Second Regular Session Seventy-third General Assembly STATE OF COLORADO REVISED LLS NO. R22-0521.01 Andrew Webster x2044 HJR22-1014 House Committees Senate Committees HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 22-1014 C ONCERNING THE DESIGNATION OF A PORTION OF COLORADO STATE101 H IGHWAY 21 FROM KETTLE CREEK TO WOODMEN ROAD IN EL102 P ASO COUNTY AS THE "SFC WILL LINDSAY MEMORIAL103 H IGHWAY".104 WHEREAS, Will Lindsay was born on August 26, 1985, in1 Cortez, Colorado to Grant and Tammy Lindsay, graduating from2 Montezuma Cortez High School in 2004; and3 WHEREAS, Will joined the United States Army immediately after4 graduating high school, enlisting on July 7, 2004, and married the love of5 his life Sarah Unger in 2010, and together they had four daughters who6 were the center of their world; and7 WHEREAS, After completing Basic Training and Airborne8 SENATE Final Reading February 7, 2022 HOUSE Final Reading February 4, 2022 HOUSE SPONSORSHIP Ortiz and Sandridge, Amabile, Bacon, Benavidez, Bernett, Bird, Bockenfeld, Boesenecker, Bradfield, Caraveo, Carver, Catlin, Cutter, Daugherty, Esgar, Exum, Froelich, Garnett, Geitner, Gonzales-Gutierrez, Gray, Hanks, Herod, Holtorf, Hooton, Jodeh, Kennedy, Kipp, Larson, Lindsay, Lontine, Luck, Lynch, McCluskie, McCormick, McKean, McLachlan, Michaelson Jenet, Mullica, Neville, Pelton, Pico, Ransom, Rich, Ricks, Roberts, Sirota, Snyder, Soper, Sullivan, Tipper, Titone, Valdez A., Valdez D., Van Beber, Van Winkle, Weissman, Will, Williams, Woodrow, Woog, Young SENATE SPONSORSHIP Lee and Liston, Bridges, Buckner, Coleman, Cooke, Coram, Donovan, Fenberg, Fields, Garcia, Gardner, Ginal, Gonzales, Hansen, Hisey, Holbert, Jaquez Lewis, Kirkmeyer, Kolker, Lundeen, Moreno, Pettersen, Priola, Rankin, Rodriguez, Scott, Simpson, Smallwood, Sonnenberg, Winter, Woodward, Zenzinger Shading denotes HOUSE amendment. Double underlining denotes SENATE amendment. Capital letters or bold & italic numbers indicate new material to be added to existing statute. Dashes through the words indicate deletions from existing statute. School, Will volunteered for and completed the Special Forces Selection1 and Qualification Courses, earning his Green Beret in July 2006, and was2 assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Carson,3 Colorado as an Assistant Operations and Intelligence Sergeant with Alpha4 Company, 2nd Battalion; and5 WHEREAS, On February 6, 2019, Sergeant First Class (SFC) Will6 Lindsay deployed to Kunduz Province in Afghanistan in support of7 Freedom Sentinel VIII and XI, Operation Warhammer; and8 WHEREAS, The deployment had a high operational tempo, as the9 goal of Operation Warhammer was to establish peace in the region by10 bringing Al Qaeda to the negotiation table; and11 WHEREAS, On March 21, 2019, during operations in Kunduz12 City, SFC Lindsay's element came under heavy volumes of effective13 machine-gun and small-arms fire from multiple directions and from14 enemy positions as close as 25 meters from friendly locations; and15 WHEREAS, Under heavy contact and exposed with little cover,16 SFC Lindsay immediately directed his element to lay down suppressive17 fire and employ hand grenades against nearby enemy fighters to suppress18 the enemy firing positions; and19 WHEREAS, SFC Lindsay's element immediately sustained20 casualties from enemy machine-gun fire, and the detonation of an21 improvised explosive device (IED) rendered his machine gunners22 unconscious; and23 WHEREAS, Without hesitation and with full knowledge of the24 enemy threat, SFC Lindsay continually exposed himself to enemy fire to25 suppress enemy machine gunners with his individual weapon and hand26 grenades; and27 WHEREAS, SFC Lindsay's action provided covering fire for28 wounded personnel and medics attempting to establish a hasty casualty29 collection point to provide critical treatment; and30 WHEREAS, Realizing that his element contained multiple31 wounded in action and was in imminent danger of being destroyed by32 enemy machine-gun fire, SFC Lindsay completely exposed himself in the33 open to place more effective fire on the enemy and was wounded by34 1014 -2- enemy machine-gun fire; and1 WHEREAS, Despite having been wounded, SFC Lindsay bravely2 and selflessly maintained his position, suppressed the enemy forces, and3 coordinated the approach of friendly forces coming to his element's aid;4 and5 WHEREAS, In a final attempt to defeat the enemy, SFC Lindsay6 sprinted across an open road in an effort to mark enemy positions and7 regain the initiative from the Taliban and during this attempt, SFC8 Lindsay was mortally wounded; and9 WHEREAS, SFC Lindsay's conscious decision to continually10 expose himself to heavy volumes of fire from a determined, entrenched,11 and well-equipped enemy undoubtedly protected the lives of all within his12 element and directly contributed to the fatal wound he suffered; and13 WHEREAS, SFC Lindsay was killed in action when he14 succumbed to his wounds on March 21, 2019, in Talawka Village,15 Kunduz Province, Afghanistan; and16 WHEREAS, During his 15 years of service, SFC Lindsay deployed17 seven times: Five deployments to Iraq, one to Tajikistan in support of a18 counter-narcotics mission, and one to Afghanistan; and19 WHEREAS, SFC Lindsay's military decorations include the Silver20 Star Medal, four Bronze Star Medals, one Meritorious Service Medal, a21 Purple Heart, a Combat Infantryman's Badge, a Military Free Fall22 Jumpmaster Badge, and a Master Parachutist Badge; and23 WHEREAS, SFC Lindsay was a devoted husband, dedicated24 father, and true son of Colorado who held a deep love of hunting and25 fishing and working with his hands and would often shame his friends on26 the golf course with his mid-seventies game; now, therefore,27 Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Seventy-third28 General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the Senate concurring herein:29 (1) That a portion of Colorado State Highway 21 from Kettle30 Creek to Woodmen Road be named the "SFC Will Lindsay Memorial31 Highway" in honor of Sergeant First Class Will Lindsay's lifetime of32 honorable service and heroic sacrifice.33 1014 -3- (2) That the Colorado Department of Transportation may accept1 and expend gifts, grants, and donations for the purposes of the initial2 placement of signs to mark the designated section of Colorado State3 Highway 21 as the "SFC Will Lindsay Memorial Highway".4 (3) That the Colorado Department of Transportation may explore5 a cooperative agreement with the Board of County Commissioners for El6 Paso County for the maintenance of signs marking the "SFC Will Lindsay7 Memorial Highway".8 Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint Resolution be sent9 to SFC Lindsay's wife, Sarah Unger, the Colorado Transportation10 Commission, the Department of Transportation, and the Special Forces11 Foundation (CO Branch).12 1014 -4-