Becomes top Illinois Army National Guard Logistics Sergeant Major, Cicero Police Sergeant.
RANTOUL, Illinois – In the early 1990s, Jose Sanchez was a teen hanging with a crowd that had him headed to jail, or worse, and then he got in trouble with police as a juvenile.
“I was terrified. I didn’t know how to tell my parents,” Sanchez said. He was only 15.
Fast-forward nearly three decades later and now Sgt. Maj. Jose Sanchez has 26 years of service, is the top logistics noncommissioned officer in the Illinois Army National Guard, and is continuing a successful career as a Cicero Police Sergeant. He now leads his department’s Special Operations Division.
He’s deployed twice, from 2003 to 2004 for 16-months with the North Riverside-based 1244th Transportation Co., taking part in the invasion of Iraq. Then, from 2010 to 2011, he deployed again to Iraq with the 1244th. This time the unit was among the last units out of Iraq as they moved military equipment from Iraq to Kuwait.
He’s earned the Bronze Star, three Army Commendation Medals, and the Combat Action Badge. He led and mentored hundreds of soldiers in the North Riverside-based 198th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 108th Sustainment Brigade as the unit’s Command Sergeant Major for about two years, until being selected as the Illinois Army National Guard Headquarter’s G4 (Logistics) Sergeant Major in October. As the G4 Sergeant Major, he is the top logistics NCO in the ILARNG.
His rebound from a teenager standing before a juvenile court judge to an accomplished Army leader and civilian police officer started with Lincoln’s ChalleNGe Academy. He grew up in a rough neighborhood in Chicago, and then his parents moved the family to Maywood, which he said was just as bad. His parents worked all the time just to put food on the shelves – “and I was lying to them.”
Sanchez said his life could easily have gone in a completely different direction. He blew off his first court appearance – “I was being dumb,” he commented. He was summoned to court again, and this time he went.
“The judge asked me why I missed my first court date, and I just kind of shrugged my head,” Sanchez remarked. “Then he took me back” [to the jail cells]. “It changed my life completely.”
It was then Sanchez realized he did not want to go to jail. “I was scared. I thought I knew about things, but I did not.”
He got a second chance that led him to this new quasi-military program the Illinois National Guard was running called Lincoln’s ChalleNGe Academy.
“I had heard of it,” Sanchez said. “Back then it was a new place that just opened in 1993. Kids would go there to change their lives and get a better direction. I had never really considered anything military, but it was my best option for my future.”
Before he entered Lincoln’s ChalleNGe, Sanchez said his options seemed limited: “Where I come from, it seemed everyone either became a gang-banger or a factory worker, and that’s what they did their whole life.”
But one of the Lincoln’s ChalleNGe cadre, a military Staff Sergeant, saw something in Sanchez. “He said, ‘Look kid, just because you are from there, that is not who you are.’ He saw how the other cadets gravitated toward me. He told me ‘You’re a natural born leader.’”
When Sanchez arrived in Rantoul for the academy’s 22-week in-residence phase in 1995, he didn’t know what to expect.
“For a 16-year-old, it was a big step,” Sanchez said. “This was the first time I would have been away from home. I spoke with my parents, and this was the path I was going to take.”
The military environment took some adjustment.
“It was a total shock at first,” Sanchez continued. “There were all these different kids from everywhere. There were cadre in their military uniforms yelling at us. For some, it was a hard time to adjust. Once I got used to the routine and structure, I knew this was a challenge I could take on. It wasn’t scary anymore.”
As the days passed, he learned what he needed to do to graduate. The schedules, discipline, marching, morning physical training – it was all part of a program meant to build resilience and character in these young men and women.
“We’d call the cadences while marching, do the (physical training), and go to school, but one of the things that really had an effect on me was the cadre,” he said. “They were there with us every day. They became our support and foundation.”
To this day, Sanchez models some of the leadership he learned from Lincoln’s ChalleNGe Academy cadre. Whenever he visits the battalion’s companies, he’s known to huddle up with the NCOs to learn firsthand from them – what are their concerns, their complaints, their ideas – how can he better support them as the battalion commander’s senior enlisted advisor?
Like the Command Sergeant Major, the Lincoln ChalleNGe cadre start off tough, but the cadets soon learn they care about each of them.
“Those examples of leadership were a turning point. I was successful because my cadre looked out for me and helped me along the way,” Sanchez continued. “Some days they were tough because they needed to be, but they were there for everyone.”
Sanchez graduated from Lincoln’s ChalleNGe in January 1996, one of 343 graduates in Class 5. He became Command Sergeant Major of the 198th CSSB in February 2022. While there was a lot of growth and development between graduating from LCA and becoming a battalion CSM, the academy gave him a good foundation to continue to develop his leadership skills.
Sanchez said that as a Sergeant he led by example by being a hard worker. As a Staff Sergeant and a Sergeant First Class, he was a disciplinarian enforcing the standards.
“After E-7, that’s when I really learned to become a servant leader. We are here to serve soldiers, not the other way around,” he said and still enforces the standards and has learned to listen to soldiers. “You never know what’s going on in a soldier’s life unless you listen and have some empathy.”
Lt, Col. Danielle Price, the Commander of the 198th CSSB, said Sanchez gave her “different lenses” to look at issues that required her command decisions. She gave an example of an NCO in a subordinate company who was having issues with his military obligations. “He told me the behavior was uncharacteristic of that NCO.” As the command team delved into the problem, they found the NCO was struggling with personal issues Price said were “detrimental and, in fact, catastrophic.”
Together they helped get the soldier the resources needed to assist with the personal issues, and the NCO’s military performance has improved. “He helped get him on the right track and now he is in much better standing with his unit leadership,” Price noted. “The soldier felt we were not giving up on him, and that meant a lot to him and his family.”
Price said Sanchez is humble and willing to share his experiences and struggles with his soldiers. During the “Restore Trust” initiative, he shared his experiences with counter-productive leadership and mistreatment based on discrimination. Price continued, “He’s very relatable and willing to step out of his comfort zone. He builds trust with the enlisted soldiers and NCOs.”
Sanchez said graduating from LCA, meeting that challenge, gave him a sense of accomplishment.
“My family was proud of me. I was proud of me,” Sanchez remarked. “After everything I experienced, it gave me a different direction. I decided to join the Illinois Army National Guard.” Approximately one year after graduation, Sanchez enlisted in the Illinois Army National Guard as a motor transportation specialist.
“Going into Basic Training – everything felt familiar,” Sanchez noted. “The structure, routine, and leadership – I felt like this was a natural step for me.”
Sanchez has served in many positions. He was the First Sergeant for the 1744th Transportation Company for more than five years after serving in the 1244th Transportation Company for the first 19 years of his career. But as a Sergeant in the 1244th, Sanchez was at a crossroads in his service and said: “Honestly, I had some crappy leadership. I had some who were telling me not to go to (leadership) schools, that they needed me too much at (annual training). They were setting me up for failure.”
Then he met Capt. Shawn Nokes and 1st Sgt. Jeff Sima, the new command team of the 1244th Transportation Company. They changed the whole command climate. Nokes and Sima showed they cared and worked to help advance the careers of their soldiers. They got Sanchez into the schools he needed and got him promoted to Staff Sergeant.
“That’s a big reason I stayed in.”
Nokes would later serve as the Battalion Commander of the 198th CSSB with Sanchez as the Command Sergeant Major. Sima is a Brigade Command Sergeant Major.
“When I met Sgt. Maj. Sanchez, he told me about his experience in the Guard and his background,” said Nokes, who is now a Colonel and in command of the Springfield-based 129th Regiment (Regional Training Institute). Nokes said he learned about Sanchez’s experience in the academy and how it changed his life’s direction.
“His stories about the academy are incredible,” Nokes continued. “You have this place that works with youth. It brings them in and puts all this effort, guidance, and support to help the next generation. The academy has been around for 30 years, and there is a generation who are now leaders in our military and in our communities, all over the nation.”
Nokes said Sanchez’s experience shows the effect of what leadership, care, and support can produce.