JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
The U.S. Army 5th Recruiting Brigade hosted the annual Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston Black History Month Observance at the installation theater Feb. 23 with Maj. Gen. Patrick D. Sargent as guest speaker. Sargent is the deputy commanding general for operations, U.S. Army Medical Command, and the 18th Chief of the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps.
The theme of Black History Month 2018 is “African Americans in Times of War” and the general took the audience through each of our wartime conflicts, highlighting the service of African Americans.
The general stressed that the military and hope go together, even though war is one of the unlikely places that provides hope. He said that war is painful. It is a tragedy and never to be romanticized but it is sage.
“It can make us wiser and helps us learn things we never learned, to talk about things we wouldn’t normally talk about,” Sargent said.
After the speech, the audience listened to a monologue by a member of the Buffalo Soldier National Museum about life as a Buffalo Soldier.