Heath, Robert (Interview transcript and video), 2019

Smither, James (Interviewer)

Robert Heath Sr. was born on September 18, 1979 in Chicago, Illinois. While living in Germany as a ‘Military Brat,’ Heath enjoyed life in Hamburg while his father worked for the Army as a supply route manager. After high school, he attended the University of Illinois where he graduated in 2001 with degrees in economics and speech communications. He joined the Marine Corps at age twenty-seven and slowly worked his way into the Officer Candidate School by 2009. While he was attending the University of Illinois Law School, Heath simultaneously worked in Quantico, Virginia, as the lawyer for the base. After graduating OCS and all additional military legal courses, Heath was stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Over his career, Heath advised over 200 cases, taking on seventy of which twenty-five were job hearings, thirty criminal cases, and only took eleven of those to trial. Heath then served as Company Commander for B Company, Headquarters and Support Battalion, Marine Corps Installations out of Camp Lejeune from June of 2015 to July of 2016. He and his five staff members directly administered the Combat Camera Marines, Communications Marines, FSMAO (military supply) Marines, Explosive Ordnance Demolition Marines, MISO (administrative) Marines, Food Service Marines, DMO (transportation management) Marines, and several other smaller sections. By 2015, Heath held the rank of Captain since he graduated from Naval Justice School. He was later given the opportunity to rank up to Major in the Marine Reserves, but ultimately decided to leave the service due to family concerns since his wife was constantly worried about the possibility of his deployment and separation from the family. His final high-profile court case sent him back to Quantico where he worked one of the less severe Parris Island cases. Heath officially left the service in October of 2017 and found the transition back into civilian life difficult since he deeply missed the service and eventually wanted to deploy with the Corps. However, his wife ultimately persuaded him to choose family over service. He then started his own firm, Legacy Leadership Consulting. Reflecting upon his service in the Corps, Heath firmly believed great leadership takes care of both the individual and the mission at hand. He also believed that, in order to become a good Marine, one must be willing to commit as well as prepare themselves for challenge and a change in lifestyle.

2019-08

In Copyright

Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401.

Veterans History Project (U.S.)

HeathR2334V

video/mp4

application/pdf

Moving Image

Text

eng