Patti Foreman Lindley, Staff Sergeant US Marine Corps and US Marine Corps Reserves

Between typing “Top Secret Eyes Only” documents and flying in a Huey helicopter during US Marine War Games, teen Marine Patti Foreman was certainly leading a different life from the one she experienced in Monroe, Ohio, a farming village with one stoplight.

Patti did not miss a beat growing up in this agrarian, hardworking, and faithful community.  At Lemon Monroe High School, she played trumpet in six bands and swam competitively. She was a cheerleader and a member of the National Honor Society, all while holding a part-time waitress job, as well!

Although Patti received a scholarship to Akron University, she knew that she was not ready for studies and so she turned to the US Air Force, the branch in which her father proudly served.  Instead, the US Marine Corps turned out to be her destiny. Without further ado, she found herself at boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina for nine weeks, in 1973.

 At 5 AM, only a few hours after her arrival at P.I., the drill instructors turned on the lights and rolled a metal garbage can lid down the aisle of the barracks while yelling at the recruits to stand in front of their bunks. Running in the extreme heat of South Carolina, accompanied by huge mosquitoes, became the new normal. Patti adapted and adopted  “can do”  as her new mantra.

The drill instructors were smart and strong women. They required the recruits to listen and obey instructions, as a means of instilling leadership. It was so intense that all the recruits could think about was getting the job done and contributing to the team. Patti quickly learned that Marines are all “green” and thus all are given equal opportunities and responsibilities. Indeed, she credits the Marine Corps for her ability to think individually and as part of a whole. Training on arms was not offered to women then, though Patti later had a quick lesson on how to use a .45 pistol at a later duty station in D.C.

The first five or six weeks were intended to tear down the recruits, while the next step was to reshape them into Marines. It was important to identify as a Marine and reinforce their sense of responsibility. Hence the emphasis on the crisply turned appearance of both women and men. Despite her 1970s sensibilities, such as painting large flowers on her locker, she completed boot camp. Her parents attended the ceremony where Platoon 9-A received their prized USMC emblems. This was a turning point in Patti’s life.

Patti stayed at Parris Island for another month, training in Administration, her MOS. Her first duty assignment was at USMC Camp Elmore,CINCLANTFLT [Commander-in-Chief, US Atlantic Fleet] based in Norfolk, Virginia. Because she was working with “Top Secret Eyes Only” documents, she was learning “what was going on minute by minute [around] half the globe.” At this time, Patti’s boss, Camp Elmore’s General, brought in the Harrier aircraft from the UK for the US.Hers was a special assignment, serving in the General’s communication board. A personal driver would pick her up at 4 am. As a reward for her hard work, she was invited to join the General’s team in a Huey helicopter to observe the Marine Corps War Games.

After a year, Patti requested and received a transfer to Marine Corps Headquarters, DC. Patti, now Private First Class Foreman, worked for Plan & Operations, two doors from the Commandant. PL’s documents, usually daily briefings of world events, sometimes including information on hostile foreign campaigns, were seen by even fewer eyes than at CINCLANTFLT. They were distributed to twelve to fifteen officersreporting to PLs, before cycling up to the Commandant, the Joint Chief of Staff, and finally, the president. At times, Patti’s duties were at the Pentagon. Other duties included destroying sensitive material and involved logistics.She recalls an instance where the sensitive paper was bagged and stashed in a ton-and-a-half truck and taken to a secured location to be destroyed. Lance Corporal Foreman was to sit on top of huge piles of papers, armed with a loaded .45 gun.  Since she worked on the Marine Corps budget under Colonel Toth, she was privy to Congressional hearings. Another highlight was the retirement ceremony for General White, where she saw a private ceremony of the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Similarly, attending pre-bicentennial ceremonies in the nation’s capital, in 1975-76 evoked pride and patriotism.

Patti observes that Women Marines were the “silent minority.”They make up only 5 percent of all Marines. Happily, she experienced no harassment and found that the occasional error would be discussed and rectified as a group.

In September 1975, Corporal Foreman was granted an honorable discharge. At that time, she enlisted in the US Marine Corps Reserves.  With her Marine active and reserve service,Patti graduated from Miami University of Ohio with a BS and an MBA using the GI Bill. Patti compares these academically rigorous programs to the Marine ethos. At college, though, she felt shocked at the poor treatment of her brother-in-arms, returning from the Vietnam War.

As a Reservist, Sergeant Foreman served with Company B, 24th Marine Regiment, 1^st Battalion, Dayton, Ohio, as an Administrator Chief and Recruiter. Patti continued her USMCR Reserve service while attending Miami University. During her time at Company B, Sgt Foreman humorously recounts being tasked with painting camouflage on jeeps when her artistic spirit got the best of her.  

After she graduated from Miami University in 1983, she worked at Corpak MedSystems, a global medical device company, in Corporate Accounts and Product Management.  This was a time when less than 10 percent of women were working in this capacity. After a thirty-five-year successful career at Corpak MedSystems and Kentec Medical, she decided to employ her many skills to save lives through innovative medical devices and services, establishing her own business, PFLMED LLC.  Thus began Patti’s engagement in making neonatal infant devices a reality to be used by hospitals around the world.

Patti is happily married to an actuary, Gary Lindley. Staff Sergeant Lindley is a woman of faith who actively supports the Marine Corps and veteran activities.

In her own words,

“I thank you, [Marine] Corps… It drove me to do something better than myself.”