You know, most of the time it’s hard to like an over-achiever, isn’t it? They’re just so good at, well, everything, and they make it seem effortless, while the rest of us put in hours before a math test we were probably going to bomb. How annoying is that?
But then, there are always a few over-achievers who you just can’t help loving. And if you’re talking about Shannon Kent, you had to love having her on your side, if nothing else.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent had the sort of job title that speaks of boring days in a stuffy office: Cryptologic Technician.
Sadly, SCPO Kent was killed in action, along with three other Americans, when a suicide bomber attacked a restaurant in Manbij, Syria in January.
But, after her passing, it’s becoming clear that a cryptologic technician does much, much more than push a mouse around in an office. Indeed, SCPO Kent was a true warrior.
As a cryptologic technician, SCPO Kent spent much of her time in the field, often in body armor and sporting a sidearm and an M4.
But the combat gear only scrapes the surface of her role, which in truth was much closer to special forces than anything else.
She performed tasks just as dangerous, covert, and critical as any man did.
In fact, her role was so complicated, it couldn’t be quite summed up in a sentence.
“She’d tell me, ‘You can say what you do in two words, but I have to explain over and over to people what I do, and half of them don’t believe me,” her husband Joe, a 20-year veteran of the special forces, told The New York Times . “As the years went on, she wised she could just say, ‘Hey, I’m Joe, and I’m a Green Beret.'”
As Joe explained, the ‘cryptologic’ component of her title referred to code breaking.
The code, however, wasn’t messages as much as people. She was an expert in breaking those codes, too, but she could also get sources to give up vital information without realizing they were doing it.
“She wasn’t just relying on local informants. She knew how to fill in the gaps through her knowledge of different intelligence capabilities,” Joe said. “She was kind of a one-stop-shop for finding bad guys.”
No surprise, SCPO Kent was incredibly accomplished in many areas.
She spoke five languages, including Arabic in a half-dozen dialects, could run a marathon in 3:30, and march with a full, 50-pound rucksack alongside the men.
She was also mother to two boys, now 3 and 18 months old, and survived a bout of thyroid cancer. When she died, she was in the middle of her fifth deployment, part of the last efforts at wiping out ISIS in Syria.
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Almost 2,000 people showed up to her memorial service.
She was awarded five medals and citations posthumously during the service, as well as being promoted to senior chief petty officer.
Her commanding officer, Commander Joseph Harrison, said “The accomplishments of this rockstar are simply phenomenal. She brought the right heart-set and mind-set to everything and was a model for others to emulate.”
Indeed, service was in her blood.
Her father, a state police officer, and her uncle, a firefighter, both responded to the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks.
And like so many others, she was inspired to join the armed forces after 9/11, signing up shortly after she finished high school in 2003.
Before her most recent deployment, she had tried getting into a doctoral program in clinical psychology, only to be turned down over her previous bout with cancer.
Strangely, she was considered healthy enough to go to a combat zone, but not healthy enough for a classroom.
Joe told Stars & Stripes that she had hoped to work with veterans with PTSD while transitioning more into motherhood. “She saw psychology…as a way to stay in the community to contribute to the fight and also help her fellow veterans,” he said.
