Lasting tribute to fallen Navy officer
Post office could be named in memory of Shannon Kent
Rep. Antonio Delgado has introduced legislation for the Pine Plains Post Office to be named for U.S. Navy cryptologist Shannon M. Kent, who was killed by a suicide bomber early this year in northern Syria.
Kent, a graduate of Stissing Mountain Junior/Senior High School in Pine Plains, was one of four Americans killed in the Jan. 16 attack in the town of Manbij, believed to have been carried out by the Islamic State. More than a dozen people of other nationalities also died in the attack, which happened on a busy street near a restaurant.
Kent, 35, was serving her fifth combat tour in the Middle East at the time of her death. She was a chief cryptologic technician with the U.S. Navy and was promoted posthumously to the rank of senior chief petty officer.
Delgado, D-Rhinebeck, has four New York co-sponsors of his legislation: Reps. Elise Stefanik, Joseph Morelle, Kathleen Rice and Anthony Brindisi.
Delgado said the legislation, if approved, would change the name of the post office at 7722 S. Main St. in Pine Plains to the Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon M. Kent Post Office.
“There is no higher calling than to serve one’s country, and Senior Chief Kent answered that call with unparalleled devotion,” Delgado said in a written statement. “I offer my deepest and most sincere condolences to her family as our community continues to mourn her passing.
“Honoring Senior Chief Kent in this permanent way will serve as a daily reminder of her heroism and sacrifice,” the congressman added.
Kent, whose maiden name was Smith, was born in Oswego and raised in the Dutchess County town of Pine Plains. She graduated from Stissing Mountain in in 2001.
Kent hailed from a family characterized by public service. Her father is Col. Steven Smith, deputy superintendent and field commander for the New York State Police. Her mother, Mary Smith, worked for many years as sixth-grade teacher in the Pine Plains school district until retiring last year. And her brother is a U.S. Marine.
Kent enlisted in the Navy in December 2003, and after basic training, she graduated from the Defense Language Institute in 2004 and became proficient in Arabic and numerous other languages, according to the National Security Agency
She then began a career as an intelligence professional and ultimately became a member of Cryptologic Warfare Activity 66, an elite intelligence unit based at Fort Meade in Maryland.
During a training class
at Fort Belvoir in Virgina, Kent met Joseph Kent, a Green Beret warrant officer. They married in 2014,
and by 2017, they were the parents of two sons, Colt and Josh.
In March 2018, Kent was accepted into a Ph.D. program at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Maryland.
Kent and her unit were
deployed to Syria in November 2018, and “during her time there, she was part of a highly skilled, multi-disciplined armed forces task force involved in critical and demanding intelligence work,” the NSA said.