WHY I JOINED THE GUARD: LTC GEORGE V. HINDY

 

Since the time I was admitted to practice law - an endeavor in which I made a good living - I always thought that when you take from a system, you must replenish by giving back to it - by "pro bono" providing legal services. Throughout my career as an attorney, which now spans over thirty-five years, I always felt a need to volunteer.

I was introduced to the Guard a number of years before I joined by Major General Robert Rose, the then Commander of the New York National Guard. He advised that there was a need for lawyers to support the active and reserve New York military forces and that I would always feel a personal sense of accomplishment and reward.

Well, it took some time before another colleague reached out and suggested that the Guard needed attorneys with a Trusts and Estates law background, to provide legal assistance to our troops. The way he put it - was “join, you’ll meet a lot of good people and do some interesting work and as an aside there will be opportunities to obtain CLE credits". Several months later, I submitted my application and was sworn in as an officer in the NYG. I began regularly volunteering for our legal support operations with the New York National Guard, U.S. Army Reserve, and other branches of the U.S military.

Then came September 11 and the terrorists attacks on our nation and the NYG took on a new meaning for me. My younger son, Mark, died in the attack on the World Trade Center. I think a lot of Americans had feelings of rage and frustration that day, but for those of us who lost family members, it is an experience that we will never put behind us. But what could I do?

I was too old to go out and fight. I could, however, make my contribution to the war effort by supporting those who would be doing the fighting. When I go out to a military base to draft legal instruments for soldiers who are soon to be deployed, my uniform looks the same as their uniform. I am connected to them. I am part of our country’s effort to make sure that this never happens again, and to extract retribution against those who did this horrible thing, and would do it again if we let them.

The work we do as officers in the New York Guard is needed and is so personally rewarding that I look forward to being involved in legal support operations.

I urge you to consider joining the New York Guard. I promise that you will feel a sense of accomplishment after your first legal support operation and you will fulfill the need to replenish the “system” - i.e. give back.