Jamaal Bess was nearing the end of his six-year stint with the Army Reserves and considering whether to re-up the commitment.

A Monday phone call changed his perspective.

The Jackson-Olin head football coach is being deployed overseas for the next 400 days.

“This is unexpected,” said Bess, who was starting his second season as the Mustangs head coach. “I knew it was a possibility, but it was confirmed Monday. They transferred me to a different unit so it kind of crept up on me.”

Bess works with a horizontal construction unit that performs a multitude of duties.

“We operate on heavy duty equipment, bulldozers, high demolition builds, highways and they got a carpentry part of the unit,” Bess said. “Also, it depends on the particular mission, drainage and all that good stuff.”

With Bess gone, the new coach has yet to be determined.

Bess guided the Mustangs to a 4-7 record last season with a first round playoff loss. With his departure, Jackson-Olin will be playing under it’s third coach in three years.

Tim Vakakes compiled a 49-45 record in nine seasons before taking over the Spain Park program in 2022. Bess followed.

“This team here, shoot this has been a lot of sleepless nights because they work so hard,” Bess said. “We’ve developed a pretty strong relationship. We spent a whole lot of time together and, when they get comfortable, it’s another man got to get up and leave kind of a deal.

“With (Vakakes) leaving, they dealt with that tough — him being here so long, doing a great job that he did — but this is another coach getting up and leaving, out the building, even though it was for a different reason,” Bess said. “Kids, they don’t always know the purpose or the reason why you’re doing it. They just see the fact that you’re leaving, and I just want to reiterate to my guys and that I love my boys. I love my team. I love my school and they’re on my mind and I hate to leave them.

“But you know, I got to do what I got to do.”

Bess is from a military family and considered joining active duty following high school, but earned a scholarship to play football at Rhode Island. He joined the reserves after college.

The deployment is tough for Bess. He leaves Friday.

“I stay prayed up and I know God makes no mistakes,” Bess said. “It’s providing an opportunity for me to do something I’ve always wanted to do and it’s tough, especially having to leave my school, my job. I go to work every day loving what I do with the people that I work with. And I work with the best of the best and I have the opportunity to serve for the best of the best. So it’s kind of bittersweet, to be quite honest.”

This story will be updated.