Gary Lambert

Attorney Gary Lambert of Nashua didn’t follow the usual road that leads to Iraq. 

He didn’t receive a call from his commander with the news of a pending deployment.  Instead, he received a congratulatory call on obtaining the position as the number two lawyer in Iraq.  “I will never have that much responsibility again,” Lambert said. 

As Deputy Legal Advisor to the Commanding General in Iraq, Lambert worked at a multi-national level with 32 other countries.  Speaking Arabic helped Lambert communicate with local officials. “I enjoyed working with the Iraqis on the detainee board the most, deciding the disposition of detainees,” he said.  “There were so many detainees and sometimes innocent people got caught up, too.” Seven-day workweeks, intense heat and constant threats of attack didn’t dull Lambert’s enthusiasm for his work, “It was a great time,” he said.

Lambert, a colonel in the Marine Corp Reserve, has a total of 26 years in the military: eight years’ active duty and 18 as a reservist.  “The position in Iraq was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Lambert said. Now at home, he continues his reserve service by acting as the Senior Legal Advisor to the USMC Commanding General at Quantico in Virginia.

Lambert, a patent and trademark attorney with offices in Boston, MA and Nashua, NH, has several high profile clients, such as Wal-Mart, Polaroid and Boston University, Lambert had to delegate cases to his co-workers in January of 2004 when he left for Iraq.  Going from patent and trademark law to being an advisor to the top general in the war was quite a change.  However, having graduated from the Army War College, Lambert felt ready for the challenge. 

Leaving Lori, his wife of 10 years, and two young daughters for six months was not easy; keeping in touch through e-mail and an exchange of care packages helped ease the anxiety.  “Having someone at home taking care of the personal things took some of the pressure off,” Lambert said referring to the great job his wife did of keeping their young daughters from understanding the full scope of the danger he was in. 

Located at Camp Victory, Lambert’s office was formerly Saddam Hussein’s bedroom.  The palace, once the pride of the fallen ruler, now houses cubicles and offices of people tasked with rebuilding the country.  Air conditioners helped keep the desert elements at bay, but Lambert didn’t always use the comfort they offered.  “I turned off the air conditioning at night, I needed to hear what was going on in my surroundings,” he said.  

In order to keep the long days and the stress from affecting his physical well-being, Lambert worked out two hours or so a day and ran when he could.  While on a run, Lambert’s habit of listening paid off when he heard the familiar sound of a rocket launch; “I dove into a nearby building, surprising the guys working in there, just as a bomb exploded in the vicinity of where I had just come from,” he said.

The things Lambert missed most were, “just being able to walk down the street and go into a pizza place, or get a cup of coffee whenever you wanted.”  Getting acclimated to the United States again didn’t take long.  “I expected a few bumps in the road after coming back, but didn’t really feel any,” he said. 

Being able to pick up where he left off in his offices was helpful.  “There were enough people to take over; nothing was lost,” Lambert said.  A 200-guest welcome home party, organized by his wife, celebrated Lambert’s return.  He has seven years until his retirement from the armed forces in his new position in Quantico.  “They will have to kick me out when my 30 years are over,” he said.

Catherine Courtemarche is a freelance writer from Bennington, NH.  The William Whitten article in the October 7 issue of Bar News should have carried this same attribution.