First African American Woman Promoted to Lt. Colonel in the Oklahoma Army National Guard

On Nov. 29th, 2015 a special dinner was held for a member of the National Guard.  Family, church members and friends attended this dinner in support and admiration of her great and historic accomplishment. Her name is Lieutenant Colonel Sherri Galloway and she is my Aunt.

On June 17, 1988, at the age of 17, Lieutenant Colonel Sherri Lynette Galloway joined the Oklahoma Army National Guard to help pay for college. Immediately upon graduating High School, she left home for the very first time to complete both her Basic and Advanced Individual Training.

Drawing near the end of her initial six year commitment, Lt. Colonel Galloway was encouraged by senior officers to re-enlist and become an officer in the military. She accepted the challenge and upon graduating college in 1994 with a Bachelor’s Degree Oral Communications, she began Officer’s Candidate School at the Regional Training Institute in Oklahoma City.

In 2001, while attending her Advanced Officer’s Course at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina Lt. Colonel Galloway was offered and accepted the opportunity to acquire a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Management, which she received in 2001.

In 2003, Lt. Colonel Galloway along with her former unit, the 45th Infantry Brigade, was deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. By the grace of God she returned home to her family and friends after nine long months.  Two months after their homecoming, she and her unit were once again called upon and traveled to Louisiana to assist in the aftermath of Katrina in 2005.

Lieutenant Colonel Sherri Galloway made history by becoming the first African American female in the Oklahoma Army National Guard to be promoted to the rank of Lt. Colonel and was officially pinned on Sunday, February 8, 2015 at 2 PM. It was held at Joint Forces Headquarters in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Congratulations to my Aunt Lt. Colonel Sherri Galloway.  I am so very proud of her and her tremendous accomplishments.  May God continue to bless her and the nation.