A little over five years ago, Maj. Gen. Richard Neely took the Illinois National Guard flag in a chain of command ceremony.

On May 4, Neely, the adjutant general for Illinois and commander of the Illinois National Guard, will be giving the flag back, marking his retirement from the military after nearly 40 years of service.

“It’s the symbology of one leader giving the flag up and one leader taking the flag,” Neely said, referring to his successor, Maj. Gen. Rodney Boyd, the assistant adjutant general. “One…of my priorities was to ensure the continuity of leadership.

“Our organization won’t miss a beat when that flag is passed.”

The appointment of Boyd by Gov. JB Pritzker, who serves as commander-in-chief of the Illinois National Guard, makes history.

The Chicago native will be the first Black officer and person of color to command the guard, which includes about 13,000 soldiers and airmen and about 2,500 other federal and state employees.

Neely, a 57-year-old native of Easton, about an hour northwest of Springfield, has presided over one of the busiest times in the 301-year history of the Illinois National Guard.

Col. Bradford Leighton, a spokesman for the Illinois National Guard, pointed out that personnel supported 17 different domestic operations in 2020 and 2021. During the previous decade, it supported 13 domestic responses.

Addressing COVID

The largest domestic operation activation in Illinois National Guard history came in response to the COVID pandemic. That’s when personnel performed 250,000 tests, delivered 8 million masks and administered 2 million vaccines.

“We’re not always the experts,” Neely admitted, “but we can help with large tasks. We can organize. We can prepare large logistics issues. That’s what COVID brought us.”

With testing and later with vaccinations, the Guard became a model for delivery.

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“I was happy I was the one in the seat during COVID because it was a significant event,” Neely said. “I thought my experience helped me step through that process. We had a good team, but leadership needs to understand it quickly, make decisions and move out on things.”

Deploying around the world

For the last two decades, the Illinois National Guard has been more of “an operational reserve (where in the past we were considered a strategic reserve,” Neely said.

That means personnel are deployed all the time.

“At any one time, 8 to 10% of 13,000 soldiers and airmen are deployed around the world doing global operations,” Neely said. “Before 9/11, that wasn’t so much the case.”

During Neely’s tenure, there have been almost 5,000 personnel federally deployed to 21 countries.

There’s a large presence in Eastern Europe, including Poland, “to ensure violence doesn’t extend out of Ukraine,” Neely said.

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The Illinois National Guard has had a relationship with the Polish military for 30-plus years through the State Partnership Program developed with Poland 30 years ago. It came about, Neely said, because of the Chicago area’s large Polish population.

While there are over 100 partnerships in 87 different countries, the Guard and Poland can claim “the gold standard,” Neely said.

Several years ago, Poland started a Territorial Defense Force, a light version of a National Guard, and Poles have been studying in Springfield to see how the Illinois National Guard trains its soldiers and officers.

In 2022, Neely was awarded the Polish Commanders Cross with Silver Star Order of Merit by President Andrjez Duda.

“The recognition was about the entire organization,” Neely said.

In retirement

Neely said he started his military career “at the very bottom,” joining the Army Reserves the summer before his senior year of high school.

Neely, who later slid over to the Air Force side of the Illinois National Guard, joked that the military is “the family business.” Neely’s identical twin brother served in the military as did Neely’s three kids.

Admittedly, he never envisioned sitting in the adjutant general’s seat.

“This is me winning the Lotto 10 times over to be able to lead at the end of my career,” Neely said.

A cybersecurity expert, Neely said he envisioned doing some national security work on the side in retirement.

“But it won’t be full time,” he said. “I promised my family I would pull back on the throttle.”

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.