Her Title: Cryptologic Technician. Her Occupation: Warrior.

Her Title: Cryptologic Technician. Her Occupation: Warrior.

This topic is close to my heart for personal reasons.

Given who she really was, military officials had little choice in how they described Shannon Kent. They said only that she was a “cryptologic technician,” which anyone might assume meant that her most breakneck work was behind a desk.

In reality, she spent much of her professional life wearing body armor and toting an M4 rifle, a Sig Sauer pistol strapped to her thigh, on operations with Navy SEALs and other elite forces — until a suicide bombing took her life last month in northeastern Syria.

She was, in all but name, part of the military’s top-tier Special Operations forces. Officially a chief petty officer in the Navy, she actually worked closely with the nation’s most secretive intelligence outfit, the National Security Agency, to target leaders of the Islamic State.

NYT Article

An excerpt that has always bothered me...

“Women have been on the front lines with special operators for 16 years,” said Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, author of a book about female troops working with elite forces in the combat zones of Afghanistan. “But because that community is unseen and so rarely talks about their work, it’s been hard to know how much women have done.”

The actual number of years has been more than that...

Godspeed, Senior Chief Petty Officer Kent.

You will be missed.

She was a CTI: Cryptologic Technician Interpretive. There are several other CT ratings, including technical and administrative, CTT, CTA. Her job was chiefly in translation. She attended a 90 week Arabic course at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, California, plus many other grueling courses over her career. Arabic is a "Level 4" language to English speakers. Spanish is a one; German is a two. It's tough. Many CTIs just listen. One of the major posts is at Fort Gordon in South Carolina. My daughter was a CTI for several years, just a little older than Kent. But Kent was in the field, definitely not a desk job. These guys do tough demanding work, and as enlisted sailors they don't get paid a great deal. We owe them a lot. I still have a sweatshirt given to me by my daughter from DLI. It says: "DLI: We learn Arabic so you don't have to."

originally posted by: schuyler
She was a CTI: Cryptologic Technician Interpretive. There are several other CT ratings, including technical and administrative, CTT, CTA. Her job was chiefly in translation. She attended a 90 week Arabic course at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, California, plus many other grueling courses over her career. Arabic is a "Level 4" language to English speakers. Spanish is a one; German is a two. It's tough. Many CTIs just listen. One of the major posts is at Fort Gordon in South Carolina. My daughter was a CTI for several years, just a little older than Kent. But Kent was in the field, definitely not a desk job. These guys do tough demanding work, and as enlisted sailors they don't get paid a great deal. We owe them a lot. I still have a sweatshirt given to me by my daughter from DLI. It says: "DLI: We learn Arabic so you don't have to."

It's guys and girls...

I love the tee-shirt slogan!!!

This quote is so true though...

“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,’” said her husband, Joe Kent, who recently retired after a 20-year career in the special forces. “As the years went on, she wished she could just say, ‘Hey, I’m Joe, and I’m a Green Beret.’”

“In many ways, she did way more than any of us who have a funny green hat.”

She was much more than a CTI.

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: schuyler
She was a CTI: Cryptologic Technician Interpretive. There are several other CT ratings, including technical and administrative, CTT, CTA. Her job was chiefly in translation. She attended a 90 week Arabic course at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, California, plus many other grueling courses over her career. Arabic is a "Level 4" language to English speakers. Spanish is a one; German is a two. It's tough. Many CTIs just listen. One of the major posts is at Fort Gordon in South Carolina. My daughter was a CTI for several years, just a little older than Kent. But Kent was in the field, definitely not a desk job. These guys do tough demanding work, and as enlisted sailors they don't get paid a great deal. We owe them a lot. I still have a sweatshirt given to me by my daughter from DLI. It says: "DLI: We learn Arabic so you don't have to."

It's guys and girls...

It's guys. I worked in a female dominated profession my entire life. It's "Hey, guys, were do you want to go for lunch?" There is no difference, and that's kind of the point. In a profession like that, "we're all in this together."

originally posted by: schuyler

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: schuyler
She was a CTI: Cryptologic Technician Interpretive. There are several other CT ratings, including technical and administrative, CTT, CTA. Her job was chiefly in translation. She attended a 90 week Arabic course at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, California, plus many other grueling courses over her career. Arabic is a "Level 4" language to English speakers. Spanish is a one; German is a two. It's tough. Many CTIs just listen. One of the major posts is at Fort Gordon in South Carolina. My daughter was a CTI for several years, just a little older than Kent. But Kent was in the field, definitely not a desk job. These guys do tough demanding work, and as enlisted sailors they don't get paid a great deal. We owe them a lot. I still have a sweatshirt given to me by my daughter from DLI. It says: "DLI: We learn Arabic so you don't have to."

It's guys and girls...

It's guys. I worked in a female dominated profession my entire life. It's "Hey, guys, were do you want to go for lunch?" There is no difference, and that's kind of the point. In a profession like that, "we're all in this together."

OK...

I was always addressed as Ma'am in the military, so we can agree to disagree.

The point of the OP was to point out that some women in the military are not allowed to talk about their jobs, although males can, within guidelines.

So a bit of a difference.

originally posted by: schuyler
She was a CTI: Cryptologic Technician Interpretive. There are several other CT ratings, including technical and administrative, CTT, CTA. Her job was chiefly in translation. She attended a 90 week Arabic course at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, California, plus many other grueling courses over her career. Arabic is a "Level 4" language to English speakers. Spanish is a one; German is a two. It's tough. Many CTIs just listen. One of the major posts is at Fort Gordon in South Carolina. My daughter was a CTI for several years, just a little older than Kent. But Kent was in the field, definitely not a desk job. These guys do tough demanding work, and as enlisted sailors they don't get paid a great deal. We owe them a lot. I still have a sweatshirt given to me by my daughter from DLI. It says: "DLI: We learn Arabic so you don't have to."

Hey man, I love what you write, but Fort Gordon is right outside of Augusta, GA.

The more I read of this suicide bombing, the more I think that someone from either the house intelligence or senate intelligence, being a follower of John NoName, had this dirty deed done. Someone not only leaked, they gave intelligence to the enemy. Please let me find them first!! Haven't used my P226 in a while...