“PEOPLE ARE THREATENING YOU” by Sharon Rondeau (Jan. 4, 2020) — In the following section, former U.S. Army Capt. Gary Mason further details the fallout he experienced after filing an Equal Opportunity (EO) complaint and request for a congressional inquiry into a 2008 assault against his person in Iraq on the part of an enlisted […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 37
“IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT HERE, YOU CAN GO AHEAD AND LEAVE HAWAII” by Sharon Rondeau (Jan. 1, 2020) — In the previous section of this story, former U.S. Army Captain Gary Mason expounded on the increasingly hostile environment in which he found himself after filing a complaint about an assault he suffered while serving […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 36
“SOMEONE GOT MAD” by Sharon Rondeau (Dec. 9, 2019) — Part 35 of our series described the building tension among former U.S. Army Captain Gary Mason; his unit in Hawaii, the 8th Theater Sustainment Command; and the 130th Engineer Brigade to which he was temporarily assigned after returning in 2011 from his second deployment to […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 35
“OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND” by Sharon Rondeau (Nov. 12, 2019) — In Part 34 of this series, former U.S. Army Captain Gary Mason described the circumstances which led him to request a congressional investigation into treatment he experienced while serving as a Public Affairs officer for the 130th Engineer Brigade in Hawaii in […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 34
“IT GOT NASTIER AND NASTIER” by Sharon Rondeau (Sep. 5, 2019) — In Part 33, former U.S. Army Captain Gary Mason recounted his composition of a memorandum for his records after he became the target of an unwarranted and shocking verbal dressing-down by then-Col. Jeffrey Milhorn of the 130th Engineer Brigade. Mason was assigned to […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 33
“JUST IN CASE SOMETHING ELSE HAPPENED” by Sharon Rondeau (Sep. 1, 2019) — The following is former Army Captain Gary Mason’s continued narrative from Part 32. I went to Afghanistan again; I hooked up with task forces, all of the elite Special Forces units from NATO. I worked with Italy, France, Australia, New Zealand, Croatia, […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 31
“YOU’RE TRYING TO PROVOKE ME TO ANGER” by Sharon Rondeau (Jul. 31, 2019) —This segment continues former Captain Gary Mason’s story at the point where in late 2010, he returned to Hawaii from Afghanistan for medical reasons and was immediately assigned a press briefing to an international military audience with virtually no preparation time. While […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 30
“YOU WEREN’T ON ANYBODY’S RADAR” by Sharon Rondeau (Jul. 14, 2019) — In our last segment, Capt. Gary Mason told of how he was returned to the United States for the second time as a result of having suffered an allergic reaction from exposure to a burn pit, this time in Afghanistan. After his face […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 29
“THESE ORDERS WERE NOT APPROVED” by Sharon Rondeau (Jul. 5, 2019) — Our previous installment in this series detailed former U.S. Army Capt. Gary Mason’s successful ordination as a military chaplain, obtained after more than seven years of combined full- and part-time study amidst overseas deployments, Public Affairs school, and full-time service in Public Affairs […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 28
“IF ANYONE CAN MESS WITH YOUR EMOTIONS, JOIN THE ARMY!” by Sharon Rondeau (Jun. 21, 2019) — Continuing from Part 27 of our series, U.S. Army Captain Gary Mason found himself on a huge Army base in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, where he was sent to acquire his ordination into the military Chaplain Corps. Encountering a […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 27
“IT DIDN’T MAKE ANY SENSE” by Sharon Rondeau (Jun. 12, 2019) — The Post & Email’s previous chapter of this story detailed Captain Gary Mason’s 2010 deployment to Afghanistan and ordination as a U.S. Army chaplain, a goal to which he had aspired for nearly seven years between deployments and attending Public Affairs school at […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 26
ON TO ORDINATION by Sharon Rondeau (Jun. 10, 2019) — This part of former U.S. Army Captain Gary Mason’s journey takes the reader through the perils of service in Afghanistan during time of war. While Mason mentored and taught others in the field of Public Affairs, he continued to work toward completing the ordination […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 25
“IT WAS ABOVE MY PAY GRADE” by Sharon Rondeau (May 7, 2019) — Our last installment of the story of former U.S. Army Captain Gary Mason recapped a number of “bizarre” overseas assignments he was given following his successful completion of Public Affairs school at Ft. Meade in the spring of 2010 while serving with […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 24
WHAT MAKES AN EFFECTIVE “LEADER?” by Sharon Rondeau (Apr. 14, 2019) — In Part 23 of our series, former Army Captain Gary Mason told of his 2010 deployment to Afghanistan, independent of his unit in Hawaii, while working in the field of Public Affairs for the 8th Theater Sustainment Command. Mason’s military career began in […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 23
“THOSE ORDERS WERE NOT LEGITIMATE” by Sharon Rondeau (Mar. 19, 2019) — Part 22 of our series about the military experiences of former Capt. Gary Mason concluded with Mason’s having returned to Hawaii from a strange temporary assignment in South Korea, where his accommodations, to his surprise, proved to be “a Korean whorehouse” rather than […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 22
“WHAT ARE THEY DOING HERE?” by Sharon Rondeau (Feb. 8, 2019) — In our last segment, former U.S. Army Captain Gary Mason described a surprise assignment to South Korea and again to Japan shortly after he completed Public Affairs school in May 2010. While he expected to be leaving for the Defense Information School in […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 21
“THEY NEED A CAPTAIN” by Sharon Rondeau (Feb. 6, 2019) — In the previous installment of this story, then-U.S. Army Lieutenant Gary Mason had written a letter to the general of his unit, the 8th Theater Sustainment Command, expressing concern for the safety of a number of soldiers from his former unit, 3/4 Cav., who […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 20
“IT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN THAT WAY” by Sharon Rondeau (Jan. 10, 2019) — This section of the military story of former Army Captain Gary Mason expounds on the dilemma he faced after members of his former combat unit, 3/4 Cav., told him upon their return from Iraq to Hawaii that pressure was placed on […]
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U.S. Army Veteran Shares Painful Experiences of Military Racism, Part 19
“MAN, WE CAN’T TALK WITH YOU” by Sharon Rondeau (Jan. 5, 2019) — This chapter of the story of former U.S. Army Captain Gary Mason details his transition from the bad experiences he had in the Infantry’s 3/4 Cav. Unit in Iraq to his position as a public affairs officer with the 8th Theater Sustainment […]