FORT JACKSON, S.C. -- By this time next week, for the first time in nearly three decades, Col. Jeffrey Sanderson, Fort Jackson’s chief of staff, will wake up and not know what to wear.

The career Soldier, most often simply referred to as “the chief,” will officially retire this fall after nearly a lifetime of service that began when he was just a teen.

“I’ve been doing this since I was 17,” said Sanderson, who joined the North Carolina National Guard in 1979 and entered active duty upon his graduation from Western Carolina University in 1984.

For three of those years, Sanderson has sat in the southeast corner of the “White House,” as Post Headquarters is often called, his window giving him a daily view of our nation’s colors.

“Every day for three years, I have turned and faced that window to retreat,” he said. “I’ll miss that. I’ll miss hearing a good cadence (but) more than anything, I’ll miss the people.”

He will also miss putting on that uniform each day.

“One of the most stressful days of the week for me is Sunday,” he said jokingly, explaining how his 16-year-old son, Jake, a budding clotheshorse, sometimes helps him pick out the right tie for church.

The chief of staff in any organization generally serves as a senior aide to the leader of that organization, in this case the commanding general. That person is most often responsible for the organization’s day-to-day operations, meaning his or her hands are in several pots. And Sanderson freely admits that he tended to “micromanage” some projects, keeping his hands in pots throughout post to ensure that he accomplished his task of carrying out the commanding general’s mission.

Some of those pots include First Lady Michelle Obama’s visit to Fort Jackson, as does his assembling of the “G-staff.”

But Sanderson’s Top 3, those things in which he takes much pride, are: the Medical Simulation Training Facility, the Family Life and Resiliency Center and the Basic Combat Training Museum, which is scheduled to open July 1.

As if underscoring his want for perfection and passion for those projects, he mentions that the last time he passed by the FLRC, the grass was a bit too high for his taste.

“I’ll go out there and mow it myself if I have to,” he said.

That’s typical for the chief; not just overseeing a standard, but living it. But growing up in Waynesville, N.C., with a father and numerous uncles who served their country in the military, it is hard not to develop a tough work ethic.

When Sanderson’s father came to Fort Jackson in 1942, the World War II tanker’s training in the hot South Carolina sun consisted of carrying a 4x4 piece of wood (there was no rifle to give him) as he and his fellow troops marched to Camden.

That was innovation; a lack of which is something that Sanderson says troubles him.

“I’m (afraid) that we are becoming a spoiled Army,” he said. “We are going to have to get our mission done, whether the resources are there or not. That’s our ethos. As an Army, sometimes we need to focus on our needs, not our wants.”

Despite that, there are many things in which Sanderson takes great pride.

“I’m proud of the outright dedication of our noncommissioned officers. There’s no quit in them. They’re not afraid of hard work. They are the hallmark of the Army.”

He also thinks the way Fort Jackson is turning civilians into Soldiers is right on the money.

The training is to make sure “that Soldiers have the technical skill set to fight and win. Not just fight; fight and win. These battalion commanders have a laser focus on the right things: basic rifle marksmanship, physical training, medical training and values.”

That proper training comes from one thing, Sanderson said.

“There’s no substitute, absolutely no substitute, for strong, positive leadership,” he said, quickly offering a correction when the quote repeated back to him is missing the word “positive.”

That word, he said, makes all the difference.

“Negative leadership doesn’t get you anywhere,” he said.

Though retiring from the Army, Sanderson isn’t going far; he and his family have a 6-acre farm in Hopkins that will give him plenty to work on.

“I enjoy manual labor, I enjoy working with my hands.”

The house is also his chance to give his wife the house she’s wanted since he told her nearly three decades ago they would be living on the beaches of Savannah, Ga. Sanderson and his wife, Teresa, will celebrate a quarter of a century of marriage in December.

“I have drug her all over the nation. I have put her through two wars,” he said. “The true, great strength of our Army, I think, is our spouses.”

Besides working on his house, Sanderson will go to work with the S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles.

“I have just had a tremendously blessed career,” he said. “While I love the Army, there’s just a calling in me (that) it’s time to do something different.”

As he prepares to trade his “green” suit for a white collar and watch the flag go down for the last time outside his window, the one thing he won’t leave behind are the friendships he has made and the pride he has in those hardworking civilians and Soldiers who work day-to-day to keep this post running.