Lt. Almar Fitzgerald: Making the Citadel Proud
Categories: American Grit Stories
This is…hard to write. Although I didn’t know Lt. Fitz, as we called him, as well as many others in Weapons Company Third Battalion Seventh Marines, did, I knew him well enough for him to leave an impression on me. He left the mark of a true leader. A man who, somehow just understood how to relate to his men and display the difference between a man in charge and a leader. Lt. Almar Fitzgerald was a leader.
I’ll never forget this time at Hurricane Point, a small Forward Operating Base in Ramadi, Iraq. The year was 2005 and Ramadi was an extremely dangerous place. But this story isn’t about how dangerous Ramadi was or still is. It’s not about actions performed on the battlefield. It’s about how a true leader can teach you so much through one seemingly simplistic experience. As a writer, sometimes I see the beauty in a short concise prose of an author when they could have droned on for pages with superfluous commentary. There is a brilliance to be had in the basics.
We had a basketball goal outside of our hooch, and Lt. Fitz came down to play. An officer playing a pickup game of basketball with a whole bunch of Corporals and Lance Corporals. Usually, in our downtime, officers did stuff with other officers, staff noncommissioned officers hung out with other staff noncommissioned officers, etc… that’s how the culture worked. I was just a mere PFC at the time, or maybe I’d been promoted to Lance Corporal, everything runs together and dates are hard to separate.
Lt. Almar Fitzgerald came and played basketball with us.
That’s it. That’s the action. It seems so simple and so inconsequential. How could any sort of leadership be gleaned from that? Because a leader, a real leader, understands that he is not above his men. He is one with them. Lt. Fitz showed us that day, that despite his higher ranking, he never thought himself more important as a person. He valued us as he valued himself. Maybe it was on purpose, maybe it wasn’t, I’ll never know. Lt. Fitzgerald was hit by an IED in February of 2006 and never recovered from his wounds. I never got to ask him about that day he came and played basketball with us, just like he was one of us.
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A true leader indeed.
Hey Brother;
That story about his leadership style and character as a person is a perfect representation of who he was. It really does capture something special about Lt. Fitz that I have been thinking about recently. And in my opinion I think Lt. Fitz knew exactly what he was doing when he played that game of pick up ball with you guys. He did that a thousand time with us in different ways. I am Shaw from CAAT BLACK
Shaw. I fucking miss you, man. How is life? I hope you’re doing well. Hit me up john.fannin@gruntstyle.com and gimme your contact info.
How do i just leave a simple comment about another great 3/7 leader who was taken from us to soon. All the way from Blade 6 to LT Fitz and my LT in India Co 3rd Plt, LT Iverson. The good officers were so few and hard to find. Those ones at 3/7 definitely set a precedent for the rest of my career and let me tell you i never had another officer like the ones in 3/7. The only time i had another good experience with an officer was if they were part of 3/7 from 2005 to 2007. I remember how amazing everyone shared stories about LT Fitz for years after that loss. The good ones are hard to find and when they show up it makes such a huge impact on the Marines under their command.