#VeteranOfTheDay Army Veteran Clayvonne Antonnette Davis

Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Army Veteran Clavonne Antonnette Davis, who served during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars during a 25-year career.

Clavonne Antonnette Davis was born in November 1973 and grew up in North Carolina. She said that growing up, she was stuck in the routine of “going to school and playing sports” and “knew that…. [I] wanted to do something different.”

In high school, she wanted to join the armed forces. However, because she was not 18, she could not enlist without parental permission. In the meantime, she enrolled in community college for a few months and took business classes. Davis had military influence growing up: her cousin was in the Marine Corps and her godbrother was in the Army Reserve. She enlisted in the Army Dec. 12, 1991, after turning 18.

Davis completed boot camp at Fort Jackson, South Carolina in 1992. After boot camp, she completed her MOS training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Due to unexpected circumstances in her unit, she took on additional tasks, such as helping the human resources department and filling in for others positions during missions. Davis had multiple stateside deployments, including Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington, where she trained officers to prepare them to take over their future units. In addition to training the officers, she worked at boot camps in Mississippi and in Fort Hood, Texas.

During her deployment to Iraq, she served as a squad leader, which enabled her to lead other soldiers and be responsible for their lives. Davis said she promised to the soldiers’ families that they would come back safely. Davis also reflected that the soldiers became her family. Having a child prior to this experience solidified her notion of family between her and her unit.

She was a convoy commander that led an advance from Kuwait to Iraq without any altercations. Davis said that the military developed her instincts and intuition, which helped her delineate between right and wrong decisions. Notably, Davis won awards for her achievements, but she believed that she was recognized for something she would normally do. While she spent most of her career as a Reservist, David was often given active-duty orders by the Army to serve outside of her normal capacity. She retired from the Army in 2016 after 24 years of service.

After her service, Davis went on to work for Daimler Trucks where she built trucks, trailers, tractors and other heavy-duty equipment. However, her military involvement did not end after separating from the Army. She continues to reconnect with people who served with her, including her children’s’ aunt as well as speaking with her best friend about VA.

Thank you for your service!

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Contributors

Writer: Alec Zimmerman

Editor: Julia Pack, Cassidy Reid

Fact checker: Aaliyah Walton, Shiv Lamba

Graphic artist: Erin Gallagher