You could say that Hayden Collins is from Sebree, Kentucky. You could say he’s from a lot of places, as his military family moved numerous times during his childhood. About 120 miles southwest of Louisville in rural western Kentucky, Sebree is where the Collins family farm was located. As one of seven children, Hayden grew up in a small town where neighbors counted on each other for help during the hard times and for having fun in good times. Learning from schoolteachers, church leaders, peers and from conversations with family members gave him an example of the strong family and community values that he has carried with him. Of the 133 members of his high school graduating class, most stayed in the Webster County area.

But not Hayden. After starting his own Army career, Hayden was enrolled in a number of colleges due to assignments and deployments. He persevered and completed his bachelor’s degree in Business & Entrepreneurship at Reinhardt College in 1991. In 2009 Hayden would go on to earn a Masters of Arts in Leadership degree at Shorter College in Rome, Georgia.

Hayden’s service in the U.S. Army Reserve with the 791st Transportation Battalion in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the late 1980s included deployments to Germany and South America. In 1991 he volunteered as the Nuclear Biological Chemical Non-Commissioned Officer and requested to be transferred to the 180th Transportation Company of Muskegon, Michigan – which was scheduled for immediate deployment to Desert Shield. It was as a Sergeant with this unit that Hayden served as the Chemical Recon Leader in the Desert Shield and Desert Storm missions in the Persian Gulf for training  and protection against chemical threats. Hayden’s assignments included the 401st and later the 314th Chemical Company and the 18th   Airborne Corps support detachment for Chemical Air Mobile Operations.

After years of service and numerous missions, Hayden accepted a commission from the State of Georgia. As Second Lieutenant Collins. Hayden took a commission with Georgia Department of Defense in April of 2004 and immediately assumed company command.  He has been a Company Commander,   Battalion Commander and now serves in 1^st Brigade as a Training and Operations Officer.

Drawing on his experiences in the service with nuclear equipment and standards, Hayden obtained a position with the Nuclear Service Division of Westinghouse. A Westinghouse Award recognized his design work and documentation on various components of their hardware and software systems and standards for Total Quality and Service in 1996. While with Westinghouse, Hayden also performed on-site safety system testing in client-owned nuclear power stations throughout the United States, Europe, and South America.

For the past 11 years, Hayden has worked as facility analyst for engineering and systems consulting firm in Stone Mountain. Performing building inspections as part of an intensive assessment to determine their condition, and how to upgrade and maintain them, Hayden has worked with clients including major universities across the country (such as Harvard, University of Southern California, University of Chicago), federal government clients including Department of Energy sites and Department of Defense bases, and also various state facilities which include prisons, police stations, fire stations and nuclear power stations. In addition to assessing the buildings themselves, he also develops studies of how they are used and how they meet the clients’ needs.

It was at Southwestern Michigan College that Hayden and Sandra met in 1990. Sandra had grown up in Texas, also in a military family. Hayden and Sandra were married in Michigan on March 20th 1992, and they moved to Georgia upon his return from the Desert Shield and Desert Storm missions, buying a property in Cartersville where they built their home.

In1994 they established a Foster Adoptive home here. In the last fifteen years, 138 children have been a part of their home – including both short term and long term placements – and they have officially adopted four of them. As a result of their experience and commitment to these children, often their home was referred for difficult cases, such as children who have been born with drug addictions or have been abused or abandoned.

Currently three of the children who have been part of their home are enrolled at Northwest Georgia Military, and two are in the service, at Ft Carson and in Afghanistan.

Hayden has written a book called Look What I Brought Home describing life in their foster home.

And Hayden serves as a Boy Scout Leader for Troop 157 in Cartersville, and as the Emergency Services Officer for the Civil Air Patrol’s Flying 129th of Bartow County (and as the State of Georgia’s Cadet Advisor for all members of the Cadet Advisory Council).

There are some pictures of Hayden in these various uniforms on the living room walls. But most of his neighbors see in him in sweats as he runs PT in the mornings with some of his boys.

When you do see Hayden in uniform, he may be making a presentation at a Boy Scout ceremony, walking in a local parade or participating in a community
event. But what you don’t see is Hayden helping a neighbor in trouble, or providing family support for the spouses and children of soldiers serving overseas.

For Hayden, this kind of service comes from everything he’s seen, and from what he’s known about his fellow man. From his father, a World War II veteran, Hayden learned about setting a high standard and living up to it. In his first Army experiences of a world in transition, in the turbulent Europe of the Reagan era, Hayden saw an opportunity. “There is an example we should set in the U.S. that is not set overseas. I know we can do better, and for that I set the example.”

In addition to being a role model in his community, Hayden has also played a role in recent legislation in the State of Georgia. Drawing on his and Sandra’s experience as foster parents, they have influenced bills that allow juvenile courts to hold open hearings to provide greater public participation and accountability, as well as changes in the administrative structure of Georgia’s Department of Human Resources for better communication and compliance, as well as more effective management and oversight to the Department of Family and Children Services.

And from Hayden’s experiences across the country and around the world, he brings a perspective to the life in his community, and a vision of how it can be better. You won’t see a stuffed shirt, or hear him name-dropping about the places and people he’s seen. You will see Hayden with his coffee, asking how your family is doing and talking about the successes of the Bartow County kids he’s coached, advised, mentored. And you will see young men and women who have an inspiration, a higher standard of their own, from what they’ve learned from Hayden Collins.