East Laurens Middle principal returns from tour of service in Kuwait

East Laurens Middle School principal Jamie Lawhorn was around to see his students at the end of this school year, unlike 2023 when he was deployed for a 10-month tour in Kuwait.

It was all because Lawhorn, a West Laurens High School graduate, has been with the Army Reserves for 23 1/2 years, joining in January 2001. When he graduated from Georgia Southern, Lawhorn had a lot of student loan debt. Both of his brothers had been in the Marines. 

“I talked with the recruiter and I intended to enlist,” he said. “They had offered me a lot of different jobs until they found out I was color blind.”

Instead of going into the military, Lawhorn was encouraged to become a teacher at the Wrightsville Youth Development Campus (YDC). After working there for one year, he was transferred to the Eastman YDC where he would be for another six years. His principal at the Eastman YDC encouraged Lawhorn to join the Army Reserves.

“The reserve recruiter worked in the same office as the Army recruiter. He said I could join the reserves. I didn’t think I wanted to do it at the time, but my principal encouraged me to do it so I joined as a mechanic.” 

And he moved up the ranks from there to where he is currently a lieutenant colonel. During his recent deployment he was a battalion commander for a support battalion. He left on May 17, 2023, and returned the first week of last March.

“I finished most of everything last year before I left,” Lawhorn said. “Assistant principal Brandi Purser had to do the end-of-the-year meeting. She came back this year and was basically the principal until I came back.”

She also had help from assistants Jimmy Williams and Joel Watson.

“I have known them for a long time, and they are great guys who know people in the community,” Lawhorn said. “It was good that they were retired and able to help us.” 

Laurens County Superintendent Clifford Garnto and Lawhorn go back many years.

“We’re proud of him and what’s he has done in the military,” Garnto said. “He’s continued to advance his career in the military and the Laurens County School System. It’s just a testament of what kind of employee he is and what he’ll bring to the table for us. He wrestled for me in my first two years of coaching. He taught for me at West Laurens High School and did a phenomenal job there. He always did a fantastic job on anything he’d put his hands on. Any project you put him on, he’ll get it completed with great accuracy.”

Before going to Kuwait, Lawhorn was in Texas for a couple of weeks. He arrived in Kuwait the week of June 12, 2023. They lived in housing units that were like shipping containers. 

“Living conditions were not terrible. We’ve been partnering with Kuwait since 1991. I had soldiers all over southwest Asia. I had about 35 Department of Army civilians who are under me. We had about 10,000 contractors that our 35 civilians were responsible for. We have a pretty good partnership with them. We were allowed to go off-post for dinner or whatever until Oct. 7. After Oct. 7, they kind of shut us down.” 

This was when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel.

“The risk was a little much for us,” Lawhorn said. “They shut us down for a few months.

Israel is on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula. 

“Kuwait is our logistical hub for all of Southeast Asia.  Most everything that goes to Iraq, Syria or Qatar or to any of our soldiers comes to Kuwait. We store it and ship it out. Tensions were high. When I got there in June, there was not a lot going on. Part of our mission was to provide support for the Afghan refugees, the ones that the U.S. government was sponsoring to leave Afghanistan and either repatriate to the United States or to somewhere else in the world. That mission went through Qatar and it was our main focus.” 

After Oct. 7, this continued to be their mission, along with the added assignment of supporting Israel.

“We increased our own force protection because when we support Israel there are sometimes bad actors in the area who want to take shots at us.” 

Lawhorn has been deployed to to Iraq twice and Afghanistan before going to Kuwait last year. 

“They don’t eat like we do, but they had some Western stuff because there are thousand of U.S. soldiers in Kuwait. They have McDonald’s and some other things off-post that are not exactly like it is here but similar.” 

He was able to talk with his family, something that has changed throughout his different deployments.

“When I deployed in 2005, the internet was a new thing.We had to go to internet cafes and had to use phone cards to call home. But now I had wifi or my cellphone the whole time. I talked with my wife and kids almost every day. The time difference was the only thing that got me.” 

Kuwait is about eight hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. “A lot of times when I was available to talk, they would either be at work, school or asleep.”  

Just before returning to the U.S., Ronda Hightower, the associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction for elementary schools, was hired as the superintendent in Montgomery County. Lawhorn applied for her position and will begin working in the central office on July 1.

“Here as the principal, I make about 100 decisions a day about different things,” Lawhorn said. “At the district office, I think the decisions are bigger but fewer. It’s more strategic, and I’m looking forward to that. I’ll help decide who the next principals will be and helping to decide what the education in Laurens County will look like for the next decade.” 

Garnto knows Lawhorn will do things differently than Hightower. 

“He has that military background and he’ll bring a different perspective,” Garnto said. “He’s been a principal and been able to supervise teachers and dealt with parents in positive and negative situations. He has always done a fine job taking after issues and working things out for students and parents and doing what is best for kids.” 

Memorial Day falls around graduations and Lawhorn’s birthday, making it one of his favorite times of the year.

“This is a time for patriotic people,” Lawhorn said. “It is also, in the school business in Laurens County, near graduation. We have all of these things at about the same time and it’s very exciting. Memorial Day is a good time for me to remember the people I served with and some of the people – like my father and grandfather – who served before me.” 

In terms of service, Lawhorn does not plan to slow down just yet.

“I’ve been teaching school and in the Army Reserves for about the same time. I don’t know how much longer I’ll do these. I’ll probably do both until it’s not fun anymore,” he said.