Sen. Schumer wants Navy ship named after female sailor killed in Syria
 

Sen. Schumer wants Navy ship named after female sailor killed in Syria
By: Carlo Munioz - Washington Times 6-14-19
RE: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...fter-female-s/

Photo link: https://twt-thumbs.washtimes.com/med...f59c4b991e21f5
This photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician (Interpretive) Shannon M. Kent, 35, of Pine Plains, N.Y. Kent was killed in a suicide bomb attack claimed by the Islamic State group in Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019. Pentagon officials say four Americans killed in the northern Syrian town of Manbij. The attack also wounded three U.S. troops and was the deadliest assault on U.S. troops in Syria since American forces went into the country in 2015. (U.S. Navy via AP)

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer is spearheading an effort to get a Navy ship named after Navy Senior Chief Shannon Kent, the intelligence analyst and linguist killed with four other Americans in Syria in January.

The New York Democrat said naming an American warship after the slain sailor would be an honor befitting Senior Chief Kent’s “groundbreaking achievements” during her 15-year career in the military.

“[Kent] was living proof that women can not only keep up with, but lead this nation’s most highly capable service members,” Mr. Schumer said, according to Military.com. Mr. Schumer is looking to introduce legislative language into the Senate’s version of the Defense Department’s fiscal year 2020 budget bill, calling upon Navy leaders to name a vessel after Senior Chief Kent.

Only a handful of warships in the Navy fleet have been named after women —including the USS Gabrielle Giffords, an Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship named after the former Arizona congresswoman, who was severely wounded during a 2011 shooting in Tuscon.

Senior Chief Kent was one of four Americans killed during a suicide bombing in the northwestern city of Manbij, Syria, that targeted a joint patrol of American and Kurdish forces “conducting a local engagement” in the city in January.

The single-day death toll from the bombing was one of the worst suffered by U.S. and coalition forces in Syria since the beginning of the war against the Islamic State in in 2014. The terror group claimed responsibility shortly after the attack.

Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Personal note: I'm a Navy Vet and all the ships I've been on sailors always referred to their ships as my or our Grey Lady's. We'd be proud to have a ship name after this Chief.

Boats