Photo: CSM Michael Fowler, Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman, Col. Maxie Joye
By Valerie Sliker, Courtesy Wagener Monthly
The Wagener-Salley Academy of Leadership and Military Science, the official name for Wagener-Salley High School, has an outstanding Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) program (“War Eagle Battalion”) consisting of approximately 75 students (“cadets”) from both Wagener-Salley and Ridge Spring-Monetta. Wagener’s JROTC was started 13 years ago by Colonel (Retired) Maxie L. Joye, Senior Army Instructor and Command Sergeant Major (Retired) Michael L. Fowler, Army Instructor.
The War Eagle Battalion was one of two teams to finish the annual Superintendent’s Cup first, resulting in a tie and two Co-Champions. This was the second year for Aiken County to offer the challenge for the JROTC programs district-wide. The Superintendent’s Cup is an annual national color guard competition, marksmanship drill and athletic competition (tug-o-war, plank walks, relay races, etc.), and it was held at Wagener-Salley this year. The event honors the SC Superintendent of Education, Molly Spearman.
When I spoke with Col. Joye, he and several cadets had just returned from the annual JROTC Cadet Leadership Challenge (JCLC) at Fort Jackson. This is a nationwide summit camp for cadets with about 100 camps throughout the country, Fort Jackson being the largest. 758 cadets and 170 support personnel reported in this year. Our school has the added benefit of Col. Joye being the Commandant, a position he has held for the past eight years and CMS Fowler is also the Command Sergeant Major of the camp.
JCLC is a week-long camp that involves activities such as obstacle courses, rappelling, zip lines, high ropes, swimming, canoeing, orienteering, drill and ceremonies, and a variety of other team-building events that challenge cadets in a rigorous environment and develops their communication, leadership and social skills. There was a STEM block, as well, and the cadets were tested on SAT and ACT levels. During camp, the cadets use the dining facilities and barracks of Fort Jackson. Other than that, the camp is self-sufficient.
The JROTC program is not designed to draw kids into the military. JROTC is about citizenship, about developing a student’s citizenship capacity. It’s about discipline and leadership. It’s about participation, offering many areas for students to participate: drill meets, the rifle team, the color guard, saber teams, academic team and leadership teams. The War Eagle Battalion even had a chorus one year.
Col. Joye told me, “I am a mentor. My job is to facilitate the cadets in taking the lead and letting them lead their program. It’s tough sometimes because I am a Type A personality and I like things to be perfect. I have to step back sometimes. My way might be the right way, but in the long term, they have to learn. If they fail, we pick them up and let them try again. This is the best thing to let them learn and grow. That’s when I start seeing change in the kids. I’ve seen the growth among the kids where this has happened. For a student to take orders from another student…. That’s tough.
“This is the best program you can put your child in to get him or her integrated into the high school from the middle school.” Col. Joye continued, “Sometimes it’s a big transition. (As cadets) the day they arrive in class, they already belong to a group. They have senior students mentoring them, responsible for them.”
The JROTC activities bring a lot of families onto the school grounds and involves them in the programs. The Military Ball, First Stripe Night and Military Night at the football games all bring families to the school and promote family involvement.
Above that, the other program Col. Joye is proud of his cadets for is the Palmetto Pride litter clean-up campaign. In 2016, the education coordinator for Palmetto Pride awarded the War Eagle Battalion the 2016 Palmetto Pride Spirit Award. The Battalion also received an award for their participation in the Palmetto Pride Litter Free Games. Our Battalion is the only JROTC program in the state to participate in the Palmetto Pride Litter Free Games since it’s inception. They remain involved today.
Colonel Maxie Joye was born in Lee County, SC. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Physical Education from Saint Augustine’s University in 1978 and a Regular Army commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Transportation Corps. He later earned a Masters of Art in Management from Webster University and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Phoenix.
His military schooling includes the Command and General Staff College, the Logistics Executive Development Course, Combined Arms Services and Staff School, and Transportation Advanced and Basic Courses. COL Joye is also a graduate of the Department of the Army's Intern Program for Comptroller.
Col. Joye retired from the Army in 2005 as the Assistant Chief of Staff, Reserve Affairs, Fort Eustis, Virginia. His other assignments as an Active Guard Reserve Officer include Deputy Director for The Army School System Integration Element located at Fort Jackson, South Carolina; Mobilization Planner for Logistics, Fort Lewis, Washington; Chief, Operational Readiness Evaluation Team, 5th United States Army (Forward), Fort Lewis, Washington; and he served as the Assistant Professor of Military Science, Northwestern State University of Louisiana, Natchitoches, Louisiana.
In 2005, Col. Joye was offered an assignment at the Pentagon with the Army. Simultaneously, former WSHS Principal Dr. Yarborough offered him a job introducing the JROTC to Wagener-Salley. Joye could retire and come to work at the school or he could stay and work at the Pentagon. It had been a goal of his to work at the Pentagon.
Joye was living and working at Fort Eustis, the place he began his career as a second lieutenant and ended it 27 years later as a Colonel. He was driving home to Columbia for the weekend and ruminating about the jobs. “It was a bright sunny day,” he told me. “But I felt sick, uneasy. I stopped in Lumberton, NC, pulled off the road and as I sat there, I realized it was the job that was bothering me, going to the Pentagon, something wasn’t right. So I called my assignment officer and told her ‘Thank you, but I want out.’ She had me on hold for three minutes that felt like fifteen and then told me, ‘It’s done.’ I was no longer going to the Pentagon, I was retiring.
“The minute she said that, the spirit in me lifted, the uneasy feeling just lifted. I made the right decision. I wanted to be closer to my girls, to my family. Family is important to me. You never get that time back.”
Looking back, 13 years later, he is more convinced than ever. It was most definitely the right decision. His girls are grown, out of college and he has several grandchildren. Life is good.