Oh the Places You'll Go: Recruitment and Uplift in the National Guard
Introduction
In 1983, the North Carolina National Guard had among the highest recruiting and retention rate of any state Guard, runner-up only to North Dakota. The North Carolina National Guard Association was, too, one of the largest in the country, according to remarks made by govenor Jim Hunt in a 1983 issue of the Tarheel Guardsman. The National Guard was attractive for its many benefits -- insurance, education funding, travel, and much more -- particularly for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
This digital exhibit centers the story of Sergeant Denise Bizzell, a Black woman from Durham, NC, who entered the National Guard around 1984. When Kalycia Harrell, an undergraduate student at Carolina, sat down to interview Sergeant Bizzell in 2016, Bizzell had remained involved in the National Guard for 32 years. By listening critically to her story, we will explore the realities of North Carolina National Guard recruitment and uplift politics in a post-draft America. We will face the fact that the same organization that funded Sergeant Bizzell's education and travel along sent her to Iraq on two separate occasions, resulting in long-lasting PTSD.
These questions guide our exhibition:
What relationship did BIPOC women have with the military service in the 80s and 90s in NC? How did military service both pose challenges and provide otherwise inaccessible modes of social mobility? How have those relationships changed today?
Place and Experience in the North Carolina National Guard
During her time in the North Carolina National Guard and in the army on active duty, Bizzell traveled across the world, working in the Military Police, logistics, supply, and much more. Though Bizzell's financial status prevented her from travelling before she joined the National Guard, by the end of her 32-year service, she had been to Panama, Germany, Paris, and all across the U.S. Twice deployed in Iraq, she also experienced the burden of these new spaces. Here, you'll find a self-guided journey of the places she's been and spaces she's explored, along with her own words from a 2016 interview with the Southern Oral History Program.
"I might not be running there with them, but I'll be doin' it too": Gender and Race in the 1980s National Guard
It wasn't until the 1950s that the National Guard began to allow Black Americans to join the National Guard, but by the 1980s, the National Guard Association had concluded that Black Americans earned prestigious positions "as part of a total defense team that recognizes no racial differences." Despite this, the Association notes that Black Americans often had to overcome discrimination to compete for these positions and the Guard still had "another mile to run in that race for equality." All too often, the experiences of women of color are not accounted for in these archival materials. What was it really like to serve in the National Guard in the 1980s as a Black woman?
To hear about Bizzell's experience as a Black woman in the NC National Guard, listen to the interview clip below. In this clip, Bizzell explains that she was sometimes underestimated by fellow Guardsmen and even experienced other kinds of discrimination. While she feels that she didn't often experience direct aggression, Bizzell suggests undercurrents of more elusive behaviors: "it was there, you felt it and you knew it was there." Even so, she wanted to "do what the guys were doing", even though, she expressed, "I might not be running there with them, but I'll be doin' it too."
Racial Uplift Ideology in the National Guard
Leading up to the 1980s, military service had strong ties to the earliest forms of the civil rights movement (Cox, 2001). Following the late 19th century push to educate Black Americans as a way to "uplift" Black communities, educators saw military service as a way for BIPOC people to prove loyalty and respectability to the broader American public (Cox, 2001). Despite that ideal, military service could be a double edged sword. The National Guard promised equality and mobility, but this promise seemed to be unfounded; by 1989, only 10% of NCNG officers were Black, despite Black North Carolinians making up a fourth of the NCNG (Carolina Times). And to join the military, one has to accept the consequences of service, including time away from home, possible injury or death, and a sacrifice of time. For Sergeant Denise Bizzell, and many others in the NCNG in the 1980s, the cost of service meant time in Iraq. At your own discretion, listen to the clip below, where Bizzell speaks about her mental health and loneliness post-deployment in Iraq.
"Command Even More Out of Life": A Visual Archive of Military Recruitment
So far, we have witnessed Denise Bizzell's experience in the National Guard, and how her identity may have impacted her journey. Let's zoom out. How did 1980s National Guard recruitment practices get Bizzell, and other Black women from the South, on board in the first place?
Before joining the military A commentary in the December 1983 issue of the Tarheel Guardsman entitled "The National Guard in 1984" proclaimed that the "support of a strong national defense [had] taken an even higher priority as a result of recent events around the world" as "the threat to peace continues." The "war between Iran and Iraq for the strategically important Persian Gulf," the issue commented, "continues without an end in sight." Despite the Army Guard being 417,000 strong and seeing great improvements in personnel strength, Major General William Ingram stressed that recruiting and recruiting and retention remained one of the Guard's most important tasks for the year of 1984.
Further, the issue admits that the recession of 1983 created a favorable environment for military recruiting. Fearing the decline of economic drivers of recruitment, the North Carolina National Guard declared that the "highest non-budget priority for 1984 must be enactment of the GI Bill of educational benefits for the active military, Guard, and Reserve." For the NCNG in 1984, this new GI Bill and educational incentive was critical to inducing prospective recruits.
These concerns and aspirations can be seen in the recruiting materials, particularly in a pamphlet released by the National Guard (Washington, D.C.) in the 1980s, entitled "On Guard. For the Best of Your Life: Opportunities for Women in the Army National Guard," targeting white women and women of color. Beginning in the late 1970s and early 80s, the National Guard targeted recruiting and advertising to new groups: women and people of color. Effectively an advertisement, the pamphlet explained the benefits of the Army National Guard in terms of uplift, including monetary compensation, occupational training, access to travel, and the ability to gain rank. In a post-draft era, these benefits were especially attractive to people who might not have these opportunities in a hegemonic American society. In the clip below, Denise Bizzell discusses educational opportunities provided by the National Guard, including a financially discounted education.
When asked about her experience with the National Guard, Bizzell added, "I just feel like it's been a great experience...I was just using it for the college...It gave me knowledge that I wouldn't have gotten on the outside...and a career on top of that...it's given me a baseline to start with even after I get out of the military."
Looking Forwards
Want to get in touch with us or talk about your experiences as a veteran? Leave comments and questions for the Veterans' Voices team here.
Snapshots from the Tarheel Guardsman: Then vs. Now
We are deeply indebted to Denise Bizzell for the contribution of her voice, story, and expertise to the UNC Student Veterans Project. Our project would not be possible without her extraordinary courage and vulnerability. Our work in this exhibition cannot begin to encompass Denise Bizzell's unique experiences and humanity, though it attempts to provide historical context for several dimensions of her experience. Certainly, no exhibition can fully encompass, explain, or neatly wrap up the "veteran experience." We encourage each visitor to listen to Sergeant Bizzell's full interview in all its nuance and complexity at the Southern Oral History Program archives, along with the stories of many other veterans.
In addition, we would like to thank former Southern Oral History Project intern Kalycia Harrell for her contribution as an interviewer. Her own work and bravery has given veterans' voices a home at the Southern Oral History Program and made their remarkable stories accessible to the broader public.
Sources
Army National Guard. On Guard : for the best of your life : opportunities for women in the Army National Guard, 1983.
Cox, Marcus S. 2001. From racial uplift to personal advancement: African american attitudes toward military service in the deep south, 1941–1973. Ph.D. diss., Northwestern University, http://libproxy.lib.unc.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/racial-uplift-personal-advancement-african/docview/304717379/se-2 (accessed May 7, 2023).
North Carolina National Guard Association. The Tarheel Guardsman, 1986-1987.
North Carolina National Guard Association. The Tarheel Guardsman, 1984-1985.
North Carolina National Guard Association. The Tarheel Guardsman, 1981-1983.