He never stopped being a paratrooper': Former 82nd Airborne Division top NCO returns

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He never stopped being a paratrooper': Former 82nd Airborne Division top NCO returns to Fort Bragg to retire
By DREW BROOKS | The Fayetteville Observer (Tribune News Service) | Published: April 25, 2018
RE: https://www.stripes.com/news/he-neve...etire-1.523846

Command Sgt. Maj. Bryant Lambert ended his Army career on Tuesday in the same place where it began roughly 35 years ago — in the 82nd Airborne Division.

Lambert, who most recently served as the senior enlisted leader of U.S. Army Pacific at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, said he wanted to return to Fort Bragg to pay tribute to those who shaped him as a disciplined soldier and leader.

"I will never forget my foundation," he said. "It is here in the 82nd Airborne Division."

Lambert, speaking at the 82nd Airborne Division's Hall of Heroes, thanked a long list of noncommissioned officers and officers — mentors, leaders and friends — who helped to guide him from a young private to one of the Army's senior NCOs.

And 82nd Airborne Division leaders thanked Lambert, not only for his personal efforts in support of the division and its soldiers, but for the generations of paratroopers he impacted during a career spanning more than three-and-a-half decades.

Maj. Gen. Erik Kurilla, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, said Lambert's legacy is of helping soldiers, leading with empathy and serving with love.

Lambert made paratroopers better, not only as soldiers, but as leaders, he said.

"That's what leadership is really about, not so much developing more followers, but rather developing more leaders," Kurilla said. "And that's certainly what sergeant major has done. We can all rest easy that the next generation will be up to the task of keeping liberty safe, thanks to the leadership of Command Sgt. Maj. Lambert."

Kurilla presented Lambert with the Distinguished Service Medal, a Presidential Certificate of Appreciation and a Certificate of Retirement. He also provided the retiring leader with a Soldier for Life lapel pin, U.S. flag and a statue of St. Michael the Archangel, the patron saint of paratroopers.

Lambert spent 26 of his 35 years in the Army assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division and last served with the All Americans as the division command sergeant major from 2010 to 2012, during which time he helped lead the division headquarters to Afghanistan for a year-long deployment.

On Tuesday, Kurilla said Lambert might have taken off the maroon beret in 2012, but he never stopped being a paratrooper.

"His heart remained here at Fort Bragg," the general said. "This ceremony represents a career come full circle. What started in the division in 1983 ends at the doorstep of the division headquarters."

Lambert was 19 years old in 1983, when he joined the Army several years after the Baltimore teen was inspired by the 1941 movie "Parachute Battalion."

"I didn't know exactly what I was getting myself into," he said.

There were 25-mile road marches, continuous field training exercises and long runs — "Really long," Lambert stressed — for morning physical training.

In the 82nd Airborne Division, Lambert said he learned what right looked like and how to be the best version of himself that he could be.

"I used to think to myself that I was an ordinary individual among extraordinary professionals," he said. "And in my mind that made me extraordinary, also."

As a young soldier, Lambert didn't dream of being a command sergeant major.

"All I ever wanted to be was a sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division," he said. "I wanted to be a squad leader. That was my goal... They led men and women, they were jumpmasters, Rangers and pathfinders. They were experts in tactics and techniques. They were always sharp."

But Kurilla said leaders immediately saw something special in Lambert. They recognized raw talent.

He was selected to be a company guidon bearer. He completed recondo school as a private first class and Ranger school as a specialist.

"He never looked back," Kurilla said.

Lambert was named 82nd Airborne Division NCO of the Year in 1995 and U.S. Army Forces Command NCO of the Year that same year.

He later became a Ranger instructor and drill sergeant and, later, returned to the 82nd Airborne Division to serve as a platoon sergeant and rise through the ranks to reach brigade command sergeant major and then division command sergeant major.

He deployed to Grenada, Saudi Arabia, Haiti, Afghanistan three times and Iraq twice.

Officials said it was a career built inspiring soldiers and developing leaders.

And Lambert said it was bittersweet to bring that career to a close.

"I thought it'd be fitting to retire where I started, in the 82nd Airborne Division," he said.

Lambert said he wasn't prepared to talk about himself. But wanted to return to Fort Bragg to face those who helped shape him throughout his career.

"More than anything, I just want to thank everyone," he said.

Kurilla and Lambert both praised Lambert's mother, Grace, and his daughter, Ondreaya Lambert. They praised his brothers and sisters and others who supported him as he served.

"Those are the ones that carried the weight of his 35 years, his 13 moves and his six combat deployments," Kurilla said.

The general singled out Grace Lambert, who raised Lambert and his siblings alone and taught him the kindness, empathy, humility and resilience that were trademarks of his service.

"Your fingerprints, your energy, your fire are all over those 35 years," Kurilla said. "They are all over this man's legacy."

U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Bryant Lambert (right), previous division command sergeant major of the 82nd Airborne Division, returned to Fort Bragg for his retirement ceremony Apr. 24. Photo Link below: https://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/..._900/image.jpg