WS Chronicle

Winston-Salem native makes history

PORTSMOUTH, Va.- Lt. Col. Natasha Sunday Clarke has received many accolades throughout her military career, and she added another to the list last week, officially becoming both the first woman and African American to lead the New England Recruiting Battalion.

Clark has previously served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, received a Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and is a former staff member of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon.

With the flag of the Battalion symbolically passed down to her on July 21, Clarke assumed the helm of the Battalion from Major Patrick Moriarity, who served as the interim commander for two months in place of former commander Lt. Col. Anthony Barbina, who left his post after two years this spring.

Presided over by Col. J. Frederick Dente, commander of the 1st Recruiting Brigade in Ft. George G. Meade, Maryland, the ceremony took place in the city’s Paul A. Doble United States Army Reserve Center on Cottage Street.

Reviewing Army job postings earlier this year, Clarke said Tuesday she had her husband rank different areas in the United States where she could potentially lead an open battalion. Stationed at the time in South Korea as a speechwriter for the commanding general of the United States Forces Korea, Clarke had just completed commanding the 194th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, also in South Korea.