A passion for service continues for retired Master Sgt. Darlene Mason

This article appeared in the August 2018 edition of the Chickasaw Times

Chickasaw citizen Darlene Mason sums up her nearly four decadeslong career in the Oklahoma National Guard with a single word.

Service.

“That’s just what God put in me – a passion to serve,” Ms. Mason said. “It’s always been an honor for me to serve in the military. People would say, ‘Thank you for your service,’ but it was honestly my honor to serve my country.”

Ms. Mason, who resides in Norman, Oklahoma, served with distinction, earning the rank of master sergeant. As such, she was only one of ten women to earn that rank in what was thought to be a man’s world in 1980, the year she joined. June 1 of this year was her official retirement date.

That she did join was something of a shock to her family.

“Back then, that’s just not what females were supposed to do,” she said. “They did not want me to join.”

Her father wanted her to become the first person in their family to attend college, but Ms. Mason said she didn’t feel as though she was quite ready for the halls of academia. Her father was understanding but admonished her to do something productive with her life.

When National Guard recruiters visited her high school she took the plunge without consulting her family. “I signed up and little did I know, that’s not what my parents wanted me to do.”

After the initial shock her family’s perspective gradually changed. “It took them about a year but they finally came to grips with it,” she said. “They ended up being my biggest supporters and cheered me on through the whole thing. They were there for anything I needed.”

Despite the fact positions in the Oklahoma National Guard were filled almost exclusively by men in the 1980s, Ms. Mason said she rarely witnessed any discrimination issues. “I was very naïve but they never took advantage of that. They guided me, showed me the ropes, were super receptive to me and encouraged me. The guys I worked with were in the Ardmore Armory and they became my big brothers,” she said.

Most of her 38-year career was working as a human resources assistant at the Oklahoma state National Guard headquarters in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was an occupation whose duties escalated dramatically after September 11, 2001.

“We managed soldiers’ records, made sure their life insurance forms were up to date and all other records were correctly maintained and in good order. In the case of a soldier’s death we made sure their documentation was correct.”

Ms. Mason was on a team to prepare soldiers deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and other overseas destinations. It was critical for all records to be in order and everything done to ensure soldiers’ families were taken care of while they were gone.

These additional responsibilities didn’t exempt her from having to participate in regular field combat training herself.

She said one of the great joys of her military retirement ceremony was having her military family meet her biological family.

As great as her military career was, she is enjoying retirement and continuing her passion for service by caring for her pre-school-aged grandson.

“Oh my goodness, I love it,” she said. “I’ve been busy since the day I walked out the door at the military department. I have a grandson and I’m keeping him fulltime for my daughter and son-in-law. He was my motivation for retiring – to be able to keep him the year before he starts pre-kindergarten.”

Ms. Mason attended Rose State College and credits the Chickasaw Nation in helping her with the process of getting enrolled. Her hectic military career forced her to put her higher education goals on hold, a situation she plans to remedy now that she’s retired.

“I have a lot of hours but never got a degree,” she said. “I want to finish that degree and that’s what I’m going to do.”