Cross & Crescent

Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger (Evansville 1969) grew up on the south side of Indianapolis. Little did he know the impact that the minister of his church, who had been a minister in Evansville, Indiana, would have on his college selection.

While Umbarger was busy being a varsity athlete in high school, his minister was sending updates to representatives at the University of Evansville.

“When I was a senior, he asked if I’d go make a visit,” Umbarger says. “I went down and made a visit and I just fell in love with it….I came back and they offered me a football scholarship. That’s really the reason why I went.”

Umbarger enjoyed Evansville, and liked that it was far enough, but not too far, from home.

During his freshman year, many other varsity athletes joined fraternities but Umbarger decided he wasn’t quite ready.

“I elected my freshman year not to pledge,” he says. “As each day went by as a freshman going to school, I began to see the Lambda Chi guys….I liked what I saw with the Lambda Chi guys….The clouds parted after my first year and I knew that if I wanted to be in a fraternity, I wanted to be a Lambda Chi.”

Joining the National Guard

After graduating from Evansville in 1969, Umbarger went back home where his father ran an agricultural business.

A World War I veteran, his father recommended that Umbarger visit the Indiana National Guard to see if he could enlist there instead of being drafted.

Even though there was a long waiting list, Umbarger’s college degree helped him to be placed in officer candidate school.

So Umbarger left for basic training as a private and then he went off to infantry officer candidate school, and became a platoon leader.

“At the time, I had no idea what that meant,” he says. “I was just a private serving my time, doing my part for my country.”

Originally signed for a six-year obligation, Umbarger has now been with the Indiana National Guard for 39 years — 35 of those as a citizen soldier or weekend warrior.

Working as a civilian at his father’s agricultural business, Umbarger had a few moments over his 39 years when he almost asked for a discharge and retired — only to have a mentor, someone he really respected, ask him to stay.

“I really felt like I was needed, felt like I was making a difference,” he says. “It was something that I enjoyed.”

For Umbarger, the National Guard is a military fraternity.

“Those men and women who wear the uniform…it’s just a special bond you have. When someone asks you to remain, and most of the time it was for another assignment, it was kind of a challenge,” he says. “I found it was a great compliment to my civilian job. You learn a lot of leadership traits.”

Since assuming his current role in 2004, Umbarger has had the responsibility for training, equipping, and the readiness of all the Army and Air Forces of the Indiana National Guard for wherever they are needed on the state or federal level.

He has been to Iraq four times and Afghanistan three times to visit the troops.

“I feel an obligation to go over and visit and see how they are doing,” he says. “To see how the training was that they had received. Do they have the proper equipment? So as we come home and we get ready to train those that are in the next rotation, we can tweak or alter training programs for them.”

Umbarger was appointed originally to his post by then Indiana Gov. Joseph E. Kernan. He was notified about the appointment during one of his visits to the Middle East.

“It was quite a shocker to me because I had always considered myself a traditional part-timer,” Umbarger says. “But my wife, my family, and I made a decision that maybe it was meant to be.”

After his first tenure in office, he was reappointed by current Indiana Gov. Mitchell E. Daniels Jr.

“So I’ve had an opportunity work with two very, very good men, very good governors,” he says.

Family Business

In addition to his National Guard duties, Umbarger and his family still maintain their family agricultural business.

Even though he has taken a leave of absence from the business, the previous years he worked there taught him some important lessons.

“My experiences working in agriculture and working in my own business helps with my military work — budgets, hiring people, promoting people, working with banks….It was also a good proving ground for me as I got higher up in the ranks of the national guard.”

Unlike the corporate world, initial leadership roles in the military can include being in charge of dozens of men.

“The military really puts you in leadership positions that it takes years in the civilian world where you would ever be a leader of that many people,” Umbarger says. “At an early age, it exposes you to an opportunity to lead people. The military is big on schooling, and giving you experience…and really the corporate world has copied many of the programs the military has instituted on how you develop leaders.”

Sovereign States

The adjunct general position is the appointed leader of the National Guard for each state and the commander and chief is the governor of each state.

“My responsibility is to assure that all the federal dollars that are sent into us to equip our soldiers and airmen is used properly,” Umbarger says. “The training is conducted. So when the nation needs them, and they call them off to war, then they are properly trained and equipped and they are able to do their job.”

Because of the huge demand for military personnel for the war on terrorism, Umbarger currently receives about 94 percent of his funding from federal money and 6 percent from state money.

The Indiana National Guard has 14,500 soldiers and airmen, which is the fourth largest army guard in the nation behind only Texas, California, and Pennsylvania.

Lambda Chi Days

Umbarger was recently selected as an Evansville distinguished alumnus and he had the opportunity to go back to Evansville and speak at the Founders Day banquet.

During his speech, he spoke about his undergraduate experiences at Evansville and he categorized them into three areas.

“The first was, I enjoyed the small college environment at the University of Evansville,” he says. “The second was playing football, athletics, and being able to do it at a school, which was very meaningful for me. But the last one, that really formed me into the guy I was, was my experience in the Fraternity. It just makes you look at life a little more broad, it polishes you.”

Umbarger stays in touch with several alumni brothers, including a core group of about 15 brothers in Indianapolis.

Those relationships are testament to how Lambda Chi Alpha is not for four years, it’s for life. In addition, Umbarger believes the Fraternity motto, Naught Without Labor, is a concept he believes in very strongly.

“In life, we’ve all learned that it’s not the good times…it’s not something that’s been handed to you on a platter that you remember,” he says. “It’s the tough times that you’ve worked so hard — the blood, sweat and tears — for something.”