1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,640 All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio. 2 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:15,920 This is Veterans Radio. 3 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:17,840 Welcome to Veterans Radio. 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,560 I am Jim Fausone. 5 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:22,880 I'm the officer of the deck today. 6 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:24,760 We've got some great programs for you. 7 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:27,760 I think you'll find very interesting. 8 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:34,640 We always want to remind you you can find more about Veterans Radio at its Facebook site 9 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:36,680 or at the web. 10 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:43,120 VeteransRadio.org is our new URL, VeteransRadio.org. 11 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:48,520 Where we're on the web 24-7, you can find a lot of our podcasts there as well. 12 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:55,080 We post new ones every Tuesday, so you can get a new story, a new interview, 13 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:59,960 something you didn't know before by going to VeteransRadio.org. 14 00:00:59,960 --> 00:01:04,240 And before we get started, we want to thank our sponsors. 15 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:13,680 First up, we want to thank National Veteran Business Development Council, NVBDC.org. 16 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:19,360 It was established to certify both service disabled and veteran-owned businesses. 17 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:25,920 You'll find out how they can help your business by going to NVBDC.org. 18 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:29,320 We want to thank Legal Help for Veterans. 19 00:01:29,320 --> 00:01:35,000 Legal Help for Veterans fights for veterans disability rights all across the nation. 20 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:46,400 You can reach them at 800-693-4800 or on the web at LegalHelpForVeterans.com. 21 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:51,200 We want to welcome to VeteransRadio today two veterans themselves. 22 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:56,560 We're going to talk about a book that's coming out here in May of 2024 called Send Me. 23 00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:04,400 The True Story of a Mother at War, and we were fortunate to talk to her husband, Joe Kent. 24 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:06,920 Joe, welcome to VeteransRadio. 25 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:08,720 Thanks so much for having me. Great to be here. 26 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:14,920 And Maris Soklavend, Jr., who is the editor-in-chief of Task and Purpose, 27 00:02:14,920 --> 00:02:19,080 and probably the guy who put pen to paper here is a former Army Ranger, 28 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:26,280 which surprises me he could put pen to paper, but maybe it's all that time he was an experienced conflict reporter 29 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:28,480 and working at Task and Purpose. 30 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:30,680 Marty, welcome to VeteransRadio. 31 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:36,440 Thanks for having me on. And I'll jump right up and say, I'll give Joe a lot of credit here. 32 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:39,760 He put a lot of pen to paper as well to make this book what it was. 33 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:45,200 Holy cow, you mean a guy who spent 20 years as an Army Ranger in a green parade, 34 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:50,320 has editorial and writing skills? Way to go, Joe. 35 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:54,560 Lots of repetition there when I was working on the intel side, 36 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:58,400 but that was definitely a challenging skill for me to learn while I was in the military. 37 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:01,400 Normally when I'm talking to the Marine writers, they always start, 38 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:06,480 well, my first draft was with Crams. So you get a little bit of that. 39 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:14,760 So this is an amazing story of an amazing woman, Shannon Kent, who grew up in New York. 40 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:19,040 Her dad was a state trooper. Her mom was a teacher. 41 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:25,400 Early on, she demonstrated linguistic abilities. 42 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:30,240 Tell me a little bit about the early years and why Shannon decided, 43 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:34,560 hey, I'm going to join the Navy. 44 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:36,600 Well, 9-11 was the big catalyst. 45 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:39,040 I mean, she had thought about joining the military before. 46 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:45,640 She was very interested in the world beyond her small town in New York state. 47 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:48,960 She wanted to eventually join the Foreign Service and the State Department. 48 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:50,000 Something along those lines. 49 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,120 She taught herself French and Spanish as a kid, 50 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:55,040 so she knew that she could learn languages. 51 00:03:55,040 --> 00:04:01,320 But then after 9-11, like you said, her father and her uncle also was a New York City firefighter. 52 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:03,720 So they were both ground zero first responders. 53 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:09,080 So once 9-11 happened, Shannon knew exactly what she needed to do and she felt called the Serbs. 54 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:13,840 So she found the first recruiter who would listen to her and that was actually a Navy recruiter. 55 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:17,320 So she went to all the different services and said, hey, I can learn Arabic. 56 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,240 The towers just got knocked down by people from the Middle East. 57 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:21,720 I can learn that language. 58 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:24,920 I guess the Army and the Marines gave her the run around and said, hey, you scored really high. 59 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:26,520 We want to teach you Russian or Chinese. 60 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:29,920 And the Navy was the first one who said, like, you want to learn Arabic? 61 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:33,000 OK, sure. Sign right here, young lady. 62 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:36,920 Well, a lot of these stories, you get recruited just sort of that way. 63 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:39,400 It wasn't maybe exactly what you were thinking. 64 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:41,880 Her brother was a Marine, I believe. 65 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:46,600 So her and her brother actually right after 9-11, her brother's about a year younger than her. 66 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:48,880 They both went and found recruiters. 67 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:55,080 And Mike knew that he wanted to be a Marine because the Marines have probably the best recruiting propaganda out there. 68 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:56,400 So Mike had his mind made up. 69 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:58,680 He joined the Marines and Shannon settled on the Navy. 70 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:04,640 But they actually both because of their father and their uncle went out and sought out recruiters right after 9-11, 71 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:07,200 like so many warriors of our generation. 72 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:09,200 Joe, you went into the Army. 73 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:11,360 Ultimately, they became a Green Beret. 74 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:16,440 You've also done a number of other special class-fed special app units. 75 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,800 What compelled you to join? 76 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:21,800 You know, I was in before 9-11. 77 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:25,920 So really, I like to say it was a combination of the A-Team and G.I. Joe growing up. 78 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:32,880 I don't know as far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a commando of some sort and read every single Vietnam book. 79 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:33,960 I could get my hands on. 80 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:39,640 Eventually decided I wanted to be a Green Beret because they always seemed like they were involved in conflicts and adventures, 81 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:41,840 even if America wasn't necessarily at war. 82 00:05:41,840 --> 00:05:45,280 So I was already fully committed by the time 9-11 happened. 83 00:05:45,280 --> 00:05:49,920 And that just really heightened my resolve to stay in and to continue to fight. 84 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:55,600 Larry Philiston, why did you join up as an ultimate Army Ranger? 85 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:58,400 You know, I did come in after 9-11. 86 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:02,480 I was a freshman or sophomore in high school when that happened. 87 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:08,800 And certainly that solidified the idea that I was going to go directly into the military after I graduated high school. 88 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:17,880 But similar to Joe, I grew up reading those Vietnam memoirs and, you know, almost every male in my family had served in the military. 89 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:19,920 So I grew up around those people. 90 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:23,200 Even in high school, one of my uncles was in the Air Force. 91 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:25,160 He was like an OIF one guy. 92 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:31,280 So I still remember sitting on the phone in the kitchen talking to him overseas in Iraq. 93 00:06:31,280 --> 00:06:36,680 And it just, the entire, I think my entire world just kind of pushed me in that direction. 94 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:41,120 And there was never really any idea other than I'm going to go join the Army. 95 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:50,200 And I think it was a, specifically wanted to be a Ranger because of a combination of seeing Black Hawk down and then reading the news reports about Tahrgar. 96 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:55,160 I wrote a high school report on Roberts Ridge or the Battle of Tahrgar. 97 00:06:55,160 --> 00:07:00,120 And that really, I think between that and Black Hawk down really solidified the idea of like, I don't want to just join the Army. 98 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:04,920 I want to be an Army Ranger and, you know, go, they seem to be where the fight is. 99 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:06,320 And I wasn't wrong. 100 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:14,200 Well, I've had some radio listeners, so we're talking to two real committed patriotic men here. 101 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:27,400 But the real emphasis on this discussion is an incredible woman, Sharon Kent, who joined the Navy and had this incredible career as a linguist and cryptologist. 102 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:33,680 Joe, explain to the regular folk out there what a Navy cryptologist does. 103 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:37,600 Yeah, it's a really long way to say that she steals enemy signals. 104 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:41,680 So basically, if it comes out of a cell phone, it comes out of a computer or radio transmission. 105 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:45,440 She was trained to attack into it, to steal it, to decode it. 106 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:49,360 But then a big issue with that is that usually it's in a foreign language. 107 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:56,440 And so you'll get cryptologists that have the ability to do all the stuff with the ones in the zeros and actually steal the signal. 108 00:07:56,440 --> 00:08:04,240 But then you get people like Shannon who are dual trained to not only steal the signal, but then if it comes through in Arabic and multiple dialects of Arabic, 109 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:08,440 that she can then translate it into actual intelligence. 110 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:17,880 She went and this is typical in the military, right? The defense, the DOD has a linguistics classes that they put you through. 111 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:21,800 But these were things that she amazingly excelled at. 112 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:31,320 Talk to us about some of that training and commitment to really go in depth as an Arabic speaker. 113 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:34,560 Yes, and she went to the Defense Language Institute out at Monterey, California. 114 00:08:34,560 --> 00:08:40,080 And it's interesting, you always hear about the training that Rangers go through and Green Brays go through, 115 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:45,560 but you don't really hear about things like DLI because it just doesn't make for a really cool video. 116 00:08:45,560 --> 00:08:50,720 However, it's some of the most challenging training that I think people in the military can undergo. 117 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:59,960 It's 18 months of intensive language instruction where they take people from all over the United States of America who might not ever heard one word of a foreign language before. 118 00:08:59,960 --> 00:09:05,760 And they take them and they make them not just proficient, but they make them fluent in reading, writing and speaking in about 18 months. 119 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:09,360 And so that was, I think, Shannon's kind of dream job. 120 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:12,640 So she got to be very deeply immersed in Arabic. 121 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:16,720 But as anyone knows, as most people know, Arabic is a very complicated language. 122 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:19,400 There's modern standard Arabic, but then there's different dialects. 123 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,760 And Shannon really found a niche in the different dialects. 124 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:31,520 When she finally got over to Iraq, she got pretty obsessed with how Iraqis actually talked versus modern standard Arabic that she had learned in Monterey. 125 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:33,520 And she had that ear. 126 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:35,360 It's the same ear, I think, that musicians have. 127 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:36,880 She was also musically inclined. 128 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:41,280 I agree, and Bray, as we have to learn language as well, we don't need to learn it quite to that level. 129 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:44,840 And one time when I was studying Arabic, I asked Shannon, what's the secret? 130 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:46,400 How are you so good at this? 131 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:51,760 And with a straight face, she said, well, you just listen to someone, a native speaker, say the word. 132 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:55,120 And then you remember it, and then you say it exactly like they said it. 133 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:59,080 I was like, OK, our brains are not exactly wired the same way. 134 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:02,240 That's not how mortal men learn language. 135 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:04,760 Yeah, you learn how to order a beer and a few other things. 136 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:15,520 And she was actually, it was incredible in reading the book, Send Me, that is coming out here in May of 2024, 137 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:20,040 the focus that she had and her ability to pick up different dialects. 138 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:23,000 And this isn't a sit at home job, is it? 139 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:28,600 This isn't in a nice comfy office in DC or in moderate California. 140 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:33,400 Tell us about her overseas assignment and multiple deployments, Joe. 141 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:39,440 So it's interesting, you know, she initially volunteered right out of language school to go over to Iraq. 142 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:41,440 I want the Navy calls an individual augmentation. 143 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:46,240 So her, she wasn't part of a unit that all deployed together, like Marty and I deployed. 144 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:49,600 She deployed as an individual, and she basically could have gotten put anywhere. 145 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:53,280 But she ends up at the Special Operations Task Force and they essentially say, 146 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:57,280 hey, your job is to help us intercept enemy communications and then to translate them. 147 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:03,600 However, at the time, there was a high demand for people to go out and actually interact with Iraqis on the ground. 148 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:06,000 And that was not what a lot of people wanted to do. 149 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:10,280 They wanted to go kick in the doors and do the sexy type of direct action missions. 150 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:13,160 But Shannon said, hey, I actually really enjoy talking to these people. 151 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:14,880 I've got an act for the language. 152 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:20,360 And so because of that ability to go out and talk with actual Iraqis and collect human intelligence, 153 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:28,560 she got put right on the front lines and a SEAL team eventually put her with them as a part of their element to actually help them go out and track down bad guys. 154 00:11:28,560 --> 00:11:35,480 So really, I mean, Shannon's career is just a story of her volunteering to be at the tip of the spear and improving her worth, 155 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:41,000 usually based on her ability to understand the language, but then also to really understand the human factor. 156 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:51,040 And because she got so good at human intelligence, she really became quite the threat because usually human intelligence collectors are separate from signals intelligence collectors that sometimes even separated from linguists. 157 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:53,160 Shannon basically was a one stop shop. 158 00:11:53,160 --> 00:12:01,960 And that's why she ended up down there on the ground level with a special operations task force way before women were even allowed anywhere near combat arms. 159 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:03,880 Marty, maybe you want to expand on this. 160 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:12,000 She was a incredible woman warrior, fierce, focused, intelligent. 161 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:24,600 Talk to us about how unusual it is for a cryptologist, a woman cryptologist to find herself at the pointy end of the spear with special operations. 162 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:37,720 You know, I think that the way we have to look at Shannon's trajectory through the military is put it in context of what was going on within the larger special operations world at that time. 163 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:48,560 Shannon came in at a time when special operations was evolving from very siloed units like SEAL stuck with SEALs, Rangers with range, you know, so on and so forth. 164 00:12:48,560 --> 00:13:04,080 And basically what happened throughout the Joint Special Operations Command and some initiatives that happened in the mid-auts there was they started bringing everybody together and they needed intelligence to be that connective tissue throughout the organization. 165 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:15,120 And so if you had somebody like Shannon come along, like Joe said, that was kind of a one stop shop could speak all the different languages, not just literally Arabic or French or Spanish, 166 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:20,760 but the languages of the different special operations units and their cultures and that sort of thing. 167 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:32,960 She was able to be that connective tissue and she was able to get into these positions and get so close to the tip of the spear there and going out on missions, 168 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:41,320 taking part in direct action raids, all this sort of stuff because she was able to get there before anybody was even asking if this is okay. 169 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:46,440 You just had commanders on the ground over there saying, hey, this is a value add to my team. 170 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:51,840 Our organization is changing to be more like we need to have the people in place, 171 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:56,760 share intelligence and have people that are enabling the mission to be as effective as it could. 172 00:13:56,760 --> 00:14:04,960 I mean, it was an industrialized scale of network-centric warfare happening in Iraq back in the mid-auts and somebody like Shannon, 173 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:14,960 you skipped right past, oh, can we have a woman with us straight to, oh my God, she's somebody that can directly impact our mission and make us more successful on the battlefield. 174 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:20,160 And so just, I don't think people even asked the question if it was okay. She just went right into it. 175 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:27,840 It's one of those things where I think once you demonstrate yourself and that ability to respect funds, 176 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:38,120 she had a focus always to keep earning that respect and train hard both physically to be in physical shape to stay with special operations, 177 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:50,920 but also linguistically, she would listen Joe to Arabic news broadcasts at home when she was stateside to keep her language skills sharp. That's incredible to me. 178 00:14:50,920 --> 00:15:00,360 And you know, the physical side is really interesting in that a lot of times Joe and I have probably worked with a lot of guys and gals that come on as enablers or support. 179 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:05,840 And you know, there's questions on whether they can keep up, right, from a physical perspective. 180 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:12,120 And Shannon was one of those people from what I understand, there was never any question on whether she could keep up and in fact, 181 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:19,640 helped out a lot of folks as far as making them better runners, better at swimming, better at some of these things that she was, you know, physically gifted in. 182 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:26,680 So it's not like she was just a great Intel analyst or a great human Intel collector or any or a great linguist. 183 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:34,920 She had all the physical attributes that you expect out of somebody that's working at the highest levels of special operations. 184 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:39,520 The thing that I think is important to get across here is something that I read. 185 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:45,200 Joe, you first met Shannon. I think in like 20. 186 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:50,240 2007, I think it was. And. 187 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:53,120 She was all business, no flirtation. 188 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:56,560 She she was there for the mission and focused on the mission. 189 00:15:56,560 --> 00:15:59,680 If I'm reading this right and I'm trying to look find the date. 190 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:09,200 A while you ended up finding bumping into each other states. I had somewhere along the line before anything else happened. 191 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:13,200 But the importance of having respect and being all business. 192 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:22,720 Is one of those messages that I think is important for some some people to hear and it probably impressed you as well. 193 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:28,920 Yeah, I really did. I mean, she was all business despite my my best efforts. I should I should caveat that she was professional. 194 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:31,160 I probably was a little bit less professional. 195 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:36,160 But yeah, no, I actually met her at the the embassy complex in 2007. 196 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:42,440 I was over there just trying to match up some of the intelligence that my human sources were reporting back with some of the signals. 197 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:47,200 Intelligence people and I literally just walked into a brief that Shannon was giving on target that I was chasing. 198 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:52,360 And I was really impressed, not, you know, obviously by how she looked, but also the fact that she really knew her stuff. 199 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:59,800 And she was I would say doing much more common sense analysis than usually I would find at a. 200 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:04,800 An intelligence centric organization like she was working in at the time and actually met her about a week or two. 201 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:11,760 We figured this out years later. I met her a week or two before the SEAL team brought her down to where the actual the teams were deploying every night. 202 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:18,640 Going after bad guys. But she was there and she was putting to get she was tying together the pieces in a way that really impressed me. 203 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:19,880 And that was my fourth combat deployment. 204 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:29,240 So I kind of thought that I knew what was going on and the way that she was taking the human factor and overlaying that with her knowledge of Iraqi culture. 205 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:41,400 In order to hunt down bad guys to put them into time and space so that we could kill them was incredibly impressive to me as somebody who had just really dedicated my life to the Iraq deployments at that time. 206 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:45,960 Just seeing that Shannon was equally as committed to me was was really, really impressive. 207 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:51,680 And something that stuck with me for for many years until we actually ended up stationed at the same unit together years later. 208 00:17:51,680 --> 00:18:11,000 And I mentioned earlier her intelligence and her focus, but I think there's also as you read the book, there's this positivity, but humility and humor that she had Joe that that kind of took her to another place in terms of how people view her. 209 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:28,160 Yes, certainly. I mean, she just had a very humble personality, but very, very humorous always had a joke never really took herself or a situation too seriously, which, you know, I think a lot of people who've never been in a high stress high performing environment like a special operations task force. 210 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:42,280 You kind of tend to think that it's a very serious environment and it is, but I personally think that true professionals are the ones who can usually rise above the situation and keep a certain degree of calm and Shannon just exuded that in spades. 211 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:47,640 I could tell from the time that we met and then to once we met again later on in life and started dating. 212 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:54,880 I mean, she had, I would say, almost the same demeanor as a lot of really experienced special operators who had just kind of been there and done that. 213 00:18:54,880 --> 00:19:02,280 And that was the way that she carried herself never had any ego. She was always quick to mentor, you know, the, the sailors and other troops below her. 214 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:06,720 That was actually really one of her hobbies. She'd had people over to her house who were struggling at work. 215 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:14,720 She started a swim program and a run program for some of the people that were below her in rank that were having a hard time in that realm. 216 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:22,800 So that was just her nature, I think, as a as a human, but then also as a just as a mother and as a wife and everything that she was. 217 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:28,320 It, it, and maybe Mario last you to talk about it. 218 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:36,480 Shannon did. I think it was five overseas deployment, Joe did, I think 11 combat deployments. 219 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:41,160 Murray tells what happened on the last deployment for for Shannon. 220 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:52,360 Yeah, so I really think the way that I look at her different deployments, her fifth deployment was really the pinnacle of her professional career as as far as what she was doing. 221 00:19:52,360 --> 00:20:00,360 I think she was at the very highest level doing things that so few people can or will do in a very dynamic environment. 222 00:20:00,360 --> 00:20:10,680 I mean, Syria in 2019 was kind of unlike anything we'd ever seen before, as far as like a geopolitical environment. 223 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:17,280 I mean, it was a very complicated place where a mistake could cause a lot of problems at an international scale. 224 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:22,160 Right. We've got it in the book somewhere where one of the guys that we talked to that was also working 225 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:27,760 at theaters like I mean, we're literally looking at Russian flags and, you know, right across the way. 226 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:30,760 And I mean, it was a very dynamic environment. 227 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:35,800 A lot of places for things go wrong and you needed trusted professionals like Shannon. 228 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:41,160 Shannon and Joe both were people that were a little bit of an anomaly, even within special operations, 229 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:45,600 the fact that they stayed at the tactical level throughout their their entire career. 230 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:50,240 I mean, it was usually people move on to sort of administrative leadership sort of positions. 231 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:53,040 They were both very much at the ground level, like doing the job. 232 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:55,560 And so for Shannon, that was her deployment. 233 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:57,440 She was doing key leader engagements. 234 00:20:57,440 --> 00:20:58,640 She was doing source meets. 235 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:12,360 She was very involved in shaping what what was going on in Syria at that time in regard to a post ISIS sort of mess that was there. 236 00:21:12,360 --> 00:21:23,480 And yeah, I mean, ultimately, you know, on January 16th of 2019, a suicide bomber came in to walk into the middle of their element 237 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:29,400 as they were getting ready to leave an area that they were working on that they were working in in Manbij, Syria. 238 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:38,720 And it took the life of her as well as three other Americans and injured many more and killed many other Syrian defense forces as well. 239 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:46,440 And it's a very and as you read it in the book, even it was a very tragic, but very abrupt end to an incredible person's life. 240 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:55,000 And that's one thing, you know, for Joe and and the rest of her family, I imagine it's very like it's the last thing they expected. 241 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:58,920 You you consider when a family member goes off to war that that's certainly a possibility. 242 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:00,240 But the odds are in your favor. 243 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:04,960 Most people who go to war, at least in the 21st century, they come back from war, right? 244 00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:10,520 Like maybe not in one piece all the time, but most of them are coming back alive, usually. 245 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:12,800 And so you just figure the odds in your favor. 246 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:19,040 So her dying after such a long career of doing incredible work and as a mother and kids. 247 00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:21,680 And it just it was very abrupt. 248 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:31,320 And so we tried to one of my hopes with the book as people come to know Shannon throughout the book is that they experienced even one one thousandth of the pain 249 00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:38,520 and and just lost that Joe and her family felt when they found out. 250 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:40,280 You know, incredible person. 251 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:43,600 And we always like go out of our way and that was great. 252 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:46,080 Okay, I'm honored to those who are lost. 253 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:53,080 And along with Shannon that day, it was Jonathan Farmer, we raise Scott Wurz, a civilian intelligence officer. 254 00:22:53,080 --> 00:23:00,440 She worked with a lot and Godara Tara, a Syrian born contractor who had returned to Syria. 255 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:10,880 To being an interpreter for the US military, all for those folks lost their life on the suicide bomb event on January 16, 2019. 256 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:15,680 The recognition that this doesn't do the family any good, but it's important. 257 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:24,120 I think for for society, the recognition Shannon got in in death is substantial. 258 00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:38,600 The country on her, the Navy on her, the chiefs in the naval honored her. She was the first enlisted service person to be in state at the Naval Academy. 259 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:46,400 She's buried in Arlington, the number of speakers and commentators about her incredible patriotism. 260 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:54,480 And I'm sure it, as I say, it doesn't do any good for the family at the time, but I think it's important. 261 00:23:54,480 --> 00:24:01,320 And certainly one-way society recognizes these airlines who have been out there working so hard. 262 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:05,760 Now, I had to read 200 pages to get to the title of the book. 263 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:09,520 And then when I got there, I went, it's so obvious. 264 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:23,160 And the book, Send Me, the true story of a mother at war, Send Me comes from a biblical quote Isaiah 6 to 8, where it's asked, whom shall I send, Lord? 265 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:28,600 And the response is send me. And that really captured up Shannon's spirit, right? 266 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:32,760 She could have ducked out six different ways on these deployments. 267 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:40,840 But she really responded with that Send Me approach, didn't she, Joe? 268 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:47,960 She did. I mean, that was how we lived our lives. I mean, that's why I, that was really what attracted me to her in the first place. 269 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:51,640 And then why we decided to get married. I mean, we cover it in the book, one of our first dates. 270 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:57,040 We just sort of talked about like, hey, why are we doing this? Why are you still in the military? 271 00:24:57,040 --> 00:25:05,640 Because that we, you know, established, we both had multiple deployments and we're both just very much committed to our country, to our fight, to our brothers and sisters on our left and right. 272 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:09,760 And we both figured, hey, if someone's going to go, it should be us. 273 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:15,520 And as we were talking about Shannon's final deployment, we talk about this a lot in the book that was very challenging for our family. 274 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:19,960 She had another path that was kind of carved out for her that would have left her back in the States. 275 00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:23,520 That didn't work out because of some catch 22 types of reasons. 276 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:31,200 But she could have gotten out of that final deployment. And I know, I know there was a lot of her and me that was saying, hey, we should, you should just get out of this deployment. 277 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:35,560 I mean, you're a mom now. It's completely different. No one's going to think any less of you if you get out of it. 278 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:40,480 But at the end of the day, Shannon said, no, if people are going to go and they're going to be in harm's way, why am I any different? 279 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:44,720 I have all the skills. I should be the one that goes forward and fights for our country. 280 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:49,480 And so that's, that's why we entitled the book that way. And that's just how Shannon lived her life. 281 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:52,840 Selfless sacrifice. It's incredible. 282 00:25:52,840 --> 00:26:03,840 Marty, as the executive editor in chief of task and purpose, this has to be, you see many stories, but this one just have to be right at the top of the list. 283 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:13,800 And it's not even my work in journalism. I mean, that's certainly part of it. I've seen all these stories. I've been to a lot of memorials for fallen service members. 284 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:18,400 There's, you know, I know this world pretty well. 285 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:36,040 When I went down to meet Joe in the, in Virginia, or the Maryland, Maryland, Virginia, DC area there, where they lived. And I still very vividly remember sitting down at a table to talk to Joe and one of their family friends, Ali, and kind of doing the initial interview. 286 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:44,560 And then it was, I think the next day that we went to the memorial at the Naval Academy. And that was when it really hit me. 287 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:59,560 How much of an impact Shannon had had on this world, on the military, on the special officer, you know, on the likes, but this world, you know, she had had such an impact that the people that came out for that the, the, it was unlike anything that I had seen. 288 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:05,440 You know, like I said, it's not the first memorial for a fallen service member I'd ever been to. 289 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:15,560 It was unlike anything that I'd ever seen. And even through writing that initial article about her, you go through some of it and there's times where I'm just like, man, I couldn't make this up. 290 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:32,200 Like this is, this is something that you almost like, if you're writing, trying to write like a Jason Bourne character or something like that, you would maybe come up with some of the stuff like she was, but this is a real person that really possessed these capabilities, but also the capacity for, 291 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:47,920 for being a mother, for being a wife, for a sister, a friend, a mentor, like all these other things that you don't typically associate with the, you know, the cold hearted killer special operator, right, like, but she was able to do all of those things and I really, 292 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:59,120 you know, when I first saw the first news report when it came out, obviously I have to follow the news pretty closely and I saw the first articles come out on January 16th about an explosion in Syria. 293 00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:05,560 And then a couple in, you know, in the days after where they released the names after the families had been notified. 294 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:13,120 And they were framing this as like they were out to lunch or something like, like, like this was some sort of like, 295 00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:22,960 joyride that they were doing in Manbij, but even I knew at that time, looking at, okay, Scotty Wurz, Shannon Kent, John Farmer, Gadir, like, 296 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:36,880 this isn't the, John, I've said a couple of different times, this wasn't the going out to lunch crowd, like this wasn't the people that were just messing around in a war zone, like you just, those types of people aren't together in a war zone for, for messing around, you know, 297 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:51,280 it's all, it's all business, it's all business. And again, it's an inspiring story. I hope many, many young women pick this up and read it and are inspired by Shannon's focus, dedication, intelligence, 298 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:59,080 passivity, humility, all of those things which come through in the book, send me, 299 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:07,880 gentlemen, if you've got a few more minutes, I'd like to go to the third area that I want to talk about it, but, but it totally up to you if you don't have time, I understand. 300 00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:20,440 Yeah, yeah, this is, this is sort of above and beyond the book, if you will, but it comes out through the book and I think it's an important message for the civilian community to understand. 301 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:42,080 And Joe, you really lived it here with Shannon and that's the importance of family, both, both, you have two boys, both as parents, the importance of being able to deploy and take care of the kids, but also sisters, mothers, friends, cousins. 302 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:49,720 Talk to us a little bit about the importance of family for those who are deploying. 303 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:59,120 Yeah, I mean, it's, it's incredibly important, especially if you, you have kids. I mean, I was pretty fortunate. I did the vast majority of my deployments before I was married, before I had kids. 304 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:14,400 And so that definitely gave me a different view of deploying and I actually had, I've gone back in years since and kind of apologized to some of my teammates who had kids and had families and like I was living this great adventure and wondering why they were, you know, having some sort of struggles at home and things like that. 305 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:30,600 But it is very challenging. So if you don't have a spouse that, that understands why you're in the fight and it has equally committed to you, it's going to be very difficult. And I was very blessed to have Shannon in my life because she understood exactly what I was going to go do whenever I deployed when we were married and had kids. 306 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:49,280 But then also having a family support system, I mean, my parents were absolutely amazing. They would always fly out if I was gone or Shannon was gone to help us out with the kids and just to be there. Shannon's sister lived with us for a year after our first son was born and was basically, you know, when Shannon and I were both off at work or I deployed for a big part of that year. 307 00:30:49,280 --> 00:31:01,280 And it was Shannon and her sister there with my first son, with our first son Colt. And then, you know, once, once Shannon deployed again, both my parents came back out, Shannon's parents came down quite a bit. 308 00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:11,280 We did, and then just a robust network too of friends. I mean, the longer you're in the military, the more people, you know, get married and have kids and those types of things. And so you do end up really supporting each other. 309 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:24,280 And Shannon had a really great community up there in the Fort Meade area of other working mothers, you know, who were going through some of the same struggles as well as her. And so they were able to support each other. And so it's just, it's something that doesn't get talked about anywhere near enough. 310 00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:31,280 I think as we discussed going off and deploying to war, how important that home structure is and just how vital the family is. 311 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:53,280 We have a recruiting problem in this country that's well documented and part of it I think are, you know, parents who don't have any exposure to the military lifestyle, thinking part of their kids, whether it be a boy or a girl, a young man, young woman, are going to be lonely, that they're not going to have family, that there's not going to be this community or network around. 312 00:31:53,280 --> 00:32:00,280 But one really develops and Marty, I'm sure you saw that as well in your time in the service. 313 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:03,280 Yeah, I. 314 00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:13,280 So on the tail end of my military career I was a recruiter and there is a big gap between what parents think the military is and families think military is and what it actually is. 315 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:25,280 But ultimately, at the end of the day, it is service. You, you, you are going to go do something that is not always going to be comfortable that is going to 316 00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:36,280 be a big problem. And so I think that's one of the complications for you at home and family and to Joe's point. If you've got people in your life that understand that and are able to support that and support you that makes all the difference in the world. 317 00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:44,280 It really does I, you know, I didn't do any of my deployments with kids. 318 00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:56,280 I looked my wife through four out of my five deployments but we didn't have any kids or anything like that. I look back on it now I totally know what you're saying Joe like I have. I look back at the guys I deployed with who had families and kids I'm like I don't know how they did it. 319 00:32:56,280 --> 00:33:13,280 I literally cannot understand what it would take to be able to to go through that and Joe even at the tail end of your career with you still deploying having to say, you know, kiss the kids goodbye, like I mean that is, that is a level of service that I don't think most people will ever ever 320 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:19,280 understand. We don't we don't give a credit to the mothers who do this right. 321 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:24,280 Joe everybody's focusing on what an incredible warrior. 322 00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:32,280 Shannon was and selfless she was, but she brought that same sort of energy to being a mother didn't she. 323 00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:49,280 She certainly did I mean Shannon somehow squeezed 25 to 26 hours out of every single day. I mean that was just her personality. She really just went all in on everything that she did including being a mom I mean she she carved out a ton of time for our sons she was there, you know when they woke up in 324 00:33:49,280 --> 00:34:04,280 the morning she was there when they would go to sleep at night. That's another reason why her fifth deployment was just it was so painful for her to actually say goodbye and leave the boys and it was a much a much bigger conversation that we had and just a very hard lift for her but I mean she put the 325 00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:19,280 child into into being a mother I mean it's crazy now that I look back on it there was so much that Shannon was doing to make memories to document our memory she made these great family albums and she's family books that when she was doing I thought she was a little bit like obsessive it's like what's 326 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:34,280 why do you have to do this like right I mean she would make sure that she did them, you know, basically every year on the year. She was just really good about making memories making every meal special decorating our house of artwork that she made that was you know that represented 327 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:53,280 me. I mean she was just she did not do anything halfway she did everything all the way and she loved our sons and was a great wife. You know, 100% of the time. So it's just, she's just an amazing human and loved everyone in her fair her family and then also just her her military 328 00:34:53,280 --> 00:35:07,280 family as well. And some of this is just, again, I think the civilian world doesn't get this. It's perfectly normal stuff that military moms are doing. They're making the garden out back they're cooking special meals there. 329 00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:26,280 And she had an artistic talent with the mosaics. As you mentioned, I'll call it scrapbooking I don't know if that's the right term, but all that normal mother stuff that should that civilian and military moms have have together, and we need to kind of get it across to folks that 330 00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:32,280 if it can be a great life and you can do all these things can't you Joe. 331 00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:42,280 I mean, our neighbors in our neighborhood really they knew that Shannon was in the military I think they thought that she was like a translator that worked at Fort Meade and kind of had an office job. 332 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:53,280 It wasn't until she deployed and she was killed they really understood what she did because she was out there, you know pushing the stroller with with all the other moms, I mean they were all making gardens together, just you know very normal every day nine to five 333 00:35:53,280 --> 00:36:05,280 I think they, they knew that I had this neat title of like being a green beret or whatever so they assumed I was off doing you know commando type of things but they thought that Shannon was just the normal housewife working mom just like the rest of them. 334 00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:13,280 But yeah, you're you're right I think is the military has such a, I just a male forward facing appearance for obvious reasons. 335 00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:27,280 And I hope you forget that women in the military are going home and cooking meals and making photo albums and just doing all the regular mom type of stuff and they balance all of that and I think that's a much more difficult balancing act that is being a working 336 00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:39,280 dad in the military just because I think that you know most of society understands what a working dad is but this working mother also being in the military is something that's that's relatively new. 337 00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:48,280 And I think that's a much more difficult balancing act that's really a macho reburied recognizing how hard working mothers work as that's good stuff right there. 338 00:36:48,280 --> 00:37:03,280 I want to thank both you guys for taking the time today to talk to veteran radio listeners about sending the incredible two story of a mother at war. It's really the Shannon Kent story. 339 00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:13,280 It's extremely well. And this is this is one everybody should read and Marty and Joe, thank you for the time today. 340 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:15,280 Absolutely. 341 00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:34,280 And I want to thank everybody for listening to veterans radio today. I am Jim Fawcone. It's been a pleasure to be your host. I'm a veterans disability lawyer at legal help for veterans and you can reach us at 806-93-4800 or legal help for veterans dot com on the web. 342 00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:46,280 You can follow veterans radio on Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet radio shows by visiting us at veterans radio dot org. That's veterans radio dot org. 343 00:37:46,280 --> 00:38:06,280 And until next time, you are dismissed. 344 00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:19,280 We begin want to thank our national sponsors the national veterans business development council and the bdc.org via and our health care system. 345 00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:36,280 The Vietnam veterans of America Charles S. Kettles chapter and our permission. The FW graph or her post for 23 and in our bar and the American Legion press corn post 46 also in our bar. 346 00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:47,280 We appreciate all your support. You can go to veterans radio dot net. Click on the sponsor level and continue to support keeping veterans radio on the air. 347 00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:51,280 And until next time, you are dismissed.