FORT SILL, Okla. June 25, 2015 -- Two brothers rose through the ranks with mutual support from each other as the rungs in their respective service ladders.
Command Sgt. Maj. Brian Lindsey, Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill, and his younger brother, Command Chief Master Sgt. Kenny Lindsey, Air Force Warfare Center, have reached equal levels in their respective services.
When asked if they had the typical sibling rivalry, they quickly said "not at all."
"I think we got where we are because there is no competition, and what my dad taught us -- do the right thing, work hard and it pays off," said Brian.
"We were raised in an environment which is different now, where my dad was huge on shut up do what you're told. There was no latitude for, 'Hey, I got an idea. What do you think about this? There was zero latitude," added Kenny.
They laughed as they recalled not questioning their father and said it helped them in their early years of serving in the military.
"I always thought whatever I was doing even if it was picking up trash do it to the best of your ability," said Kenny.
While Brian admits his younger brother was the brains in school, he said fighting through uncomfortable situations helped him rise up the ranks.
"Both of us jumped into the military, and it was a successful thing and we just stuck with it. We both have master's degrees and are the first two in our family to graduate from college."
The Lindseys made an impression wherever they went and because Kenny works in a field that has such close connections to the Army even some instructors and Soldiers have had the privilege to work with both of them.
"We went to jump master school one right after the other. Jump Master School is pretty demanding as far as standards, but he didn't and I didn't get one no-go the entire course which is rare especially through JMPI," said Brian.
"I'm the only person in DoD to have served with both the Lindsey brothers," said Col. David Flynn, G3/5/7 director.
"It was a phenomenal experience because I was a battery commander in 1998 when Brian Lindsey showed up."
He said Lindsey could bench press a howitzer if one were put on his chest.
"He was running the show as his gunnery sergeant in 1998. Along that time I was competing to go to the Ranger Regiment to be a fires support officer in 3rd Ranger Battalion. I run into Staff Sergeant Lindsey and I said, Lindsey ... that's kind of funny I just had a Lindsey in my battery I just left.
"He goes yeah that's my brother."
Flynn said he was happy to see the Lindseys have stayed in and have been shaping Soldiers and Airmen all these years.
"This man here was an expert in 1998 and look what he did, he's at the two-star level. I'm not surprised at all. His brother was the best (joint terminal attack controller) that I ever served with in 3rd Ranger Battalion."
"You don't forget the good ones. You never forget the good ones."
The Lindseys have a lot of history in the area. Their father was stationed here in the 299th Engineer Battalion, and their mother worked in clothing and sales on post. They went to school at the now gone Geronimo Road Elementary and later on at Lawton High School.
Brian met his wife, Vickie, in elementary school and Kenny was best friends with her brother as they were neighbors adjoined by their backyards.
"Those are the only places we remember as kids: Germany and Fort Sill," said Brian. "We'd go to Germany for three years, come back here for four years ... and we just kept going back and forth the entire time."
Brian joined the military two years before Kenny and they are currently sitting at 28 and 26 years of service.
"We're very similar in what we do and how we go about completing the task. I think when you go back to how our parents raised us we're very similar. We're both Type A, we're both hardheaded so we don't even argue too much because we'll get to a point we'll just stop because we won't get anywhere," said Kenny.
"Planning, executing demanding standards out of folks and discipline even in yourself ... my parents drove that in us -- you're going to do the right thing you're going to work hard on what it is you want to achieve. That's just how they raised us," said Brian.
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