TROUTDALE, OR, USA U.S. Army SSG, HHC, 41ST INFANTRY BCT, 7TH INFANTRY DIVISION, III CORPS, PORTLAND, OR SHAJOY, AFGHANISTAN 09/10/2006
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier, who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Sergeant Nathaniel B. Lindsey, 38, of Troutdale, Oregon, died on September 9 in Shajoy, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his HMMWV encountered undetermined ordnance from enemy forces during patrol operations. Lindsey was assigned to the Army National Guard’s 41st Brigade Combat Team, Portland, Oregon and part of the 205th Regional Corps Advisory Group, part of Task Force Phoenix, responsible for training the Afghan National Army. He was a gunner in an uparmored HMMVV.
Sergeant Lindsey and his convoy were attacked when Taliban fighters set up a false checkpoint in Afghanistan on Sept. 9, 2006. The enemies hit the convoy with either a roadside bomb or a rocket-propelled grenade, and then opened up small-arms fire on the vehicles. Lindsey, a gunner who had recently switched from a desk job at a secure base in Kandahar to a job training Afghan soldiers, died in the attack. He had volunteered for deployment to Afghanistan after having already served in Iraq and during Hurricane Katrina to protect an officer he had driven for since June 2004. Lindsey was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the Meritorious Service Medals on Sept. 22, 2006.
Sergeant Lindsey first served four years in the Navy aboard the USS Enterprise. He had been in the Oregon National Guard for eleven years. He deployed five times in that time. Recent deployments: to Iraq as an infantryman in 2003, to Katrina last year, and to Afghanistan this year. He volunteered to go on the Afghanistan mission. In civilian life, he was an armored-car driver.
Sergeant Lindsey is survived by his wife Joyce, three step-children, his daughter, parents and grandparents. His oldest stepson was also a member of the Oregon National Guard.
His wife, Joyce, said, “Bottom line is God decides when it’s his time. The Taliban doesn’t decide that.
Brad was a fan of a local radio show. When home on leave from Iraq, Joyce made arrangements for Brad to visit with Lars Larson. Brad brought him gifts – a cigar liberated from a palace, a mug with his unit insignia and some old Iraqi dinars. He told Lars to keep the dinars so he would always know the face of evil (Saddam). Lars keeps them in his wallet.