Capt. Lindsey Callahan’s path to the Air Force differs from most Airmen. While her father’s military career concluded before she was born, it played a crucial role in where she stands today.
The Michigan native’s trail to the Air Force began in 2004, when she worked with a coffee industry in Rwanda. She worked for a project under the umbrella of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“I studied economic development as an undergrad [at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md.],” she said. “That was my background – international relations focused on economic development. So, I went to work in Rwanda.”
Coincidentally, her time there coincided with the 10-year anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide and, in addition, the Gacaca Tribunals had just begun. According to the United Nations website, during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, up to one million people perished and as many as 250,000 women were raped, leaving the country’s population traumatized and its infrastructure decimated. In the years following the genocide, more than 120,000 people were detained and accused of bearing criminal responsibility for their participation in the killings. To deal with the overwhelming number of perpetrators, a judicial response was pursued on three levels: the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the national court system and the Gacaca courts.
“At this point [Gacaca Tribunals], I started getting more interested in how legal issues, rule of law, and how economic development tie together,” she said. “This was basically the first time I thought about law and how important it is to provide framework for development.”
Two years later, Callahan’s journey took her to Cambodia, where she worked for a non-governmental organization called Heritage Watch. Heritage Watch specialized in the preservation of Southeast Asian cultural heritage.
According to Callahan, this organization’s goal was to help small business development around threatened archeological sites.
By complete coincidence, Cambodia was dealing with their past genocide. 1.7 million people lost their lives to the Cambodian genocide of 1975-1979, that was 21 percent of the country’s population.
“I spent most of my time in Cambodia writing a lot of grant proposals,” she said. “Occasionally, I’d get to visit sites that have been looted to document. Sometimes, we would visit elementary schools with education projects or reach out to businesses to see if they would support business ventures.”
However, this was all just a prelude to the military.
“Based on my experiences [in Rwanda and Cambodia], and seeing how the development of a country, and how the legal system intertwine - I decided I was interested in law school,” Callahan said. “Watching how other countries dealt with their recent history – you can feel the after effects of those events.”
Starting in the fall of 2006, Callahan attended George Washington University Law School.
“The great thing about a Law Degree is what you can do with it – not the fact that you got to go to law school to get it,” she added.
During her first semester of law school, her father, who was enlisted in the Air Force for four years in the 1960’s, was diagnosed with cancer. The cancer progressed and he passed away during her final year of law school.
“This overshadowed my whole law school experience,” said Callahan. “The one thing it did give me though was perspective of what was really important in life.”
Callahan had no intention of working at a law firm when she graduated. In fact, she never did a single law firm interview.
“I wanted to do something where I wasn’t doing it to make the big bucks. I wanted to do something that was important to me,” she said.
After law school, she applied for the Judge Advocate Generals (JAG) Corps. She was accepted to the JAG Corps before passing the Bar Exam, contingent on passing the Bar Exam before she could come on active duty. She didn’t know much about the military, besides the fact that her father and uncle had been in the Air Force.
In 2010, she joined the Air Force and her first assignment was at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England.
Three years later, she experienced her first deployment to Afghanistan and received a Bronze Star Medal for her accomplishments.
“I was honored to receive the Bronze Star Medal,” she said. “The day I received it was coincidentally the five-year anniversary of my father’s passing away. It was a touching moment, marking both the culmination of a difficult year-long deployment and the anniversary serving as a reminder of what had motivated me to serve in the Air force.”
Callahan currently serves as the deputy staff judge advocate with the 70th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing at Fort George G. Meade, Md. As deputy staff judge advocate, she assists the staff judge advocate to deliver comprehensive legal services to the Wing, including directing military justice, civil law, claims, legal assistance and preventive law programs.
“Captain Callahan brings a focused level of maturity to the legal office that the Air Force is lucky to have. She served in a senior O-4 billet as the Acting Staff Judge Advocate for eight weeks and never once did the mission lag,” said Maj. Alison Beach, 70th ISR Wing Staff Judge Advocate and Callahan’s supervisor. Since her arrival last summer, she has revamped the private organization program, providing refresher training and working with the Army legal office to ensure that fundraising approvals can be done at the Air Force level, saving weeks of processing time for private organizations who want to fundraise. Additionally, she is the go-to JAG recruiter for the National Capital Region, teaching ROTC courses, attending career fairs, and ensuring that the best and the brightest new leaders take note of the great opportunities the JAG Corps has to offer.”
In addition to her assignment to RAF Lakenheath, England, she has been stationed to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, served in Afghanistan and is currently assigned to the 70th ISRW Legal Office since July 2015.
Her current office is decorated with several awards and certificates, but the majority of them are not hers; instead they belong to her father. One of those documents stands out particularly – a Letter of Reprimand.
Callahan gets to review many LORs in her career field, but the one her father received will proudly hang in her office, due to the nature of her business.
Her journey to the Air Force began in Rwanda and continued through Cambodia and Law School, but it was truly inspired by her father.
“My father did not live to see me join the Air Force, but I know he would have been proud,” said Callahan.
| Date Taken: | 04.08.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 04.13.2016 14:18 |
| Story ID: | 195260 |
| Location: | FORT MEADE, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 47 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Rwanda, Cambodia and her father: An Airman’s journey into the military, by TSgt Anthony Hyatt, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
