Sergeant Major Barbara Anne Meek: Age 84

Command Sergeant Major Barbara Anne Meek served 22 years in the U. S. military including active duty in the U.S. Army and duty in the Army Reserve and National Guard. She received the following medals, decorations, citations and ribbons: Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Army Reserve Achievement Medal, Georgia National Guard Distinguished Service Medal and Guard/Reserve Readiness Medal.

CSM Meek was born January 23, 1941 in Prattville, AL, to her parents, Raymond and Ella Mae Meek. Her father served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army in Europe at the Battle of the Bulge during WWII. Her brother, Col Donald Meek, served 34 years in the U.S. Army including two combat tours in Vietnam. She was reared in Prattville and graduated from Prattville High School in 1959 and then attended the University of AL for two years. She then was employed with the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA, where she rose through the ranks to a GS-14 the senior civilian grade in Civil Service. She received a BS Degree in Biological Sciences and Secondary Education from Auburn University in 1977.

CSM Meek at age of 31 volunteered for duty in the U.S. Army beginning November 7, 1972 and served on active duty for 1.5 years until she transferred to serve in the Army Reserve in April 1975. The rest of her miliary service was in the National Guard. She began as a basic solider then as a combat medic and on to a clinical specialist. She retired from military service in 1988. CSM Meek retired from employment with the CDC in 1995. At age 55, she served as an EMS paramedic in Dekalb County, Georgia. She then worked with Atlanta’s Caldwell Bank as a realtor. Following the September 11, 2001 attack, she volunteered to serve with the Georgia Department of Defense known as the Georgia State Defense Force where she worked with the Training and Doctrine Command. She was promoted to the rank of Command Sergeant Major. Then the CDC recalled her for employment as a contractor. She retired from this and all employment in 2017. Since employment, CSM Meek has been a member of the American Legion, the VFW and the Catholic church.

CSM Meek states that serving in the U.S. military means: “It means giving back to a country that has been good to me from the time that I was a baby to the final stages of my life. The camaraderie of being with people that have been there and done the walk were benefits.” She would like people to remember her as being a patriot.