My walk this morning was dedicated in honor of Navy Senior Chief Shannon Kent who died Jan. 16, 2019 in Manbij, Syria from a suicide bomb attack. She was from New york and was assigned to Cryptologic Warefare Activity 66, based out of Fort Meade, Maryland. Kent had enlisted on Dec. 11 of 2003. She was the first US female service member killed in combat against ISIS since the U.S. led coalition began battling the terror group in 2014.
She was a recipient of two joint Service Commendation Medals, the Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal, an Army Commendation Medal, and a Joint Service Achievement Medal. She also held an Iraq Campaign Medal and a Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
Her husband, Joe Kent, served 20 years in the US Special Forces. They had two young sons, age 3 and 18 months. Her father was a police officer and her mother was a teacher.
She was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2016 and was successfully cured following surgery. She had enlisted in the Navy Dec. 11, 2003 and graduated from boot camp at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois in Feb. 2004. She was the noncommissioned officer in charge at the National Security Agency’s operations directorate for four years. Kent was considered a ‘rockstar’ among the linguists. She was fluent in seven languages and rose quickly through the ranks as a cryptologist at Fort Meade.
In 2007, Kent was deployed to Iraq on an intelligence team supporting Navy SEALs.In 2008, she underwent training for a permanent position on a SEAL support team, and she was deployed to Afghanistan to support a SEAL team in 2012.
On January 16, 2019, Kent was part of a group that had attended a meeting with local military officials and the group stopped at a local restaurant frequented by U.S. personnel, the Palace of the Princes in Manbij, Syria, when a man in a suicide vest walked by outside and detonated his device.
She will NOT be forgotten.
What a beautiful morning to honor a hero. I could not ask for a better day. I want to thank everyone for the support that you show when you honk , wave. Thank you so much. Let’s keep their memories alive.
