GLEN JEAN, W.Va. - Described by his peers as an "easy to work with, West Virginia kinda guy," Lt. Col. Larry Boggs goes above and beyond to contribute to his community, state and the U.S. Army.
Boggs is currently managing Joint Interagency operations for the 2017 National Jamboree, which began July 19 and ends Friday. He knows firsthand the amount of work that goes into planning and executing an event like this.
"I've always been a planner and then when the event actually begins, I go into operations," said Boggs about the jamboree. "You wonder about the countless hours of planning and all the time that is consumed with making a viable plan just for a Scout jamboree."
Between working in the Joint Task Force, working as an operations member of the Joint Interagency Task Force and his day-to-day job, Boggs has somehow found the time to see the output of his team"s planning under his guidance.
"When you get to see that simple Scout jamboree, you see all those Scouts who are simply enjoying themselves," he said. "It's worth it."
Boggs said he's been blessed to be able to be in the right place at the right time to give back to Scouts, because he feels the Scouts have given him so much.
Discipline is one of the most important values he learned from the Scouts, and while serving as a company commander, he expected a level of discipline that was unheard of in his unit at the time.
"He put footprints on the floor and a handprint to knock on at the door and you would have to stand at the footprints before you could enter the office," said Sgt. 1st Class Steven P. Queen, operations noncommissioned officer of the 153rd Public Affairs Detachment. "For a National Guard unit, we were like, "Who's this guy?""
The answer to that question starts when he was 8 years old and joined the Boy Scouts in his hometown of Logan. Boggs said Scouting presented him with communication skills, challenging tasks to overcome and taught him how to enjoy an austere environment.
"In today's world, everyone is tied to their phones or videogame consoles and forgets how to communicate," said Boggs. "In the Boy Scouts, it's face to face."
Boggs said his time in the Boy Scouts taught him the fundamentals in leadership and core values that have molded him to be the leader he is today. He wonders what would be a better program to teach citizenship and a belief in God, both of which are two values that are important to him.
When he"s not planning for the Army, Boggs teaches and mentors as a scoutmaster to a local troop.
"I always think it's just a great opportunity to share with people your experiences so that in essence, you make those people better," said Boggs. "You're showing them the mistakes you made and hopefully they don't make those mistakes, or you're giving them different experiences that they would not normally get."
He told a story about being able to take an inner-city child into his troop, taught him how to build a fire and to build a simple campsite. He feels it invokes a strong sense of independence.
Brig. Gen. Harrison "H.B." Gilliam, joint chief of staff for the West Virginia National Guard, said his loyalty and work ethic are pretty much unmatched. He said Boggs volunteers in his community and is really involved with his two boys; he's a real solid person. He said Boggs is just an all-around good guy.
In his free time, Boggs enjoys fly fishing with his two sons. His sons also participate in the Boy Scouts and one of them recently became an Eagle Scout.
Looking forward to the future, Boggs is going to be the 2019 World Jamboree Joint Task Force lead planner. This event involves similar planning to the current jamboree, however, he and his team will work with the Scouting programs from Canada and Mexico and plans to host Scouts from over 160 countries.