Courtesy Photo | Patrol Leader 1st Lt. Marc Lindemman, platoon leader, First Platoon, Battery B, 2nd...... read more read more
by Staff Sgt. Brent Williams
4th BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div.
BAGHDAD — The terrorist attacks on Sep. 11, 2001, changed the course of history for America and the world. The lives of the Soldiers, noncommissioned officers, and officers serving in today's Armed Forces were changed forever as the result of that tragic day.
The fact that 1st Lt. Marc Lindemman, a 30-year old platoon leader, born and raised in the state of New York, joined the U.S. Army to serve his country as a direct result of the coordinated attacks on liberty and democracy is not out of the ordinary.
What makes the lieutenant in the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, unique is the fact that prior to the attack upon the American people, Lindemman, a native of Port Washington, N.Y., first received his Bachelors and Masters Degrees from Harvard University in Greek History and Archeology, and then proceeded to obtain a Law Degree from Yale University, where he interned as a prosecuting attorney for the State of Massachusetts.
Upon completing law school, the Ivy League lawyer went straight to work for a prestigious New York City law firm. On his way to the office, the second day of his new job, Lindemann's life was forever changed.
The office where he worked, located in the financial district of Manhattan, a couple blocks from the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center offered the young attorney a harrowing view of the buildings as they burned and smoldered, eventually collapsing and plummeting to the earth under a stifling cloud of ash, heat and debris.
In the hours that followed, Lindemman joined a group of volunteers to help provide emergency medical treatment to the New York City Police officers and firefighters as they worked to rescue the workers and first responders caught in the ruin at the base of the towers.
"What I saw that day, and my own very, very small role in the efforts to take care of the people who survived down there, convinced me that everyone does have the obligation to serve the country in some way," Lindemman said. "The policemen and firemen I saw at the triage unit definitely had served their country, and I figured that it was time for me to serve mine."
Growing up, Lindemman said he had always wanted to serve his country and often discussed the desire with his grandfather, a retired officer in the Army Corps of Engineers, who had served in the Korean War. However, the competing demands of working to earn his three degrees within seven years, and the lack of a Reserve Officer Training Course at the Harvard and Yale campuses, had delayed any personal goals to join the military.
The idea of serving as a Soldier became more of a late night "bull-session" with his college buddies as the years flew by, but on the day that terrorists chose to attack the freedoms and the very democracy of America, Lindemman sharpened his resolve.
"Even though I was getting older, I decided on enlisting and had to get myself physically fit," he explained. "I worked out for a while and, just a year later, enlisted into the Army's Delayed Entry Program."
Lindemman reported to Basic Training at Fort Benning, Ga., Sep. 11, 2003.
Eight months into his training, he decided to take his oath of enlistment to the Fort Benning Officer Candidacy School, and from there was designated a Field Artillery Officer.
"The hardest school I have ever been through is OCS," said Lindemman, "especially going from a private in basic combat training into basic officer training. It was a real shock to the system."
While becoming an infantryman was his first choice, he said the field artillery designation has been more of a challenge than he ever anticipated.
He smiled as he recalled his manual gunnery instructor at the Field Artillery Officer Basic Course, Fort Sill, Okla., and chuckled at the thought of the "intellectual gymnastics" of the training considered by many Army officers to be one of the hardest schools around.
Arriving at Fort Hood, Texas, and the 4th Infantry Division's newest unit of action, the platoon leader, who said he likes to work with M109A6 Paladins, became part of the 2nd Battalion, 77th Field Artillery, 4th BCT.
The work was set to make for long days as the new platoon leader for 1st Platoon, Battery B, began preparations for the deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Lindemman was certain that he would deploy.
"Knew it hands down," he said, in remembering early days in basic training, when his drill sergeant said there are only three types of Soldiers in today's Army: "Soldiers who just got back from Iraq, Soldiers who are in Iraq; and Soldiers who are going to Iraq."
"All of us went in with our eyes open," he explained. "All of the privates knew they would be deployed. It wasn't a question of earning money for college or job security. They went into the military knowing they would serve their country in a war zone, and they would be exposing themselves to danger and risking their lives. Nobody had any illusions – both when I entered and my platoon right now – to what they would be doing or where they would be going."
Deployed to Baghdad, Lindemman and the Soldiers of 1st Platoon work out of Forward Operating Base Union III, based in the International Zone.
The Soldiers of the "Top Flight" Platoon – a moniker they chose for themselves – function primarily in the role of a personal security detail and quick reaction force.
"Our platoon especially has a knack for doing what we are doing," Lindemman said, "and even though they have training as cannon crewmembers and as fire direction team members, they have really taken to their PSD mission."
Like many field artillery units deployed in Iraq, 1st Platoon finds itself serving in an unconventional role operating in a manner similar to military police or infantry tactics.
The only artillery round he said he has seen since deploying was part of an improvised-explosive device alongside the road.
The safety of the Soldiers and the mission are his number one priorities.
"We roll outside the 'Green Zone' every day, and the toughest thing for me is that you can train all you want, but actually having your Soldiers' lives on the line and realizing that a mistake that you make could result in the death of one your Soldiers," he said.
"My crew is in the threat area first, so I feel that if we miss something, that it is really on us, and the entire platoon is our responsibility as we proceed through the streets of Baghdad," he said.
It is this type of leadership that makes 1st Platoon one of the best platoons in the U.S. Army, said Staff Sgt. Leland Cannon, platoon sergeant, Battery B, 2nd Bn., 77th FA.
Cannon, a 28-year old native of Galveston, Texas, is married to his wife, Linda, with two children, Christian, 6, and Gabriel, 4, and has more than nine years service in the Army. Prior to deploying to Iraq, he worked as a motor sergeant for the battery.
As Lindemman's platoon sergeant, Cannon spends most of his time with his "PL," and said he believes the lieutenant is more than dedicated to his Soldiers and their mission.
"It takes a real special person to go from that environment to this," Cannon said. "That's pretty selfless. An Ivy League graduate square working as a lawyer, as an attorney, give all that up ... coming down with rest of us on the streets of Baghdad.
"Back in the days, Soldiers were pigeonholed as being unintelligent, but today's Army, he kind of epitomizes that, crushes that stereotype."
Lindemman's attention to detail and dedication to a standard is evident in his Soldiers, said Cannon. The platoon leader works hard to ensure his Soldiers have all of the resources available to successfully accomplish their missions.
It is evident in the convoy briefing prior to a mission, as the platoon sergeant rakes his Soldiers equipment and vehicles to ensure everything is in order prior to rolling. It is not so much as what the platoon leader has to say about his Soldiers during the brief but what he doesn't have to say.
The team is squared away. Every single Soldier from private to platoon leader takes part in the brief, preparing and ensuring the guy to his left and right is ready for the mission at hand.
"He is standard 'by-the-book,'" said Sgt. Dax Gary, lead gunner, 1st Platoon, Battery B, 2nd Bn., 77th FA, "at the same token, a compassionate man."
Gary's smile seems to touch his ballistic protective eye-wear when he recalled a story of when Lindemman made it a point to stop at every Iraqi army checkpoint and give water to the Iraqi soldiers standing in the sweltering July heat.
"He's just got a good heart," he said of Lindemann. "He is just trying to make it better."
Yet, on the same account, the native of Lafayette, La., who rides with the patrol leader every day, said he can't name an incident in ten months when the platoon leader didn't enforce his standards.
"Anybody who knows him knows he is very uptight, but it's not," Gary said. "It's just doing things as they should be done. I cannot name one instance where he cut the corner. The man doesn't sway; he doesn't bend."
It is this commitment to standards that helps make his platoon one of the best in the Army, said Cannon.
"I am confident that if anything did happen to me in the platoon, my Soldiers from the lowest private to the most high-speed staff sergeant could get us back in one piece," Lindemman explained.
He said he hasn't decided if he will stay with the Army once his contract is completed after the unit's life-cycle ends. He is also considering returning to New York, where he is a licensed attorney, and practice law. He is married to his wife, Candace, and has a newborn daughter, Lilah Margaret.
Lindemman said he was one of those people who, even before the events of Sep. 11, would have supported the troops in America's Armed Forces regardless of whether he enlisted or not, but after that day, he had to join – in his mind, he had an obligation and a duty to serve.
Ten years from now, Lindemman said he hopes to look back at his Soldiers and see that they are all happy and healthy.
In his personal endeavors to serve his nation, Lindemman finds himself fighting for the freedom of another country, in a land far from his own and different in many ways.
"It took two centuries for the U.S. to reach some semblance of the democracy it has today," he explained. "It took two centuries for women to get the vote for property qualifications, to vote to be taken off the books for the direct election for senators. The creation of the democracy that we have in America does not happen overnight. It is a long, uphill road."
It is good to see the Iraqis taking charge of their political system, and their military, and working to forge a new future, said Lindemman.
"I think it can be accomplished over here," he said. "I think the Iraqi people are capable of taking ownership, and we have seen that during our 9.5 months here.
"We have seen increased ownership of the political process, of the military process," he continued. "So I am very hopeful for the Iraqis' ability to create a functioning democracy in a very dangerous part of the world with very dangerous enemies, not just to America, but also the concept of democracy and the freedoms that democracies bring."
Despite the challenges and the many setbacks along the way, Lindemman said he can testify to the progress seen in Baghdad and Iraq – especially when talking and interacting with the Iraqi people.
"My platoon's time here, we have managed to add to that foundation, and I think that unit by unit, we all do our part in some small way to get this country on its feet and get its people in power," he explained.
"I've seen abysmal conditions get better just due to our presence over here. We have had a positive effect as far as I've seen, as a coalition, in terms of bringing Iraqi systems out from the dark days of Saddam and into the life of modernity."
| Date Taken: | 09.24.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 09.26.2006 10:45 |
| Story ID: | 7824 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 251 |
| Downloads: | 91 |
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