Jared Smith, a veteran of the Army Reserves, saluting Medal of Honor recipient Hershel “Woody” Williams on Nov. 18, 2019. Williams had just made Smith an Honorary Board Member of the Woody Williams Foundation for his work as Chair of the Mansfield Ohio Gold Star Families Memorial Monument. (Photo Provided)

MARIETTA — In continually serving others as he originally learned how to do in the Boy Scouts, now Scouting America, Jared Smith is able to better deal with the effects of his service in the Army Reserves which included two tours of duty in Iraq.

Smith served from 2002-2016 in the United States Army Reserves where he spent 24 months (2004-05 at Abu Ghraib prison and 2007-08 at Camp Bucca) in Iraq and another 12 months (2014-15) at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where he served as a Staff Sergeant as a Military Policeman.

He is now the Scout Executive and CEO of the Muskingum Valley Council with Scouting America in Southeast Ohio and Northern West Virginia. The council is based in Zanesville, Ohio.

Smith’s father passed away when Smith was just under 2 years old in 1985. His mother got him involved in the Cub Scouts and later the Boy Scouts in Mansfield, Ohio, to get him around positive role models and father figures. He excelled in his Scouting career, eventually earning his Eagle Scout in 2001.

“What Scouting has done for me, I will never be able to repay in my entire life,” Smith said. “It has put me on this trajectory that has just been amazing.

Jared Smith at the Marietta, Ohio Gold Star Families Memorial Monument located at Gold Star Park, 801 Lancaster St, Marietta. The monument also includes the reflection of Smith’s wife Alison, daughter Liberty, and son Gunner. Smith helped erect a Gold Star Family Monument in his hometown of Mansfield, Ohio, as well as other monuments locally. He attended the dedication of the Marietta monument which inspired him to help get one put up in Mansfield as well as the Silent Battle; Veterans PTSD and Suicide Awareness Memorial Monument at Gold Star Park in Marietta. (Photo Provided)

“Scouting helped prepare me for life.”

Scouting taught him how to dream as well as set short-term goals that line up with long-term goals that line up to achieving your dreams.

“That has been the foundation for my entire life,” Smith said. “Leadership, character, values, service to others was all part of my foundation while I was growing up.”

He carried those lessons throughout school and into his time in the military and back again.

Smith was in his first semester of college when the Sept. 11th attacks occurred and he felt it was time to do his part so he took a year to get in shape for basic training. He wanted to serve in the United States Army Military Police Corps like his father had done before him.

SSG Jared Smith, circa 2007 flying in a Blackhawk to head home on leave. Smith served from 2002-2016 in the United States Army Reserves where he spent 24 months (2004-05 at Abu Ghraib prison and 2007-08 at Camp Bucca) in Iraq and another 12 months (2014-15) at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where he served as a Staff Sergeant and a Military Policeman. (Photo Provided)

He had other commitments with the career track he was on, but still wanted to do his part which led him to join the Army Reserves. While at Abu Ghraib there were a couple of mass casualty events. Smith received the Army Commendation Medal for Distinguished Combat Valor.

“We were in the thick of it all,” he said. “Every other day, if not everyday, we had some kind of mortar attack the first 30 days while on station there.

“It got more serious after that first 30 days we were on the ground there.”

He felt he had a lot of opportunities in the military as well in his civilian career which he had to maintain as being part of the Reserves.

In addition to his time in the Reserves, he worked with the Ohio Department of Youth Services as a Juvenile Corrections Officer at different locations which led to the first of three “dream jobs,” the first being with Ohio Department of Job and Family Services as the Disabled Veterans Outreach Program (DVOP) Specialist in Washington County (2012) where he worked to help put veterans back in the workforce.

Scouting America Muskingum Valley Council Scout Executive and CEO Jared Smith. Scouting played an important part in Smith’s life growing up which led to serving in the Army Reserves. (Photo Provided)

“I had a lot of success and the success was in the team and the network we created here in Washington County to take care of veterans,” Smith said of work he was a part of in Washington, Morgan, Noble and Monroe counties.

“We learned that you can’t put a bandaid on a veteran,” Smith added.

Although some programs help in the short-term, many veterans need additional help later on.

“If you case manage the entire veteran and provide intensive services to that veteran without overwhelming them then you can have upwards to six agencies working with a veteran to get them the help they need and get them to a position they can be independent and self-reliant again and have all the services they need to overcome barriers to employment and assist them in reaching their own dreams by restoring hope, dignity, and purpose.”

Many veterans can “get lost in our own headspace” and have to be reminded of who they were as they are still that person. Connecting veterans to services helped many veterans reintegrate back into civilian life.

Staff Sgt. Jared Smith, U.S. Army Reserves, was recognized for distinguished military service, outstanding community service, professional achievement and veterans’ advocacy at the 2023 Veterans Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Dyson Baudo Recreation Center on the campus of Marietta College. Smith also received the 2023 Chad D. Wright Memorial Award as Washington County Veteran of the Year. (File Photo)

Smith talked about always looking for mentors he could learn from so he could get to the point of becoming their peers and working to address whatever challenge was in front of him.

He pointed to people like Chad Wright, Bernie Lyons, Roy Trembly, David Smith, Mike Francis, and organizations like the Washington County Job and Family Services, Washington County Veterans Service Commission, Marietta Community Foundation, Mid-Ohio Valley Veterans Outreach, and the Veterans Service Organizations who he worked with to help a lot of veterans locally.

From 2012-2020, they put 280 veterans back in the workforce, Smith said. He received awards for his work being named the best in the state of Ohio in 2017 and the nation in 2020 as a DVOP.

They have had to deal with veterans who self medicated with alcohol and more, transportation issues, building resume and interview skills and more.

“Veterans are a proud group,” he said. “We don’t want to ask for help. We want to help others.

In a photo, dated Oct. 14, 2022, Washington County Veterans Service Commission President Jared Smith speaks at the groundbreaking of the Silent Battle veteran PTSD and suicide awareness monument at Marietta’s Gold Star Park. Smith, a veteran of the U.S. Army Reserves from 2002-2016, has worked locally honoring veterans’ service. (File Photo)

“So to get a veteran to say ‘I need help’ is difficult to do and when they do and we are able to assist them to get them services through the VA. The magic in that whole piece is in the people in the network and the people we surround ourselves with that can help affect life changes to veterans. You can never achieve these things on your own…it is about those you surround yourself with.”

His next job was a Human Resource Specialist at the Bureau of Fiscal Service where he spent over two years and he described it as his second “dream job.”

A position then became available with Scout Executive and CEO of the Muskingum Valley Council with a trend where the organization was looking outside of people who had worked in professional Scouting positions. He was the third such person nationwide to be hired as a Scout Executive and CEO from outside of the professional Scouting Community. He has been there since June 2023.

“It is another dream job,” Smith said. “It has been amazing to try to give back and pay forward what Scouting has given back to me.

“I will never be able to fully repay what Scouting has given to me, but if we can make opportunities for our youth and provide them with great programs that Scouting America has then that is what I am here for.”

He feels Scouting can provide so much to young people in teaching them about service to others, reaching their own goals and working towards their own success.

Smith has been involved in other veterans’ causes and issues, including working on setting up Gold Star Monuments in his hometown of Mansfield, at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus and elsewhere. He has also worked to bring memorials such as the Purple Heart, POW/MIA and Silent Battle for those with PTSD and suicide awareness locally.

Smith suffers from PTSD himself and has found that being able to serve others helps him deal with those issues in ways that other methods did not.

“It is hard for us to find our voice and be able to ask for help,” he said. “We are always looking for ways to help our veterans, our youth and our community.

“We want to leave the world a better place through the actions we can provide.”

His personal motto is “Live a life worth their sacrifice as the cause is greater than I.”

Smith also continues to live his life by the Scout Oath and the Scout Law which he described as his “daily compass.”

“If I do those things, I can live a life of purpose, meaning, inspiration and motivation for others,” he said. “What gets me out of that darkness is service to others.

“Being the light for someone else when I can’t have the light, restores the light within me. It is important we do the best we can always, as we never know what another is going through.”

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com