Photo By John Crosby | Indiana National Guard Capt. Robert Cline feels at home in his 40-acre forest in...... read more read more
“There’s 168 hours in a week, and I use all of them,” Capt. Robert Cline said from behind a cluttered desk of books, papers and sticky notes.
By quickly looking at his clean, simple appearance and mundane office, one might miss the unique character in Cline that’s helped build his life legacy. His accomplishments could be enough for three successful men. A county prosecutor, National Guard judge advocate general, and seasoned farmer, Cline spends every minute of his busy day pursuing his passions in life.
His office overlooks a homely downtown main street of Martinsville. The neatly landscaped Morgan County Courthouse offset by the sleepy drag of historic buildings and businesses are reminiscent of Cline’s personality; simple, hardworking and faithful to his principles.
You may know him on drill weekend as the 81st Troop Command JAG. You may know him from deployment with the first Indiana Agribusiness Development Team. However, outside of the National Guard is where many of Cline’s truly remarkable attributes are rooted.
The proud father of five adopted children and husband to his wife, Audrey, of more than 15 years, he approaches each facet of his life with the same dedication and willingness to learn and succeed. Professionally, Cline has centered his life around three different areas of expertise; law, military and farming.
He enlisted in the active-duty Army as an infantryman in 1986 at Ft. Irwin, Calif., earning the Expert Infantry Badge and Air Assault Badge. He returned to Indiana in 1988 and, following in his father’s footsteps, found work as a police officer.
Cline said he owed much of his success to the military. “The military has always had a profound effect on me and how I view the world. The attention to detail required by the military and that foundation from 1986 on has shaped the way I function and greatly contributed to my success.”
In 1986, Cline enlisted for six years in the Indiana National Guard and finished his contract as a sergeant first class. During this time in the Guard, he used his GI Bill to earn a Bachelor Degree of Art in Law and Society at Purdue University. After that he earned a Masters in law and accounting at Indiana University in Bloomington.
In 2002, Cline was hired as the chief deputy prosecutor for Morgan County where he still works today. He’s prosecuted more than 3,000 cases running a gamut of charges from fishing without a license to burglary, sex crimes to murder. Recently, he worked to get warrants for officers investigating the attempted murder at Martinsville High School earlier this year.
Cline made a conscience decision to be a prosecutor instead of a higher paying defender position.
“Yes, the defense attorney makes better income, and although I could use the money raising five children, I feel the more important thing is to show them a strong moral compass. Not to take anything away from the defenders, for me personally, if I was confronted with a situation where I had to defend someone I felt was guilty, I couldn’t go through with that.”
After the 9/11 attacks, Cline felt his background in law gave him something to offer to the fight.
“After 9/11 I felt like I could do something to give back to my country,” Cline said. “I’ve been given a lot by this country, and by the military. The military paid for my bachelor’s degree through the GI Bill. I guess I just felt like I needed to give something back.”
Cline re-enlisted in 2004 with the 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team where he served as JAG and moved to Indiana Joint Forces Headquarters in 2008.
“These soldiers that are deploying need the best quality legal services they can get, so that if bad things happen, and sometimes they do in war, their children and their families will be protected,” Cline said.
Cline spent his childhood on his father’s farm. Farming continues to be an integral part of his life. When the call echoed across Indiana for Soldier-farmers to raise their hands and volunteer for deployment to Afghanistan with Indiana’s first Agribusiness Development Team, he jumped at the chance.
“I think during these last few (ADT) rotations we’ve made a difference,” Cline said. “The Afghan people want the same things a lot of us want. We want to be able raise our families, feed our families, have a good life and give our kids the chance to do a little better than we did. I think that’s a very human desire and I think that we have made a difference.
“The experience I developed and the friends I gained on that deployment are very precious to me,” continued Cline. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
After returning home from deployment, Cline became the 81st Troop Command JAG in April 2010.
“Being the JAG officer for 81st Troop Command really encompasses a whole breadth of military justice,” Cline said. “Because the 81st Troop Command has a homeland security mission, my job also involves a significant amount of responding to natural disasters. We need JAG to really understand the civil legal framework in which we as Soldiers operate in.”
Again, following in his father’s footsteps, Cline uses his knowledge of farming, tending animals and gardening to help sustain his family today on his roughly 130-acre, southern Indiana farm.
He spends several hours a day outside tending his animals and working his land. “It’s good for me. After a long day of dealing with criminals, there’s nothing quite as nice as being in the woods and just walking around.”
Almost 40 acres of Cline’s land is dedicated to tree harvesting including walnut, black cherry, poplar, maple and oak trees.
“We selectively pick trees so that there’s a sustainability of the forest,” Cline said. “It’s a process that ensures that my ancestors over the next three, four, five-hundred years can cultivate and harvest this forest.”
He also owns dogs, chickens, goats, donkeys and raises cattle for sale to feed farms.
“I enjoy the cattle,” Cline said. “If you’re having a stressful day, going out and walking through the cows as they graze can be quite relaxing. I like walking through them and looking at them. Most people, when they see a cow, they only see a cow. I see individuals. I’ve been doing this 20 years, so I know who descended from who, I know their personalities.”
Cline’s family strives to be as self-sustainable as possible, growing corn, tomatoes, potatoes and variety of other garden vegetables.
“I truly have a great wife,” Cline said. “She’s a full-time mother. She’s great with the children. She helps out in the garden. She helps with the cattle. In that, I’ve found a great partner.”
Cline said his busy lifestyle wouldn’t be possible without his wife.
“That stable home environment allows me to focus on my job, focus on the Guard, focus on everything else, so that when I can come home I don’t have to worry about anything else. It’s a great team approach and quite honestly, I couldn’t do it with my wife.”
As for the future, Cline plans to continue his National Guard career, continue cultivating his land so that he can pass it along to his family, and continue to pursue his civilian career path as a prosecutor.
“Maybe I’ll run for elected prosecutor, or even judge,” said Cline, adding that he is happy where he is now and wouldn’t change anything just yet. “Overall, I’m extremely lucky to be here, to have the opportunity to be with my family and do what makes me happy.”
Cline believes he is successful is because of his understanding of what it takes to be a good soldier and a good person; dedication to duty, devotion to the truth, to honesty, to integrity, the willingness to do the right thing and to go the extra mile. A master of his own life and a man of many passions, he devotes his time and focus wholeheartedly to his family, his community and his country.
| Date Taken: | 08.26.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 08.26.2011 14:16 |
| Story ID: | 76001 |
| Location: | INDIANAPOLIS, IN, US |
| Web Views: | 266 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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