Christopher Lenington
Christopher Lenington was born in 1982 in Alton, Illinois. He later lived in Granite City, Illinois. Chris’s father was Richard Lenington and his mother was Sandra Lenington. Chris attended Roxana High School in Roxana, Illinois. His parents were divorced when he was about four years old. Chris lived with his mother until sophomore year and then moved in with his father. Chris stated, “While living with my father, I knew for a fact that my path was going to be tragic if I didn’t do something. It wasn’t college; I wasn’t great at school, but I knew that I loved to be outdoors.” Chris was working several odd jobs waiting tabled, busing, working in the warehouse, and cleaning windows in his father’s furniture store. Lacking direction, the first thing that came to his mind was the military. Chris knew there was no college funding set aside, so he visited local recruiters in Alton, talking to the Air Force, Marines and then to the Navy. Chris, said, “I was still undecided, when the gentleman in the Army office walked over to me and asked me to talk to him. I did and then that was that was the beginning of my Army career.”
“My father approved of my choice to join the military, while my mother was very upset. She did not want me to go like most mothers I would think. Since I was 17, I needed a parent’s signature. My father signed the contract for me with in 1998. I was off to basic training at 17 in April of 1999.
Chris would go on to serve 1 tour in Iraq and 3 tours in Afghanistan seeing extensive combat.
For the rest of his story, click on the link below.
