Published: May 15, 2009 10:23 am

AT RANDOM: The few, the proud, the brothers Marine

By David May
editor@mineralwellsindex.com

If being sent to the most dangerous regions on the planet worries Lincoln Finkbeiner, he doesn’t show it.

He’s one calm, cool and soft-spoken U.S. Marine with recruiting poster good looks and smile.

Cpl. Finkbeiner was home this past week from Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he is attached to 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Echo Company – aka, “Hell in a Helmet.”

Finkbeiner was visiting family that includes his younger brother, Grant, who has followed his brother into the Marines, having recently completed basic Marine training in San Diego, Calif., and will return to California in a few weeks on assignment to Camp Pendleton.

A Graford High School graduate, Lincoln Finkbeiner, 23, already has five years of service under his Marine belt. He said he plans on making it a career and then retire to Possum Kingdom Lake for lots of fishing.

He recently returned from his third tour of Iraq and will begin a year’s training in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan as the U.S. begins to shift more resources and personnel to that country where enemy combatants, mainly under the flag of the Taliban, have strengthened and threaten that nation’s stability.

Iraq and Afghanistan have entirely different terrains and problems, and Finkbeiner said one thing his unit – essentially a security and expeditionary unit – will have to train in is deployment by boat.

But he says he’s not worried about going to Afghanistan. It’s just another set of duties and tasks for this Marine.

“I don’t know what to think,” Finkbeiner said. “I’ve never been there. I don’t know what to expect.”

He said his last tour in Iraq had him stationed at Camp Randi, about 120 miles west of Baghdad. He called his last tour uneventful – “boring.”

Hard to imagine much of anything in Iraq being boring. But Finkbeiner said he has seen continual de-escalation of problems in the country. Asked if that means the U.S. and multi-national coalition’s efforts are succeeding there, Finkbeiner responded, “Absolutely.”

He’s not sure if the Iraqis are truly ready to assume complete control of their country from a security standpoint.

“I don’t know if they will ever be ready, but they need to be,” he said. “They are making a good effort.”

President Obama has reshaped America’s fight against terrorism in the Middle East, beginning by reducing the numbers of troops in Iraq to focus more on the problems in Afghanistan.

Truly a man on leave, Finkbeiner was oblivious to two big news stories from that region this week – the replacement of the general in charge in Afghanistan and the incident Monday at Camp Liberty, located northeast of Baghdad International Airport, where an Army soldier under psychiatric treatment shot and killed five people – two doctors and three U.S. military servicemen.

“I was at Camp Liberty on my first tour over there,” said Finkbeiner, shaking his head in disbelief at hearing of the tragedy there.

Military personnel in a war zone are always worried about taking fire – but not from one of their own.

Sgt. John M. Russell, from Sherman, Texas, was just finishing his third tour of duty in Iraq when, while under treatment for psychiatric problems, became embroiled in a confrontation with the staff at a camp clinic. Russell returned with a weapon, possibly wrestled away from his armed escort, and killed five people, Army officials said. It appeared to be the worst case of soldier-on-soldier violence among American forces in the six-year Iraq war.

Russell, 44, of the 54th Engineering Battalion, based in Bamberg, Germany, has been charged with five counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault in the shooting, said Maj. Gen. David Perkins, a spokesman for the military in Iraq. The dead included an Army officer and a Navy officer on the clinic staff, and three enlisted soldiers who were at the clinic. Among the dead are Dr. Matthew Houseal, a psychiatrist from Amarillo, Texas.

Finkbeiner said there are plenty of servicemen and women abroad who have problems and deal with levels of depression or anxiety.

“There are people who are getting divorced, or having financial problems,” said Finkbeiner, but he said he would never think of someone in a U.S. uniform firing upon other Americans.

One of the main difference for Marines, he said, is they have shorter deployments – usually about seven months – compared to Army deployments than can last a year or longer.

The other big news is the change in military leadership in Afghanistan. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced he is replacing Gen. David McKiernan as commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Gates is recommending Army Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal take command of NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

It’s part of a new direction and strategy in the country that is the home and training grounds for many Islamic terrorists. Gates says the American mission can and must do better in Afghanistan and requires new thinking from military leaders.

“We have a new policy, set by our new president,” said Gates. “We have a new strategy, a new mission and a new ambassador. I believe that new military leadership also is needed,” Gates said.

Finkbeiner said he also had not heard that news, and said it didn’t matter much to him. He is just a Marine who does his job and carries out his orders.

“I learned there’s two things you don’t talk about if you want to stay out of trouble – religion and politics,” he said.

What Finkbeiner does worry about is his wife, Laura, and 2-year-old daughter, Liberty.

He was returning from his second tour of Iraq when she was born at Palo Pinto General Hospital. He missed her first by just four hours.

While he was able to talk to Liberty by phone during his most recent deployment, he said their reunion upon his return took a little adjustment for his daughter.

“I was worried she wouldn’t remember me,” said Finkbeiner. “She was a little shy at first, but she warmed right up.”

The use of a webcam is available for family to see each other and communicate with while apart, but Finkbeiner said when he tried it in Iraq, it didn’t work.

Asked why he enlisted in the Marines after graduation, Finkbeiner said, “I didn’t have anything going on. I guess I just wanted a change of scenery.”

His 19-year-old brother, Grant, a 2008 Graford High School grad, said it’s good having an older brother in the Marines to get advice from.

“We’ve talked about it quite a bit,” he said, “what to do, how to stay out of trouble.”

He said he hopes to train to take part in reconnaissance missions for the Marines, which will require training in a variety of things like jumping from planes and scuba diving.

His older brother said he doesn’t worry much right now about his sibling being in the Marines. He said Grant can look forward to getting some real training, as opposed to what he endured during his three-month training camp. “It will be a lot more mellow,” said Lincoln Finkbeiner, adding that so far Grant has been exposed mainly to “people yelling at him.”

The two Marines are the sons of Karen and Randy Jackson. They have a sister, Marci, a step-brother, Daniel, and step-sister, Dusty.

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Content from the Associated Press is included in this article.

Ellie