For the Love of country

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Alyssa C. Miles
  • 2d Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  In the early 1950s, at the age of 17, a young African-American male decided to join the United States Air Force. John Love, a Columbia, S.C., native, was use to racism growing up in the South, but nothing could prepare him for what he was about to experience. 

His first day at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, Mr. Love arrived to a flight made up of predominately white men from all over the United States. 

"Our flight chief was sitting up front on a table like God Almighty - red faced, blonde hair and blue eyes," said Mr. Love. "He looked so mean and had a rough voice. The first thing that he said was 'I don't know where you men came from, or what you thought of each other as a race or as individuals, but we're not going to have any of that stuff here!'" 

For Mr. Love, those words were both settling and comforting to hear. 

"The Air Force right away represented a type of security," he said. "For eight weeks of basic training we didn't have any problems." 

In fact, working with people from different racial backgrounds was Mr. Love's favorite part of training. 

"It was such an easy transition to be treated and treat others as equal individuals," said Mr. Love. "It was the first really good feeling I had about joining the Air Force." 

Love first returned home after nine months of training and duty. While visiting, he was reminded of the way society, outside of the military, viewed race. He remembered how much the Air Force had changed him within that first year. When asked if any of his military comrades were 

Caucasian, Mr. Love realized that he couldn't remember if his new friends were of a different race or not. 

"It just wasn't an issue," he remembered. 

During his time in service, Mr. Love married a Caucasian woman and had three sons. Since many civilian areas were still not receptive to interracial marriages, the military made sure the Love family was stationed in areas where they would be the least affected by racism. 

Mr. Love stayed in the military until 1972, when he retired as a technical sergeant. Now, at the age of 76, he reminisces on the military fondly. 

"I spent the best 20 years of my life not just in the military, but in the Air Force," said Mr. Love. "I couldn't have chosen a better branch of service." 

The Air Force did not accept racism in or out of its ranks during Mr. Love's enlistment. Now, more than 30 years later, the military's zero-tolerance on discrimination still stands strong. 

The goals of the Department of Defense's Equal Opportunity program are too "promote an environment free from personal, social or institutional barriers that prevent Air Force members from rising to the highest level of responsibility possible based on their individual merit, fitness, and capability." 

Members of the 2d Bomb Wing's EO office work to ensure every Airman's and civilian's work environment is free of discrimination of any kind. One of EO's goals is to have everyone work together to achieve the highest personal comfort level possible in a work center. 

"We are all one team, military and civilian like," said Master Sgt. Dion Butler, base EO director. "Everyone is responsible for each other and together we can make a difference."
(Editor's note: Active-duty and civilian s who feel they have been discriminated against are encouraged to resolve all issues at the lowest level possible. If the matter cannot be resolved by this method, members can file an informal or formal unlawful discrimination complaint with EO. For more information or to file a complaint, call EO at 456-8003.)