Photo By Capt. Matthew Gilbert | Sgt. 1st Class Barry Cannon, 168th Engineer Brigade, Mississippi Army National Guard...... read more read more
NOVO SELO TRAINING AREA, Bulgaria – Sgt. 1st Class Barry Cannon spent June 2016 in Bulgaria for Operation Resolute Castle, a military construction effort designed to improve Eastern European military infrastructure. Sitting down to eat with him is a lesson in loyalty.
The first lesson in loyalty comes from his dedication. For the last two decades, Cannon has worked as a U.S. Army engineer with the 858th Engineer Company, 223rd Engineer Battalion, 168th Engineer Brigade, Mississippi Army National Guard. While serving in the National Guard Cannon has also managed his own construction business. Cannon has slowly but surely worked his way up through the ranks over the years. In his current role as Platoon Sergeant, he leads several squads of soldiers.
The second lesson in loyalty comes when you hear him talk about his soldiers. You see an energy that wasn’t there before when he breaks down the details of managing their work shifts, getting them the right safety equipment, and arranging their meal schedules. He takes great care that each soldier be given an opportunity to improve their careers. While he stays focused on the construction projects at hand, he always keeps the happiness and well-being of his soldiers in mind.
“I believe in giving everybody an opportunity and to give them stick time in order to train,” says Cannon. “Stick time” refers to the time spent behind the controls of a piece of heavy equipment, and is the only way to get real world experience.
“In the past, I’ve seen where people had experienced operators and new soldiers,” stated Cannon, explaining that the tendency is for leadership to only assign work to experienced personnel.
Cannon knows this hurts the unit, and does everything he can to stop it.
“[It] hurts you in two ways – discourages new soldiers, then there you are with soldiers you didn’t rotate in and train.” Cannon wants to make sure everyone rotates in to train in order to give them the valuable experience they need and deserve.
The third lesson in loyalty comes when you examine Cannon’s record of going overseas with the United States Military. When you ask him how many times he has gone overseas, he has to pause and collect his thoughts. As a soldier in the National Guard with a specialty in engineering, he has deployed and volunteered for a number of different military and humanitarian construction efforts. Over the past two decades, these skills have taken him to Jamaica, Nicaragua, Columbia, Germany, Korea, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Each year the National Guard has presented him with new challenges.
“It’s been crazy this year,” stated Cannon. “We’re pretty stretched out. We have been assigned Camp McCain horizontal projects, working on parking areas, improving sewage filtration. We have also been assigned Fort Hood, tasked to supply haul assets for a Sapper unit.”
This year in Bulgaria Cannon and his soldiers will work to improve the Bulgarian military infrastructure. It’s a big mission not just for his unit but the National Guard as whole. But with NCOs like Cannon whose loyalty has kept him committed to the military, his soldiers and every mission he’s been entrusted with for more than two decades the Mississippi Army National Guard will certainly rise to the task and exceed expectations.
| Date Taken: | 06.27.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 07.11.2016 09:05 |
| Story ID: | 203588 |
| Location: | NOVO SELO, BG |
| Web Views: | 114 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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