Diversity in Georgia’s Army National Guard
Total Guardsmen: 11,045
Men: 78 percent
Women: 22 percent
White: 51.5 percent
Black: 42 percent
Hispanic: 4 percent
Asian: 2 percent
Native American: 0.5 percent
Total Officers: 1,387
Men: 86 percent
Women: 14 percent
White: 74.5 percent
Black: 19 percent
Asian: 3 percent
Hispanic: 3 percent
Native American: 0.5 percent
Total Commanders: 119
Men: 89 percent
Women: 11 percent
Native American: 0 percent
White: 78 percent
Black: 16 percent
Asian: 3 percent
Hispanic: 3 percent
Source: Georgia Army National Guard
“Allowing Colonel Neal to become the commander is a big step — it was an amazing step. In that sense, I think it is remarkable. I think it is well-deserved. He is a very talented guy.”
Joseph Wells, who in 2011 became the first black man to obtain the rank of major general while serving in the Georgia National Guard. He retired in 2012.
“I am very proud of Colonel Neal. I have traveled in his shoes and he has large responsibilities on his shoulder. He is a capable and talented Army officer, and Georgia is lucky to have him. He has a bright future ahead of him. I have had the chance to work with him and I’m excited about his command.”
Robert Shannon, a black airman who attained the rank of major general while serving in the Georgia National Guard this year. He is now assigned to the Pentagon.
Georgia’s 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team can trace its roots to the 19th century, when it fought in the Second Seminole War, the Mexican-American War and then the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy.
Nicknamed the “Macon Volunteers,” the Georgia National Guard unit made history again this month when it was placed under the leadership of its first black commander.
Col. Reginald Neal, 46, is now the highest-ranking black officer in the Georgia Army National Guard, where he also serves as the deputy chief of staff for training and operations. A 28-year military veteran who has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, Neal remembers fellow Guardsmen — both white and black — telling him he would never command the brigade, not because of his ability but because of his race.
“People bought into the way things had always been,” said Neal, a former schoolteacher and administrator from the tiny Georgia town of Ludowici, southwest of Savannah. “I’m glad we have leaders who have the insight to look at my skills and abilities. And that is very important to me because, being the first one, you want to make sure that — all other things aside — that I am the most qualified person.”
Neal’s superiors say that’s precisely why he got the job. They described him as a highly educated, experienced and dedicated leader who happens to be black. One called him a “superstar.”
“Reggie Neal, first and foremost, is a very competent leader,” said Col. Thomas Carden, the state’s assistant adjutant general, who recommended Neal for the job. “It was a no-brainer. He was just the best pick for that job at this time in the organization’s history.”
Col. Randall Simmons, the former commander of the 48th, said Neal “is the kind of leader everyone just likes to be around.”
“He has had all of the hard assignments,” said Simmons, the Georgia Army National Guard’s chief of staff. “And he has always sought those out.”
Military aims for greater diversity
Senior officers are predicting Neal will serve as a role model for other minorities seeking to advance through the ranks. His promotion comes at a time when the U.S military is seeking to recruit more of them.
The military has made progress since President Harry Truman ordered its desegregation in 1948. For example, Gen. Colin Powell became the first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1989. Gen. Lloyd Austin III, a black officer from Thomasville, leads U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East.
Others blazed a trail for Neal in Georgia. In 2011, Joseph Wells became the first black man to obtain the rank of major general while serving in the Georgia National Guard. A United Airlines pilot, he retired from the military in 2012. Robert Shannon attained the rank of major general this year while serving in the Georgia Guard. He is now assigned to the Pentagon, where he serves as special assistant to the director of the Air National Guard and as an adviser to the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
The percentages of minorities serving on active duty in the U.S. military increased from 11 percent for officers and 28 percent for enlisted members in 1995 to 22 percent for officers and 32 percent for enlisted members in 2013, U.S. Defense Department figures show. Of the 11,045 troops in the Georgia Army National Guard now, nearly 49 percent are minorities. And nearly 26 percent of the 1,387 officers in the Georgia Army National Guard are minorities.
“We still have got some work to do, but we are so much better than we have been,” Carden said about increasing diversity in the Guard’s ranks.
The Guard, Carden said, has been recruiting at historically black colleges in Georgia and mentoring minority troops so they will become strong leaders. Neal is emphasizing that same mentoring approach in the 48th Brigade.
“I expect our leaders to mentor someone who doesn’t look like them so we can develop the potential of those within our ranks,” Neal said.
Commander turns unit’s focus while at home to families
Based in Macon, the 48th pulls its 4,500 troops from across the state. The unit has deployed overseas repeatedly, fighting in World Wars I and II, Bosnia, Iraq and most recently Afghanistan. Neal is focusing on getting his troops ready for their next deployment. And that involves letting them rest and reconnect with their loved ones and civilian jobs.
“Undoubtedly, we will be called again in the future,” he said. “And I think we owe it to families and civilian employers to make them the priority for a while as we go through this period. We are still going to train to standard, but we are also going to really emphasize the families and employers during this period.”
Neal knows firsthand how deployments can strain families. He was born in Hinesville in the shadow of Fort Stewart, where his father — retired Master Sgt. Richard Neal — was stationed. Richard Neal was deployed to Vietnam when his son was born. Reginald Neal now has three children of his own, including two sons who are sergeants serving on active duty in the regular Army. One of them is deployed to South Korea.
“In my parents’ mind the military was always a great equalizer,” said Neal, whose maternal grandfather served in World War I. “At least you had a chance to be on equal footing with everybody else because the uniform was what you wore on the outside and a lot of people judge you by what you see on the outside.”
Neal credits his father – who also served as a drill sergeant — with inspiring him to work hard. Reginald Neal once took a job at Kmart while he was teaching in Charleston, S.C., so he could afford tuition at The Citadel. He remembers the advice his father gave him about dealing with discrimination as he was growing up in the South.
“I don’t remember the incident, but I remember telling my dad that somebody didn’t like me or that I wasn’t able to do something because I was black,” he said. “And my dad looked at me in the eye and said: ‘You are probably right. Now, you can’t control other people, but you can control your actions.’ ”
“That always stuck with me,” Neal continued. “Even if there were perceptions of discrimination or perceptions of racism, I couldn’t control that. But what I could control is the amount of education I had and my work ethic.”
Neal went on to complete a bachelor’s degree, two master’s degrees and a doctoral degree. He has also become an eager student of the Civil War, pointing to several military history books on the shelf in his office in Marietta. He gathers with friends to discuss the war monthly.
“The Civil War is very important to people in the South, so being able to relate to a lot of that could also be a good connection for me to all of my troops,” he said. “I enjoy reading about the soldiers in the North and South who fought in the war because it was brother against brother.”
And about taking command of a former Confederate military unit, Neal simply said: “This shows you how times change.”
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