FIRST SERGEANT JAMAL BAADANI

For a guy who’s been on the cover of Parade magazine, an interview for ‘Our Arab American Story’ should be small change, but First Sergeant Jamal Baadani shows up with his father, his son and his wife, who photographs the whole thing, thanking us with sincere gratitude.  By honoring us, merely the chronicles of Sgt. Baadani’s heroics, he does himself the honor:  that is his character.

Born in Egypt to Yemeni parents, where he lived until the age of ten, when he moved to the United States.  With a bent both for self-fulfillment and an eagerness to display his loyalty to his new country, he spent his formative years preparing for a career in the military, and in 1981, he joined the Marine Corps—often named as the toughest branch of Armed Services.  Following Basic Training, the then Private Baadani was sent to Redeye/Stinger Gunner School in Fort Bliss, Texas where he finished as Honor Graduate and subsequently promoted meritoriously to Private First Class.  PFC Baadani reported to 2nd FAAD (Forward Area Air Defense) Battery at Cherry Point, North Carolina in October of 1982.  In July 1983, PFC Baadani was meritoriously promoted to Lance Corporal.  January 1984, LCpl Baadani was sent to Beirut, Lebanon to participate with the 22nd Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU) in support of the Multi-National Peacekeeping Force Ashore at Beirut International Airport.  LCpl Baadani was combat promoted to Corporal in February of 1984.

Hence the Parade feature.  As an Arab American in a time of war on several fronts in the Middle East, Gunnery Sgt. Baadani (he was meritoriously promoted to Staff Sergeant in July, 1991, and recently, to First Sergeant), he is sensitive to those fringe-element protesters who see a conflict of interest in a soldier fighting an enemy with whom he shares a language and a culture, and to some extent, and upbringing.  This prejudice—this failure to understand the depth of Baadani’s sense of duty—extends, at times, to Arab Americans as well.  He’s even received death threats, though from which nationality is not clear: such cowards rarely leave a call-back number.

“My father came here for a better life,” Baadani explains, “and he found it.  My youth was spend in a pretty good place, and I had opportunities here I never would have had in the Middle East.  I joined to military as way to thank America for what it offered my family.  I’m not required to agree with all our policies overseas, I’m required to display unwavering loyalty to my country’s dictates.”

That pretty much sums up Baadani’s philosophy, and he proves it out every day: in January 2000, he entered the US Marine Corps Reserve. 

The few, the brave, the proud?  His chestful of medals is impressive, but only hint at the strength of character that beats in the heart beneath it.