Former Dublin Coffman High School football quarterback Chad Jenkins catches us up on his life since graduation – playing college football, fighting a war and starting his own company.
Dublin Life: When did you live in Dublin?
Chad Jenkins: I grew up in Dublin. I was born in 1979 and I lived there until I was 17 years old when I graduated from high school. My wife was born at her parents’ house right off of Dublin Road. We’re both Dublin, Ohio natives through and through. My mom and dad and two sisters still live in Dublin.
DL: Where did you attend school and when did you graduate?
CJ: I went to Dublin Coffman. (Dublin) Scioto (High School) wasn’t done yet; that split happened my sophomore year. I graduated in 1997. I played football and lacrosse.
DL: Where did you attend college?
CJ: I was recruited by West Point to play football (quarterback) my senior year of high school. Army had a pretty good football team that year. I went to the United States Military Academy Preparatory School for a year and then on to West Point. Typically that’s not the right reason to go to the Academy, but over the five years I had at West Point, I fell in love with the military and all the values that it instills in you.
DL: Why did you decide on West Point over other colleges?
CJ: I’ve never really been a long-term planner. I’m more of a “seize the moment” type, which probably drives my wife (Emily Jenkins, née Kiehborth) a little crazy. At the same time, I knew after graduating from West Point I had five years in the Army to do Army stuff, to do macho stuff. To a 17-year-old high school kid that’s appealing. It gives you a time to mature, but you’re still given leadership roles. Successful companies like to pluck military grads and put them in the pipeline for their leadership positions. It was kind of a great fit for me, really, because it made the decision (about what to do with my life) for me.
DL: What have you been up to since college?
CJ: I graduated from West Point in 2002, and then I had five years of active duty service in the Army. I served four deployments to Iraq when I was in the army. I was an infantry officer – so that is leading your ground troops in combat – and within the infantry I ran a yearlong deployment with the 10th Mountain Division, and then I had three more deployments with the 75th Ranger Regiment, 2nd Battalion.
In 2007, we moved back to Powell for about two years, and then I went ahead and joined the FBI. The FBI is how we got to Florida. We moved here in 2009, and I worked out of the West Palm Beach office. My focus was counterterrorism. I was part of the Joint Terrorism Task Force. I recently departed the FBI and started my own security business, the Jenkins Group. I have a 6-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old son.
DL: How did you get involved in the book All American: Two Young Men, the 2001 Army-Navy Game and the War They Fought in Iraq?
CJ: The author, Steve Eubanks, is a journalist. He covers college football and golf … and he wanted to cover one Army football player and one Navy football player. There are plenty of war books, … but he wanted to kind of capture a college football scene and then going into the military. He sought out both academies’ athletic departments to help him determine who his subjects would be and I was contacted by the Army Athletic Association to see if I would be the Army subject.
DL: What kind of attention have you received since the book’s release in October?
CJ: There have been interviews – live radio interviews on The Dennis Miller Show. NPR news covered the story as well leading up to this year’s Army-Navy game. Steve, the author, does a lot more interviews. He’s a great guy. It’s now in print, so there’s no hiding. It’s all a matter of perspective. There are several who I served with who are still in the military, the ones who continue to willingly do so. There’s too much of me in the book and not enough of them.
DL: What did you like about living in Dublin?
CJ: I love Dublin. It’s a great atmosphere to grow up in. You don’t appreciate it until you leave, you realize, ‘Wow, I was so lucky and fortunate to grow up there.’ And once I departed and lived all over the country, I really then truly appreciated where I came from. Jupiter, Fla. (where I live now) has very similar values and atmosphere to Dublin. ... We fell in love with it, and I think it’s because it reminds us quite a bit of Dublin. We’re fortunate that we’ve found a location so similar to Dublin down here in Jupiter.
