In 1952, just married and a recent graduate of Berea College, Forrest Jarrett from Madison County was drafted. While serving in the army in the Mojave Desert during a training exercise, he broke his back and was in a full-body cast for a month. He was discharged by the army in May 1953. Crippled, he was not able to return and take up farming and ranching in Madison County like his family had done for decades. He was married with a toddler to care for so he started looking for a job.

Jarrett's father's good friend, Jesse James Bailey-Southern Railway division chief in Asheville, and former Madison and Buncombe County sheriff- helped him and his first job was a relief watchman and then soon as a patrolman. Jarrett spent 37-years as the chief policeman for Southern Railway and Norfolk Southern in 20 states and the District of Columbia.