didn’t want to be. And the guys that want to be SMA, nine times out of ten, don’t get to be. I guess the advice that I’d give anybody is to stay focused on your lane. Don’t talk about taking care of Soldiers – Take care of Soldiers! Soldiers know if you’re real or Memorex. So take care of them! Learn about their families. Learn about what they’re doing with their free time. If you’re a good Sergeant First Class, stay focused on your platoon. Do the right kind of jobs that support your chain of command. Too often, I think, you have people who are so concerned about maybe getting the next stripe or getting the next position that they lose focus about what they’re really supposed to be doing – taking care of that section or squad or platoon or company that they’re involved in.

CJ: Excellent advice. How were you approached to become the SMA?
SMA Tilley: That’s the funny part – I didn’t want to be!! I was going to retire. In fact, I remember vividly when they contacted me and they asked me to compete for the job. It was SGM Larry Strickland [Sergeant Major to the Army’s Deputy Chief-of-Staff for personnel (G-1)] who was killed at the Pentagon on 9/11.

He asked if I was going to put my name in the hat for Sergeant Major of the Army and I said, “NOPE!” When he asked me why I told him that I’d have to extend for six months and I’m an older guy who’s been around a long time. I told him to let one of the younger guys go after it. I just wanted to retire there in Florida. And then, SMA [Robert E.] Hall called me to ask why I wasn’t putting my name in for the position. I said, “Well I have to put in a waiver to compete for your position and I don’t want to do that.”

He said don’t worry about it and to put my name in without an extension and he’d take care of that if they had to do it. When I agreed, he said, “And another thing, you probably won’t get the job anyway.” He said just to put my name in the hat and we’ll see what happens.

So, I competed for the job, I put my name in the hat. I went to the first interview and I thought I did pretty good. I mean, I made the first cut out of six and then met with General [Eric K.] Shinseki. We had a great interview and a great talk, but I thought “geez, he’ll never pick me.”

Two days later, he called me and said that I had to go back to DC. He told me I was going to interview with the Secretary of the Army. I asked who else was coming and he said, “You! So don’t screw it up.”

That’s really how I found out about it. And that’s why I tell people you can be a good Soldier, but good Soldiers can get sidetracked worrying about “can I be this?” or “can I be that?” The real answer is BE WHO YOU ARE. You know, the things that maybe made me successful as SMA were the same things I did as a SGT, SSG, and SFC. I’ve never changed. I may have gotten older – and may understand a little better – but the way I treat people, the way I communicate with people, the things that I do haven’t changed. Even now in the civilian world, the things that I do haven’t changed.

Definitely inspirational words that we NCOs can all stand to heed. It was truly an honor to speak with this true war hero. From the day he first entered the Army through today, he has served his nation and the world. He is the senior enlisted advisor to the sergeant major of the Afghan National Army and serves on the U.S. Army's retirement board and the secretary of veterans affairs' special advisory committee for operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

From my personal collection.

Posted in America's Finest, Doing Great Things, Military Perspective