By Dave Dahl
CHATHAM – The new adjutant general of the Illinois National Guard is the first person of color to lead the organization.
Gen. Rodney Boyd, installed Saturday in a Springfield-area high school gym, is proud to break the glass ceiling.
“It’s also a way of showing how far we’ve come as an organization and as a state,” Boyd said in an interview before the ceremony, “that we are preparing people of color to take these very important roles within our organization and the other organizations within our state.”
Boyd, the product of Chicago public housing and son of a single mother, urged today’s young people who believe they have been given lemons to squeeze them and get an education.
“One day, like me, you’ll be drinking lemonade!”
Gen. Rich Neely is retiring to cap a forty-year military career.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]