Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Guard veterans tell of struggles

- DANIEL MCFADIN

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Retired Army Col. Nathaniel McGee choked up as he shared the decades-old story.

As a room full of dozens of people listened, McGee recalled an experience from when, as a young Black man, he first enlisted in the Arkansas Army National Guard in 1971 and was stationed with the Second Battalion in Brinkley.

“After I had made more than a half dozen trips, just to get into the armory where I had been denied several times admission, it took a lieutenant colonel from the selective service organizati­on here at Camp Robinson to finally gain me admittance,” McGee recalled. “In the process of being sworn-in, I was placed in a back office.

“Two doors were closed between me and the detachment commander, because he didn’t want to see me be sworn-in.”

McGee paused. “That was … that was deflating at the time,” McGee said. “And I didn’t realize how much it would affect me right now. Because those kinds of things you …. don’t forget, but you want to push it to the back of your mind because you don’t want that at the front of your mind in everything that you do.”

The history of African Americans in the Arkansas Army National Guard — both the good and the bad parts — was the center of attention Thursday.

A crowd gathered in the museum at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock to commemorat­e that history with a series of speeches by McGee and five other Black pioneers in the Arkansas National Guard.

The event also marked the release of a new book produced by the Guard titled “African American Pioneers: Untold Stories.”

The 168- page book includes biographie­s of many African American service members in the Arkansas National Guard, including the six who spoke Thursday.

In addition to McGee there was:

• Former Army Staff Sgt. Lillie Moore Carter, the first African-American female full-time employee in the Arkansas Army National Guard

• Retired Army Col. Burthel Thomas, the first African American to command a battalion in the Arkansas Army National Guard

• Retired Air Guard Maj. Magnolia Winkler, the Arkansas Air National Guard’s first African American female officer

• Retired Army Guard Chief Warrant Officer 4 Gregory Settles, the first African American to become a first sergeant and command sergeant major in the Arkansas Army National Guard

• Air National Guard Lt. Col. Phylinthia Givens, the first African American woman to make the rank of lieutenant colonel, and the first to serve as an inspector general in both the 189th Airlift Wing and 188th Wing

The speeches — filled with emotion, encouragem­ent and lessons — helped fill in the blanks of the matter-of-fact bios in the book.

McGee, who served for 34 years, shared another emotional story, this one from shortly after he was commission­ed.

At the time, those who had just been commission­ed were asked to fill out a “Dream Sheet,” writing out what their aspiration­s were for the National Guard.

“The thing that stood out in my mind was after I filled my sheet out, I was interviewe­d for over 2 ½ hours because I had…,” McGee trailed off again. “I stipulated that I wanted to be adjutant general. I was told by several people … ‘That is too high for you to aspire to. You need to think in terms of being promoted maybe to field grade if you’re lucky.’”

McGee would eventually become the first AfricanAme­rican colonel in the Arkansas Army National Guard and the first African American to command Camp Robinson, a role he held for five years starting in 1997.

In Winkler’s speech, the native of Wrightsvil­le chose to speak about lessons she’s learned in her time in the service rather than specific personal experience­s.

“God’s call to service always involves serving in low places before he can trust us to serve in high places,” Winkler said. “The issues of discrimina­tion and inequality arise when one who is biased is in a position to pick and choose who he wants to serve. Having served 15 years in enlisted ranks and 15 years in the officer ranks, I myself know that it’s not uncommon to find that after achieving levels of tech sergeant and major in the Air Guard, higher ranking slots are largely manipulate­d since these positions are fewer in number.

“Minority slots are up for grabs first. Especially, if you’re part- time. This can be very discouragi­ng, and it forces many to give up the fight.”

While the majority of the speeches focused on past struggles, accomplish­ments and military careers that were long over, Givens’ focused her time on the reminder that “the struggle is real and my struggle has been real.”

While Givens has been in the National Guard for 36 years, she has been a lieutenant colonel for 12.

“How did I get to be a lieutenant colonel for about 12 years [while], No. 1, never having command and No. 2, why haven’t I been promoted yet?” Givens posited. “I’ll tell anybody … make sure you check all the boxes that you can check. … You got to make sure you ask the right questions. You got to ask the hard questions. To be honest with you, I didn’t know what questions to ask, and you don’t know what you don’t know.”

Givens said she heeded career advice from mentors, going back to school to get her masters degree and then completing War College. But at one point she was denied a promotion to the rank of colonel.

“So now I checked off all the boxes that Phylinthia could check off. All the boxes that Phylinthia was responsibl­e for,” Givens said. “People will continue to tell you that your military career is in your hands. I beg to differ. Because now my military career is not in my hand. …

“I’m still stuck. So that’s why I tell you all the struggle is real. And even though in the military, as in the civilian world, us as African Americans, we’ve come a long way. But I’m gonna tell you this, I feel that we still have a long way to go.”

 ?? (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford) ?? Retired Army Col. Nathaniel McGee discusses his experience­s as the Arkansas Army National Guard’s first African-American colonel and first African American to command Camp Robinson in North Little Rock during a presentati­on in honor of Black History Month at Camp Robinson on Thursday.
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford) Retired Army Col. Nathaniel McGee discusses his experience­s as the Arkansas Army National Guard’s first African-American colonel and first African American to command Camp Robinson in North Little Rock during a presentati­on in honor of Black History Month at Camp Robinson on Thursday.

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