African American Reservists play vital role in Gulf War - U.S. Army Reserve - Brief Article

Army Reserve Magazine, Summer, 2001 by Steven Alvarez

WASHINGTON--A little more than ten years ago, then Army reserve Sgt Pamela Davis stepped onto the sands of Saudi Arabia. It was Christmas day 1990 and her unit, the 411th Engineer Brigade from Brooklyn, NY, had been mobilized as part of Operation Desert Shield.

Although her boot imprints on the sands of Southwest Asia have long since been erased by time, the impact that Davis and other Army Reservists made on the Persian Gulf region and ultimately, on the world, are everlasting: a liberated, Kuwait and an adversary that was decimated.

Davis' contributions in the war might not have been possible more than 50 years ago because as an African American, her race was not given equal rights in the U.S. military until July 26, 1948 after President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981 requiring the armed forces to provide equal treatment and opportunity to African Americans: Forty years later, the once oppressed race played an instrumental role in liberating Kuwait from Iraqi occupation.

During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, African Americans composed roughly 25 percent of the Army Reserve. From that group, more than 28 percent deployed to the Persian Gulf region to support the coalition war effort.

Davis, now a sergeant first class with the Office of the Chief, Army Reserve, is proud of her war service, but like many reservists, she was surprised at the mobilization.

"I guess I never actually thought there would be a war. When people join the reserves or active component, war is never a thought," the 19-year Army Reserve veteran said. She spent four months deployed in the desert. After several weeks she realized that the reserve unit concept worked not just in theory, but also in reality. It was battle tested.

"A unit that only met once a month and that had to get fillers to help, got along during that time. No confrontations. We all got along like family," Davis said. "People are aware that being a reservist is more than just a person who goes one weekend a month and two weeks out of the year," she said. "They are actually trained to do the missions at the active duty level, in fact, there were people who realized, if the reserves were not called, the mission would not have been accomplished."

Camaraderie

Desert Storm veteran Master Sgt. Loretta Barlow, an Army Reservist with the Office of the Chief, Army Reserve, agreed that the unity and camaraderie of Army Reserve units rivaled their active component counterparts.

"We didn't have, a single person AWOL. Everyone showed up," Barlow said proudly. "The camaraderie was great. We got things done in a productive manner and everyone worked together as a group. We were pretty much ready to go," she said.

Barlow spent most of her time during the war at a logistics base. Her unit, the 926th Engineer Group from Montgomery, Ala., constructed the make-shift military installation in what Barlow called "the middle of the desert." She was there for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

"We were the most forward functioning log base," Barlow said. "It was an experience," she said. Barlow, a member of the National Association of Black Military Women (NABMW) said that although she endured the threat of Scud missile attacks and many long days in the desert, it pales in comparison to what those African American soldiers endured who served in the military years before she ever donned a uniform.

"To hear ladies talk about what they went through and to hear the way they were treated definitely makes you feel like you're a part of that lineage," Barlow said.

Like the soldiers who compose its ranks, the Army Reserve has come a long way in integrating its force. Today, there are more than 52,000 African Americans in the Selected Reserve. African Americans in the Army Reserve comprise 57 percent of the total U.S. Reserve force. Davis and Barlow are just two of the more than 19,000 African American women in the Army Reserve.

"If we can understand the backgrounds of all the different people that come into the military, we can overcome a lot of the obstacles that are out there," Barlow said. "We just have to be more caring and compassionate," she added.

(1st Lt. Alvarez is a member of Task Force 10, assigned to the Public Affairs and Liaison Directorate, Office of the Chief, Army Reserve, Washington, D.C.)