AUSTIN, Texas— Today, Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dawn Buckingham, M.D., is proud to introduce the next installment of the series highlighting the VLB's Voices of Veterans oral history program. This week, we highlight the service of Sergeant (Sgt.) Gregg Reeves, who served in the United States Army.
Reeves was born in Marianna, Florida, a small town in the state’s panhandle. His father served in the U.S. Air Force, so the family lived in many different places, including Panama and Okinawa, and various states across the nation. Reeves said that he joined the Army to help support his education, but he was also encouraged through the “buddy plan.” He recalled, “You and a buddy would join at the same time, and you would probably stay together to at least your first duty station in some cases.” Reeves’s “buddy” was Hornell Thomas, with whom he still keeps in touch. He recalled, “I actually saw him about 6 months ago […] We’re still good friends.”
Reeves went to boot camp at Fort Campbell in Kentucky and did his specialist training at Fort Lee in Virginia, where he learned accountancy. He also went to “jump school” back in Kentucky and became qualified to parachute from aircraft. While at Fort Campbell, he was sent on a short deployment overseas to Saigon, Vietnam, where he “worked with CID, the Criminal Investigative Division, and our focus was identifying pilfering” of government equipment. He remarked, “I was young, and it was amazing for me to see what was going on.” Reeves also admitted that while he did not engage in combat, he got into some “pretty tight situations” due to the nature of his work.
After this experience, Reeves went to Fort Hood in 1972 and served as a training specialist in the Second Armored Division. He found this position highly rewarding. He explained, “Say an individual came into the military who didn’t have a high school diploma. I would arrange for them to go to school within the military and get their GED.” He also helped identify soldiers who stood out for leadership roles, which Reeves described as “really fun. That was a fun part of my job.”
He served four years in the Army before going into the private sector. He then joined the Texas National Guard in 1975 and would serve for another 15 years. Reeves explained that his unit “would collaborate with full-time Army lieutenants and logistics people to ensure that their equipment was performing correctly, or if there was equipment that needed to be fixed, our technicians would assist the Army with fixing the equipment.” This would help ensure they were prepared in case they were called up to serve. During his time with the Texas National Guard, Reeves served the people of Texas by helping “out with flooding in the Valley, various areas needing water, and in general where people were in need and the Governor said we need to go help.”
He would go on to work in the federal government, including positions with the General Services Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Veterans Administration (VA). He retired from the VA but still helped fellow Veterans navigate their needs.
Reeves admitted that he ultimately felt a career in the military was not for him. However, he was adamant about recognizing how his time serving benefited him and how it could help others. He explained, “I talked to some young soldiers, and they said, ‘Well, it’s really not for me.' I said, ‘Well, you need to think about what you’re really saying.’ For me, it’s important that they really understand the value of being in the military. Not only from the factor of serving your country, but even personally, how it can benefit you. […] I think it helped me become a better decision-maker when I was in the military because I met some very wise people, very wise people, in the military.”
To listen to Sergeant Gregg Reeves tell his story, click the button below:
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Veterans can email VoicesofVeterans@glo.texas.gov to tell their stories. Please note that the Veteran must be a resident of Texas at the time of their interview.
Voices of Veterans is a state agency's first Veteran oral history program. It records the stories of Texas Veterans through their time in service and after returning home from combat.
The VLB records interviews with Veterans over the phone or in person. Their interviews are then permanently archived in the Office of Veterans Records at the GLO, where they join the historical documents of other Texas heroes such as Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barret Travis.
Veterans' interviews are also available to researchers, historians, genealogists, and the public. These precious records inspire future generations and remind us of our Veterans' sacrifices.
To listen to the over 500 archived stories of Veterans documented through the GLO's Voices of Veterans oral history program, click the button below:
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Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., brings a lifetime of experience to the Texas General Land Office (GLO). In 2016, she became the first Republican elected to the Texas State Senate from Travis County and the first woman to represent Texas Senate District 24. She made history again in 2022, winning a statewide election to become our state’s first female Land Commissioner.