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USS CARTER HALL (July 18, 2013) - For Lance Cpls. Matt Sinclair
and Daniel Sinclair, both from Easton, Md., an armorer and landing
support specialist respectively, assigned to Combat Logistics
Battalion 26, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, this deployment is
bringing them closer. Both Marines are currently embarked aboard the
USS Carter Hall.
For both Matt and Daniel Sinclair, aged 22
and 21 respectively, the decision to join the Marine Corps came
independently, though for similar reasons.
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U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpls. Matt Sinclair and Daniel Sinclair,
brothers from Easton, Md., assigned to Combat Logistics Battalion
26, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), embarked aboard the USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) while at sea July 18,
2013. The 26th MEU is a Marine Air-Ground Task Force
forward-deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility aboard
the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group serving as a sea-based,
expeditionary crisis response force capable of conducting amphibious
operations across the full range of military operations. (U.S.
Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Michael S. Lockett)
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“I just wanted to get out of town,” said Matt Sinclair.
His brother's logic was much the same.
“It was time to figure
something else out,” said Daniel Sinclair.
Joining
as an armorer, Matt Sinclair went to basic training in May
2011 before going through armorer school, followed by
assignment to 8th Engineer Support Battalion, stationed at
Camp Lejeune, N.C. His brother followed four months later,
joining with a contract for the logistics option. Daniel
Sinclair went to basic training in August 2011, went to
school for landing support specialists, and was subsequently
assigned to Combat Logistics Regiment 27, also at Camp
Lejeune, a stone's throw from where his brother was working
and living.
“When he got out of school and moved in,
he was only one barracks apart,” said Matt Sinclair.
Matt Sinclair was chopped over to CLB-26 from the
beginning of pre-deployment workups, moving from 8th ESB to
take part in pre-deployment training. Daniel Sinclair was
not, but when the requirement for more landing support
Marines came down from CLB-26 after the Fort Pickett, Va.,
field training exercise in September 2012, he volunteered to
go to CLB-26 and deploy with the 26th MEU. “I wanted to try
something new – to get a deployment under my belt,” said
Daniel Sinclair.
At the beginning of the deployment,
the Sinclairs were on different ships: Matt on the USS
Carter Hall and Daniel on the USS Kearsarge. But routine
rotation of Marines to fill different slots in the CLB
detachments means that Daniel is now aboard the USS Carter
Hall as well, sleeping the in the same tower of racks as his
brother. “I knew right off, everyone's going to confuse us,”
said Matt Sinclair. “Same last name and all. Same berthing,
and now he's in the rack below mine.”
To have someone
you know from your hometown is uncommon; to have your own
sibling is unheard of. “I feel like I'm cheating the
deployment, since I've got someone from home with me. He's
literally one of my best friends,” said Matt Sinclair. “It's
convenient – makes life a bit easier to have family with
you,” said Daniel Sinclair.
The Sinclairs will
continue their deployment aboard the USS Carter Hall with
the 26th MEU until they return to Camp Lejeune, whereupon
they'll revert back to their respective parent commands.
Until then, they'll be living together aboard ship, going
through their deployment together.
By USMC Cpl. Michael S. Lockett
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2013
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