Jean Marciniak (00:00):
Thanks for everyone for joining a Commander’s Briefing. In this special episode, we have a special guest on the show, major General Leon Lot, the Commanding General of the South Carolina State Guard. Welcome on the show, general. Thank you.
Major General Leon Lott (00:14):
Thank you. Glad to be here with you.
Jean Marciniak (00:16):
So general, I know you’re a very busy person. I know you are a sheriff and I know you’re the commanding General of the South Carolina State Guard, so you’re a very busy person. So one thing I wanted to first dive into is a little bit about your history. I know you’re a sheriff. If you can kind of tell us the county or what parts of South Carolina and your history in the military.
Major General Leon Lott (00:44):
Alright. I’m located in Columbia, South Carolina and I’m the sheriff of Richland County. We have almost a thousand employees at the Sheriff’s Department. We’re the largest sheriff’s department, largest law enforcement agency in the state of South Carolina. I’ve been a cop for 49 years and been chair for the past 28 years. After nine 11, the Adjuvant General at time Stan s Spears asked me to join the South Carolina Military Department as his law enforcement advisor and the Provost Marsh for the military department and South Carolina. The military department is comprised of three different parts. You have the National Guard, the State Guard emergency Management, so Adjuvant General oversees all three of those. Prior to four years ago, the Avant General was a elected deposition and then our constitution changed to where appointed position under the governor. So I currently serve under Governor Henry McMaster, who is our commander in chief, the Adjuvant General and myself both report to him. So I’m started off with the joint service detachment with the military department and then a few years after that the general asked me to transitioned over to the South Carolina State Guard. So I went over there was a provost marshal for the state guard, then became deputy commander of the Operations, special Operations. Then from there was the deputy commanding officer and then some four years ago took over as the Commanding general.
Jean Marciniak (02:18):
Okay, wow. So that’s a lot. That’s definitely a long history and distinguished. I guess one question I have, since you’re a sheriff and you have quite a bit of law enforcement knowledge, skill and experience, how does that have benefited the South Carolina State Guard? Have you integrated any parts of your knowledge and skill and experience from your sheriff feel to the South Carolina State Guard?
Major General Leon Lott (02:49):
Well, it goes hand in hand. Our missions are kind of the same and that’s to protect the people and property of the state of South Carolina. One thing that we did early on, provost marshals detachment our mps were not certified police officers, so we joined forces and we have a reserve deputy program where they go through almost for a year of training and become certified as a reserve deputy, which makes them certified law enforcement officers. So all of our mps are signed. A provost marshal detachment are either our current sheriff’s employees throughout the state, not just for Richland County, but they work in law enforcement, reserve deputies, constables. So they’re all certified as law enforcement officers, but what our main mission with the state guard is our enemy as mother nature, we tend to respond mostly to natural disasters. After we had a great flood of 2015, I realized that as the sheriff but also part of the state guard, I need to know more about emergency management. So I got a master’s and emergency management. So all three of those now tie in together in my position as command in general for the state guard and also the sheriff of Richmond County, largest county and then also being educated now with emergency management.
Jean Marciniak (04:09):
Wow, okay. Wow, wow. I guess moving over to the South Carolina State Guard, kind of focusing on the training, what kind of training, you mentioned you have a law enforcement program for reserve deputies. What other kind of training are you guys currently engaged in?
Major General Leon Lott (04:30):
Well, once you joined the state guard, we have, we call it a Francis Marion Reception Center. That’s our initial training. That’s your basic training. Francis Marion nickname was Swap Fox was also a commander of the South Carolina State Guard. So our history is very rich. We go back to 16th 70. We were the first military organization in the state of South Carolina and it’s been active ever since 1670. So we call it Francis Mary. So they go through the initial training at Francis Mary Reception Center. That’s your basic training. Then we have your A IT training. We have advanced training too Different ways or creating training center here is a joint operation between the National Guard and the Army. Since Fort Jackson is located here, that’s where we have our academy. So we have our own military academy, our own instructors. So not only are you specialized, but you get the general training as a military person, you learn all the basics. Six.
Jean Marciniak (05:28):
I’m kind of curious how big is the South Carolina State guard today?
Major General Leon Lott (05:33):
We’re authorized a thousand. We’re probably legitimately have about 700 at this point. So we’re building our ranks. Last year, this has been an all volunteer force up until last year on the efforts of our governor. Our governor really supports the state guard. He’s one of our biggest fans. He uses us and supports us. We got it through our general assembly. Now that our soldiers get paid 12 drills a year, they get paid $150 for each drill they go to. They get a $6,000 South Carolina tax credit. So it’s taken us from a volunteer force now to actually a paid force and you’re not going to get rich. It’s not, the governor’s intent wasn’t for the soldiers to make money, it was also to make sure that they didn’t spend their own money. So you’re getting paid for drills and if we get activated and put on state active duty, then we’ll also get paid for that. So that’s been a big game changer for us. I know when I joined the state guard we were getting leftovers. We didn’t have a budget. We have a budget now of almost half a million dollars. So for equipment and training personnel, we have assistance officer and we have three other personnel that full-time that work in our armory. So they do a lot of administrative work. So it is a very active organized military organization.
Jean Marciniak (07:02):
Moving on to the recruiting efforts, how is your recruiting efforts going? Do you find that you bring a lot of prior service or is it kind of like 50 50 non prior service and some prior service?
Major General Leon Lott (07:16):
It’s 50 50. We have a lot of prior service and then we have those that want to join and want to give back and wear the uniform. So we have a little bit of both. It works out. It’s a great combination. I think that’s one of the things that makes us unique is that we do have such a blend of people. It’s not just all prior military, but it’s not also just brand new people, 18 years old who are just getting in. It’s that blend so they’re able to work together and the youthfulness that we have along with the experience we have, I think that makes us very effective.
Jean Marciniak (07:57):
You mentioned earlier, I want to piggyback off that, that you guys have an initial entry training program. Is that for non prior service and how long is it generally?
Major General Leon Lott (08:10):
Well, it is for both.
(08:15)
You come into the state guard, you got to learn our ways to do stuff. We have people that’s been in the Air Force, the Navy, the Marines, army Coast Guards, so we’ve got all these different military organization they come from, but we want to teach ’em our way. We do it the state guard way since there’s certain things that we have to do since we’re a state military organization, so they go through our training. Someone who’s brand new is going to get more training than somebody who’s got prior service. So a lot depends on that individual.
Jean Marciniak (08:49):
Oh, okay. I know you mentioned that you have a Reserve deputy program, provost Marshall. I know that you guys do quite a bit of missions. I was wondering if you can kind of dive into some of them. I know you guys do search and rescue as well as I believe dam evaluation. That was another critical mission I was really impressed with. Can you also dive into some other missions that you guys kind of covered?
Major General Leon Lott (09:17):
Well, we have MOUs with the National Guard, so our chaplains provide service for them. They were short of chaplains, so our chaplains stepped in. Our legal staff are jags, have been able to step in and before soldiers get deployed, help make sure that their affairs are in place. So we work hand in hand with the National Guard here. There’s not a competition between us. We really work hand in hand on a lot of different things that support each other. Search and rescue is a big thing. We just had Hurricane Debbie come through South Carolina. Our search and rescue team was activated. We wouldn’t use because we didn’t need it, but we were ready to do that. We had a riot at one of our prisons and the prison staff was short, so we manned the towers and the grounds. We didn’t have access to the prisoners, but we made sure the perimeter was secure.
(10:12)
We’ve done that in the past when Covid and other natural disasters, we provide security at shelters, at distribution points, we help put up tents for mobile C shots. When we have a disaster hit or again, we have our joint operations center emergency management, we actually have a seat at the table. We have somebody that’s there all the time. I know during covid we will probably be activated there for well over a month. And you talked about the dam inspections. We have engineers and we have some very highly skilled trained engineers and when there’s an issue with that, then we’re able to go in and evaluate the structures and find out if they’re secure or not. So our engineers are top notch. I know the National Guard relies solely on our engineers to go out and do inspections.
Jean Marciniak (11:12):
We reported on that a few [email protected]. We were very really impressed by that, that you guys go out and do inspections of dams. That was really incredible
Major General Leon Lott (11:23):
And let me follow up on that. In 2015 when we had the thousand year flood here, the water supply for Columbia area, the dam broke and we had to do something very quickly and when I arrived there, the person that was in charge, the engineer in charge of developing and the plan was a state guard colonel. So it wasn’t National Guard, it wasn’t anybody. It was one of my people, the state guard people was there. She was actually in charge to make sure that it didn’t fully collapse and we did have a water supply.
Jean Marciniak (11:59):
Wow, that’s incredible. Kind of piggybacking off the previous question you mentioned the corrections department mission. That was when we found out about it, we reported on it. That was really, again, very impressive piece of news. I’m very curious. I think there’s maybe one other state defense force that does it just off the top of my head, but you were the first ones. How did that come to be? How did you get that set up? Because that corrections department mission was just very impressive to just read about and to post and share with other state defense force members and many were really impressed that you guys were doing that mission. So how did that come to be?
Major General Leon Lott (12:46):
It basically starts with the governor. The governor was Dr. Maner in chief and then he saw a need. We had a state agency, the Department of Corrections that needed assistance. It was a massive riot. Lots of inmates were killed. It was totally out of control and they needed help to secure the perimeter for a long-term process while they took care of inside. So the governor said, let’s use the state guards. So through the adjuvant general and myself, we were able to develop a plan with Department of Corrections and had our military police assigned there and they did a great job, no problems whatsoever. I think it impressed the inmates to see us there in uniform armed and that’s a big deal. Prior to 2015, the state guard had not been under armed since World War ii and we were needed during the great flood of 2015 and we can react and get on boots on the ground at a location a lot faster than what the National Guard does in National Guard. It takes a while for them to get mobilized, get going, but we can do it within hours. So we got the calls to look, the governor’s going to prove you got to be armed. We need your military police to go to provide security at these different locations. When you are able to get there very quickly and have secure shelters and pods for people to come to
Jean Marciniak (14:16):
For doing the armed for the corrections and for the reserve of deputies, I’m assuming you go through firearms training. How long is that training usually?
Major General Leon Lott (14:27):
Same thing that they get through a law enforcement officer, so they qualify every year. They also qualify on, I’ll call it riot control, but we call it field force training. So we’re, if there’s an unrest and a protest that turns into violence, then we’re ready to respond to that also. So we’ve got the equipment with the shields and the helmets and so forth. We haven’t been used yet because we haven’t had those problems in our state, but we co-train with law enforcement with our mps so they can stand arm in arm with each other and be able to take care of any kind of problem. So as far as answers your question, the firearms training that is yearly training that they go through, maintain their certification.
Jean Marciniak (15:14):
I guess one other kind of diving away from the physical realm, there is a cyber realm now where we are. It’s kind of like a new level, a new stage of warfare where you have malicious actors and nation states that are trying to infiltrate US infrastructure and do damage there. I was kind of curious. I believe the South Carolina State Guard, we’ve reported on some missions that you guys have done in cybersecurity. Can you go into that and have you worked with the National Guard on these cyber defense missions?
Major General Leon Lott (15:56):
Yeah, I go a step further. We’ve actually trained the National Guard in some of these cyber missions. So yes, we’ve had a cyber unit. We stood up some years ago, so they’ve been very active in training and also responding and as the cyber threat increases, we’re also increasing. Also, we realize here that if there’s a cyber attack nationwide, our National Guard is going to be activated federally, so they won’t be here in the state. So that falls back on the state agencies, which includes us. So we have a coalition of agencies that include us, that have our training and really implementing a very strong cyber unit that can respond to any type of cyber attacks we have in the state. So yeah, that’s the new attack. That’s the new enemy that we have that we have to face. So we’re kind of ahead of a little bit on what everybody else is and we’re going to continue to move forward.
Jean Marciniak (16:54):
You mentioned earlier that mother nature is becoming one of the most important missions, responding to the destruction and damage that hurricanes and tornadoes and the flooding that has been doing to South Carolina. I wanted to get your feedback on if you had to compare the cyber threat to this threat, do you feel like the cyber threat’s becoming more increasingly more potent, more of a risk than your other missions like the search and rescue and the corrections department? Is it becoming more of a central threat?
Major General Leon Lott (17:35):
The cyber threats is real. There’s cyber attacks every day. You just don’t hear about ’em every day. There’s cyber attacks. That is how our enemy is going to try to cripple America. It’s not so much with soldiers on the ground or dropping bomb. It’s going be with a cyber attack and just disrupting the infrastructure that we’ve got and we know that. So we’ve got to be ready for that. We can’t so much be reactive as we have to be proactive and that’s what we’re trying to do with our cyber unit is have the training, have the equipment, have everybody working together, so to be proactive to prevent what we can and then if it does happen and how are we going to handle it. So yeah, mother nature hits us hard, but we can kind of almost predict weather, our weather. People tell us what’s coming when it’s going to be here. Cyber attacks, that’s every day and we don’t know which country it’s going to come from. First.
Jean Marciniak (18:37):
One other question that many of our listeners want to always have answered is what is your relationship like with your state’s National Guard? Do you do a lot of joint task force missions?
Major General Leon Lott (18:51):
Yeah, very closely. Our adjunct in general, and I have a standing meeting every month. We meet every month. That doesn’t mean we don’t talk in between, but we have a standing meeting every month to go over any issues and have the open discussions. My deputy commanding officer and the deputy commanding officer for the National Guard, they meet almost weekly. I say yes, we have a great relationship with them. We work very closely with them. I think you’ll touch on it later, but our uniforms are the same uniform they wear except for our name tag. It’s in black with brown lettering. Then instead of saying US Army, it says South Carolina State Guard. Instead of wearing American flag, we wear a South Carolina flag on our shoulders. Beyond that, we’re the same. You can’t tell any different, but we’re on missions and we’re working together. Nobody really cares. They just care. Is the job being done, is that person there capable of doing the job? So there’s a lot of joint training we do, but then when there’s operations, we work very closely together.
Jean Marciniak (19:54):
I guess kind of following up on that question, if you had to put a number on it, out of 10, how many of, if you did 10 missions, how many of them would be working with the South Carolina Army National Guard, the International Guard, if you had to put a number out of 10?
Major General Leon Lott (20:11):
Probably nine. Probably nine out of 10.
Jean Marciniak (20:14):
Wow.
Major General Leon Lott (20:16):
And I know some states there’s conflict and they don’t get along. That’s not the way it is here. The Adant general and I both are friends. We’ve been friends a long time before we ever got into positions that we’re in now, and so we already had a relationship and it just continues and we look at each other basically as equals. He’s got a little bit more responsibilities than I do because it’s federally, they could be sent off, but we don’t. We’re basically going to stay in the state of South Carolina. There has been occasions we’ve been sent to New York, the attacks and people went there. But basically we’re staying within South Carolina. Another one of our missions that’s written into the law that covers the South Carolina State Guard is when national guards are activated and they leave an armory. We take over that armory. We maintain that armory, the safety and security of that armor. So we have our soldiers assigned to each one of the armories throughout our state. We have our own armory, but we also share with them.
Jean Marciniak (21:19):
Wow, okay. One of my following questions was going to be what your relationship was with the South Carolina General, but you just answered it. His follow up question was, what are the major positive initiatives for the next year in terms of training types, submiss missions, recruitings, retention, financial support from the state?
Major General Leon Lott (21:40):
Well, the state has really supported us. Our armory was built in 1935 and it’s a historic building and needed some help. So our general assembly appropriated 4.5 million to complete and renovate our armory. Now our temporary headquarters is right beside the adjunct general’s building. That’s where we’re drilling at now and that’s where my office is. So we’re working very closely on that. So we’ve gotten great support from our general assembly. They see the value of the South Carolina State Guard, the hours that our people volunteer and good work that they do. So just recently, again, 4.5 million renovation of our armory, the pay, the tax credit increase. So our state really supports this from the governor, right through our general assembly. There’s a lot of support. So at this time there’s no big, our armories about two years away from being finished. That’s a major task for us to have that completed. Looking today in the future, the cybersecurity and drones, we’re really pushing that. That’s two areas that we already have drones, we already have cyber. I think we really need to build on that and be top of the game, not be second or third class, but be ahead of everybody else.
Jean Marciniak (23:06):
I wanted to get your perspective earlier this year, the National Guard Bureau advised the Aine generals to push for uniform changes for their state defense forces nationwide. The director, I believe is C-N-G-B-I 5 5 0 0 0.01, which proposes state defense forces wear more bolder colors like red ball caps, red name tapes with white lettering, a large red patch on their shoulder as well as rank in red and white markings. Do you see this policy being put on the South Carolina State Guard?
Major General Leon Lott (23:45):
Not as long as Henry Master was our governor. He is our commander in chief and his orders were as that, no, we’re not going to change that. We’re already different than in National Guard and regular army. Our uniforms are different with South Carolina flag, our name tags are black with gray leather. We have South Carolina State Guard on our uniforms. We already distinguished from the National Guard of Regular Army, so his ruling was that we’re not going to do that. So that’s where he is. My commander in chief, that’s who we report to, that’s who the Adju general reports Steve. So his orders to both of us was maintain what we’re doing.
Jean Marciniak (24:25):
Okay, great. Does the South Carolina State Guard work with any other US military forces? Aside from the Army, national Guard and International Guard,
Major General Leon Lott (24:35):
We also work with the regular Army. Fort Jackson. Largest training facility for Army is right here in Columbia. I work very closely with them, my relationship with them, and so yes, we do some things with them also.
Jean Marciniak (24:51):
Wow, okay. That’s amazing. I guess my next few questions are more for your perspective. There are some less active state defense forces and state guards out there. I wanted to get, since your state guard is so active and integral into so many parts of the South Carolina Military Department and South Carolina emergency response, I wanted to get your recommendations for your advice for them in regards to having a better working relationship with their National Guard and what kind of missions they can take on.
Major General Leon Lott (25:26):
Well, I think you have to look professional and be professional. We don’t need people who just want to wear uniform, sit around and drink coffee. I think that when people see look at you and that’s what they see, then you’re not professional and they’re not going to respect you as a professional professional. And I think that’s what we’ve developed here is that our National Guard does respect us. They know the capabilities that we got. So I think you do have to have a well organized military organization that is effective, that can answer missions and go out and do the job. If you can do the job, you’re going to get called upon. So I think that’s the first thing that you’ve got to do internally is develop your own organization and then you have to show that you’re capable of doing stuff. I think when your a general or your National Guard sees that you are professional, then they’re going to call. They look upon you as a professional, they’re going to call you, but they know you can handle the job.
Jean Marciniak (26:30):
Moving on to another question that I had is we did a poll a while back asking state defense force members what mission they would like their state defense force to take on. Surprisingly, one choice that got the most amount of votes was assisting the Army National Guard as acting as an opposing force for their warfare training exercises. I believe the Georgia State Defense Force does this pretty actively, even monthly. I believe they have also a dedicated unit for performing these, what they call OP four missions. Would such a mission like that work for the South Carolina State Guard?
Major General Leon Lott (27:11):
Yeah, we’re already in discussions with that. And then that goes with the drones. Drones. If you look at warfare today, that’s happening around the world. Drones are an integral part of it. And so since we have a drone capability, then there’s discussions on using that and assisted training for the National Guard. Yeah, and we’ve done other training with them also. So we do joint training with them. But as far as being an opposing force, yes, that’s in consideration.
Jean Marciniak (27:45):
Wow, okay. Amazing. Another question that I had for you was in 2007, the Maryland Defense Force did something no other, the state Defense force did. Since World War I, they deployed with the Maryland Air International Guard on a mission to provide medical assistance in Bosnia. I wanted to get your opinion, do you believe that state defense forces or state guards could assist the National Guard in overseas locations in support missions in supply or logistics or administration? Medical possibly.
Major General Leon Lott (28:15):
I think so. If the law allows it in South Carolina, our law that deals with the state, we call it the state guard instead of state defense force with the State guard says that we cannot go out at the continental United States. So that would have to be changed. And if it was changed, then I don’t see a problem with doing that. Again, that goes back to the capabilities that you had. Maryland State Defense Force had those capabilities, the National Guard trust them enough to call upon ’em. I see nothing wrong with that. If you’re trained and our motto here is trained and ready, that’s what we emphasize every day, that we’re trained and we are ready so we can do just about anything that’s needed to be done.
Jean Marciniak (29:01):
I guess the next kind of questions is more of what your impact will be on the, well, I mean your impact so far on the South Carolina State Guard has been monumental, but I wanted to kind of dive into what do you think, I guess your short-term and long-term plans are for the South Carolina State Guard for the near future?
Major General Leon Lott (29:27):
Well, the short goal and long-term goals are pretty much the same, and that’s for the drone capabilities and our cyber. That’s the forefront now of everything. Cyber attacks again happened every day from numerous countries, and so we’ve got to be prepared for that. So I see cyber now as a priority. I see five years from now, cyber is still going to be a priority. Same thing with drones now I think drones are the modern warfare of today on how they connect. You just look what Ukraine did in Russia where they attacked the capital and Russia, Moscow with drones, and we’re not talking about big drones and larger drones, we’re talking about the small drones. So I think that’s where we’re going now and that’s where we’re going to be going in the future. So we got to be prepared for that. So I think those short-term and long-term goals, I think for me is probably the same.
Jean Marciniak (30:27):
Okay. And I guess I wanted to get your opinion for all state defense forces for more of a general kind of recommendation. What do you think state defense forces need to do to better grow and develop in the short term as well as the long term?
Major General Leon Lott (30:45):
I think there needs to be more uniformity to ’em. We’ve got some that the uniforms are different. I think we kind of need to be look the same and have the same type training. And I know some are just ceremonial and some are just people who just want to wear uniform. I think that it’s like joining any military, army, navy, et cetera. You join it for a reason and the reason to join a state guard is not just to have a uniform and sit around and tell war stories. It needs to be where you’re out here actually training and ready for missions that your governor calls you to do, got to be ready for it. So I think there’s needs to be some more working together than what I’ve seen in the past.
Jean Marciniak (31:36):
Okay. And I guess my last question that I have for you is we see conflict in Europe, we see conflict in the Middle East and escalation growing in Asia. Do you feel in, I would say in the next five, 10 years that the state defense forces will be utilized more by their states?
Major General Leon Lott (31:58):
I think so. I think we’re going to be used in our states. We’re preparing now even up tempo a little bit on our National Guard armories. We know that something happens, the National Guard is going to be activated and they’re going to be gone from the state, and that leaves the state to be protected by the state guard. That’s one of our main mission. So we’re getting even more prepared in what we’ve been for that mission. Now it is something that’s coming, so we’ve got to be ready for it. Again, when your national guard is called to go somewhere else, it’s going to fall back on your state guard and if you don’t have a state guard or state defense force, who’s going to do it? There’s nobody there. That’s why I think the state guard is so important, and that’s why our state has had it since 1670 and it’s still going. And we are supported by the elected officials and our state of South Carolina.
Jean Marciniak (32:58):
Okay, awesome. That’s all the questions I had. Is there anything I did not cover that you wanted to address?
Major General Leon Lott (33:06):
No, I just think that it’s important that I say all the time that the people who wear the uniform, the state guard, love the state, they wear that uniform and they’re willing to give their time and their effort because they love the state and they want to make sure the state is protected. And that’s our job to do. So you put that uniform on, you’re ready to go, and that’s why we’re trained and that’s why we’re ready
Jean Marciniak (33:34):
Again, general thank you for your service. You’re not only doing your law enforcement service, but you’re also doing your military service. So double thank you.
Major General Leon Lott (33:46):
Well, thank you.
Jean Marciniak (33:47):
Thank you for coming on this show. I really, really appreciate it. And thank you also for all the actions you have been doing with the South Carolina State Guard. We’ve been monitoring what you’ve been doing for the South Carolina State Guard for the last couple of years, and every time I read press releases and news, it really surprises me the leading role that you guys take. So it’s really incredible
Major General Leon Lott (34:14):
And again, I’m going to give a lot of credit to our governor. It starts at the top, and if you’ve got a commander in chief like we do with our governor who believes in you, then you’re going to get support and you’re going to be used, and I think that’s very important.
Jean Marciniak (34:29):
Alright, awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate it general. Have a good day. Thank you Cat. You too.
