Lance Sigmon: Biography

I was born on November 10, 1958, in Newton to Eddie P. and Boncella Killian Sigmon. I have two younger sisters who are both married, and I also have two nephews and one niece. My family has lived in the Catawba Valley area for generations.

I graduated from Newton-Conover High School in 1977. On my 18th birthday, I enlisted in the Air Force through the Delayed Entry Program and left home in July 1977 for basic training. After graduating from basic, I trained as a defensive aerial gunner on a B-52H bomber and then spent the next 3½ years stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base, ND.

I was honorably discharged in 1981 and returned home. I started college at Lenoir-Rhyne College and finished at Western Carolina University. I graduated magna cum laude in 1985 with a double major in Accounting and Economics. In August, I married my high school sweetheart, Melissa Seagle. After our short honeymoon, we moved to Winston-Salem where I began law school at Wake Forest University.

After graduating from law school and passing the NC Bar exam, I returned to the Air Force and accepted a commission in the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG) as a 1st Lieutenant.

We spent the next 17 years as a military family while I served in a variety of jobs and locations. I deployed to Kuwait as the Staff Judge Advocate (head legal advisor) in support of Operation Southern Watch, deployed as legal advisor in support of Operation Uphold Democracy, assisted in aircraft crash investigations in Honduras and Maryland, and routinely advised commanders and junior attorneys on the law of war.

I held numerous positions while assigned to the JAG Corps. Most notably, I served as a prosecutor at four separate locations, I was hand-picked to serve as sole defense counsel at two installations, I was selected as the chief prosecutor for all Air Force bases in Europe and Southwest Asia, and served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in Florida and Alaska.

In 2000, I was appointed as Chief Appellate Counsel for the Air Force. After terrorists attacked on 9/11, I was an Executive Officer to the Air Force Crisis Action Team, which served as the 24-hour, 365-day nerve center of world-wide Air Force operations at the Pentagon. I was honored to be appointed as military judge for the final two years of my service.

In 2005 after serving 21 years, I retired as a Lieutenant Colonel and we returned to Newton. I opened a solo law practice specializing in defending military personnel facing trial by court-martial. Melissa had been homeschooling our children since we lived in Germany, and she continued to do so in Newton while assisting me in my new law practice. Our family joined the church where Melissa and I had been married in 1985, and we are active in our church. Our son is now a freshman in college, and our daughter will graduate from high school next year. Our family also includes a cat, two dogs, and two horses.

During my campaign, it has been my pleasure to meet with many of you and listen to your concerns. It would be my pleasure to represent you in Congress, and with your help we can restore integrity and honesty to the 10th District Congressional seat in Washington. Please vote for me on May 6.

Lance Sigmon

McHenry in the News

#1. “At a private meeting of conservatives in the House of Representatives last month, Rep. McHenry (N.C.) ridiculed Sen. John McCain, asking why his fellow right-wing activists ‘shouldn't be physically ill at the prospects of a President McCain.’” Washington Post, February 12, 2008

#2. “But voters in his district think was he was out of line and should show more support for those who are in Iraq, whether they are in the military or civilian contractors.”  WLOS, Channel 13 (www.wlos.com/shared/newsroom/top_stories/wlos_vid_518.shtml)

#3. “After Sigmon and others complained, McHenry pulled the video from his Web site, although it could still be found on other Web sites until Friday afternoon. A Pentagon spokesman has said the video may have violated military protocol by offering insurgents a better understanding of the effectiveness of their attack. . .  Brandon Friedman, a former Army officer who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and is now vice chairman of veterans advocacy group VoteVets.org, called McHenry's actions a ‘stupid move’ and seconded Sigmon’s call for an investigation. . . ‘What he did was careless and it could have very well gotten people injured or killed,’ Friedman said. . . . ‘Anybody who has ever been in a combat zone - either inside the military or outside the military - knows that you don't violate operational security. You don’t do anything that could potentially help the enemy.’” Associated Press, April 18, 2008.

#4. “WASHINGTON — The Pentagon told a North Carolina lawmaker Tuesday that he couldn’t re-air a video he’d shot in Baghdad after accusations surfaced that he breached operational security in detailing enemy rocket attacks. Rep. Patrick McHenry, a Republican, traveled to Iraq with other lawmakers for the first time on March 22. The video was the second incident stemming from that trip that has drawn unwanted attention to McHenry. Earlier, he was criticized for berating a guard in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone for not allowing him into a gym there because the congressman did not have the proper identification credential.  The new criticism stems from a video that was featured on his Web site last Friday. Shot in the Green Zone, it showed McHenry gesturing to a building behind him and saying that one of 11 rockets ‘hit just over my head.’ Then he named two other places struck by the rockets.” Lisa Zagaroli | McClatchy Newspapers, April 8, 2008.

#5. “McHenry went to Iraq on Easter weekend to pump up his never-picked-up-a-weapon resume in his election run against three, count ‘em, THREE, decorated service veterans. While in the Green Zone, he had a run-in with a soldier he described in a speech as a ‘two-bit security guard,’ then went outside and made a video during an insurgent attack. Under pressure for insulting the military, Sir Chicken Hawk couldn’t make himself apologize (other than ‘poor choice of words’), so he puts his own video on his Congressional website to boost his image, and all hell breaks loose.’ . . . I served on one of the Navy ships that quarantined Cuba during the October 1962 ‘Cuban Missile Crisis.’ I know for a fact the kinds of instructions given to any visitors in any kind of operational combat zone about unknowingly providing information to the ‘aid and comfort’ of our enemies. Does anyone remember Geraldo Rivera?”  Ed Readling, Hickory