U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 3

FROM “SPECIALIST” TO “LIEUTENANT,” BUT NOT WITHOUT INSULT

by Sharon Rondeau

(Apr. 30, 2018) — In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, Captain Gary Mason (retired) related his experience in the U.S. Army Infantry, which surprisingly included unexpected racism.

In 2000, Mason had already graduated from college with a degree in Communications when he decided to enter the service with a wife and child on the way. An Army veteran herself, Mason’s wife Shahnaaz was shocked when he returned from the recruiter’s office having enrolled in the infantry, which serves as the offensive front line in times of war.

He began his military career at Ft. Benning, GA and after Basic Training was transferred to Ft. Lewis, WA, now Joint Base Lewis-McChord following a merger with an Air Force base.

Mason recalled being completely unprepared for any racism in the service and that in the event complaints arose, they generally did not reach the company commanders, but were dealt with, to a greater or lesser degree, by a lieutenant or sergeant in charge of individual platoons.

During Basic Training, Mason was designated a unit leader and related in Part 1 how he formed a close friendship with a white soldier who had originally refused to take orders from him. Ironically, the drill sergeant who greeted him harshly upon his arrival at Ft. Benning enforced Mason’s authority, mandating to the recalcitrant soldier that racism would not be tolerated in the unit.

When he entered the Army, Mason’s intent had been to complete a four-year tour of duty and in the immediate, secure medical coverage for his pregnant wife. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars were not foreseeable, although Mason ultimately deployed to both countries following the 9–11 attacks.

While at Ft. Lewis, Mason said that as an enlistee who was older than most of the new arrivals, he “started becoming like a Robin Hood.” “I started intervening personally, because I was older and a little bit more mature, so I would try to break up the fights and guide some of the guys in the right direction,” he told The Post & Email. “Then finally, my platoon leader said, ‘Gary, you’re always trying to rescue people. You’re rubbing people the wrong way because every time something happens, you’re always trying to correct the matter. Have you ever thought about becoming a chaplain? You seem to be Christian but you’re in this infantry environment. They have a direct commissioning program to become a chaplain. Why don’t you just go ahead and become an officer; you’ve done your enlisted time. You’ll be more effective if you are in a position to counsel soldiers and make changes as a leader.”

He continued:

At first I took it as an insult, kind-of like, “Oh, I can’t be a good infantry leader and you want me to get out and go be a chaplain.” A lot of times, the infantry didn’t have much respect for chaplains because they’re not war fighters. They were a bit older and were not always respected because many were out of shape and had not spent time doing traditional “grunt” work.

At that point, I shared with my wife what some of the leadership was saying, and then I met a black chaplain over at a gospel service at the chapel. He said, “You have a degree? Then we could use you as a chaplain; it would be a direct commission to a captain. Why are you wasting your time with this enlisted stuff?”

In the beginning, I wasn’t thinking about a career in the Army. But my wife said, “Gary, it might not be a bad idea if you consider becoming a chaplain because you can help correct some of the wrongs you see in the Army. You can do things for the right reason, and that would be your job.”

So after consideration, I decided, “This is exactly what I think I should do. This might be my calling.” Lo and behold, I went back and took my ASVAB again to increase my GT (general technical) and scored high. I applied to get into the Chaplain Corps and I was accepted. I became a direct-commission second lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

Read the rest here: https://www.thepostemail.com/2018/04/30/u-s-army-veteran-shares-painful-experiences-of-military-racism-part-3/