Richard J. Hayes Jr. is a retired U.S.

Army National Guard The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized Militia (United States), militia force and a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States A ...

officer, who served as the

Adjutant General of Illinois The adjutant general of Illinois is the senior officer of the Illinois Army National Guard, Illinois Air National Guard, and state defense forces of Illinois. The Illinois Naval Militia was also part of the adjutant general's command, until it was ...

. He was appointed by

Governor of Illinois The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois, and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by p ...

Bruce Rauner Bruce Vincent Rauner (; born February 18, 1956) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who served as the 42nd governor of Illinois from 2015 to 2019. Prior to his election, he was the chairman of R8 Capital Partners and chai ...

in 2015. As Adjutant General, Hayes served as the highest-ranking member of the

Illinois National Guard The Illinois National Guard comprises both Army National Guard and Air National Guard components of Illinois. As of 2013, the Illinois National Guard has approximately 13,200 members. The National Guard is the only United States military force emp ...

. He serves as the Director of the Illinois Department of Military Affairs in the Governor's Cabinet and is the principal advisor on military matters for the Governor, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Guard.

Military career

Hayes joined in the

Reserve Officer Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

. He received his commission as a Second Lieutenant in 1987. Upon release from Active Duty Hayes joined the

Kansas Army National Guard The Kansas Army National Guard is a component of the Army National Guard and the Kansas National Guard. Kansas Army National Guard units are trained and equipped as part of the United States Army. The same ranks and insignia are used and Nation ...

's First Battalion, 127th Field Artillery Regiment. Lieutenant Hayes then transferred to the Illinois Army National Guard's Second Battalion, 122nd Field Artillery Regiment, two years later. In March 1992, he was promoted to the rank of captain and later assumed command of C Battery, based in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. By October 1994, Captain Hayes was assigned to the battalion's headquarters where he served as the logistics officer (S4) and later served as planning and operations officer (S3) until he became

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer, o ...

in 1999. Three years later, Hayes became commander of the 2nd Battalion, 122nd Field Artillery Regiment, based in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois, and was promoted to

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

.MG Richard J. Hayes, Jr. After leading a reinforced Task Force 122 in October 2005, the state's contribution to the relief efforts in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, Louisiana, after

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

and

Hurricane Rita Hurricane Rita was the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Gulf of Mexico and the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. Part of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which included three of the top ten L ...

, Hayes became Assistant Chief of Staff, G3 Operations, for the 35th Infantry Division, based in

Fort Leavenworth Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., an ...

, Kansas, two months later.

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

Hayes was deployed to Kosovo for a year in 2007–2008 where he served as the Deputy Commander for Maneuver of

Task Force Falcon Task Force Falcon has been the name of several United States Army Task forces. Kosovo Task Force Falcon, a brigade-sized task force, was created on 9 June 1999 under the command of Brigadier General Bantz John Craddock using selected elements ...

, of the Multinational Task Force-East. He then became the Director of Operations (J3), of the Joint Force Headquarters, Illinois National Guard, based in

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

. In 2010, Hayes assumed command of the 129th Regiment (Regional Training Institute). In August 2012, Colonel Hayes was promoted to

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

and became Director of the Joint Staff. Less than a year later, he was concurrently assigned as the Deputy Adjutant General. He was relieved as the Director of the Joint Staff in February 2015 and was assigned as the Assistant Adjutant General – Army. On 8 June, Governor Rauner appointed him as the state's Adjutant General and he was promoted to major general on 5 August. Hayes retired on March 9, 2019.

Civilian career

Hayes has spent 27 years in the engineering and construction industries.

Personal life

Hayes graduated in 1986 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in geography from the University of Kansas. He received a

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

in Management from the

Touro University International Trident University International is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit Online education, online university based in Cypress, California. It is a member of the American InterContinental Unive ...

in 2003. He also received a Master of Strategic Studies from the

United States Army War College The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army educational institution in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on the 500-acre (2 km2) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instruction to senior military offic ...

in 2007.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hayes, Richard Living people United States Army generals National Guard (United States) generals Recipients of the Legion of Merit Adjutants General of Illinois University of Kansas alumni United States Army Command and General Staff College alumni Year of birth missing (living people)