-Brian Sheets, USMC
Flashback to the events surrounding 9/11 you will find Brian as a Freshman in High School when our country took that unforgettable drastic turn to where we are today. As the years of his high school tenure counted on, the fighting overseas continued to increase, and after graduating high school he wasted little time getting into the fight. On October 28th 2005 he graduated boot camp and shortly thereafter proceed to the School of Infantry knowing full well what that meant. His first stop was 1st Battalion 6th Marines.
In September 2006, the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines relieved the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines in western Ramadi. In October, 1/6 conducted its first major offensive, taking the large building on 17th Street in the Jumaiyah neighborhood where they established the 17th Street Security Station. This was the first joint Marine-Iraqi outpost in the city. By January 2007 attacks on U.S. forces averaged 35 per day and in an unfortunate series of events, one such attack grabbed ahold of Brian and his fellow Marines. No surprise however, Brian did not leave country and instead chose to grab a little bit of bed rest before getting back into the fight. By the time he and 1/6 left Ramadi, al-Qaeda was declared defeated. So, it’s easy to see that the fighting was constant and intense, living conditions were miserable, and chaos constantly ensued, but nothing could keep him out of the fight alongside his brother’s in arms.
Following Ramadi, Brian returned back to Camp LeJeune North Carolina with 1/6 to celebrate their victories, morn the losses of their fallen brothers, and patch up their wounded. No time to rest however, because Brian and his unit began training for their next fight. However, Brian, true to form, opted for a higher level of training in our arduous and highly coveted Scout Sniper program. After graduating and like most Marines during the holidays, Brian went home to visit family. Unfortunately, this was short lived as Brian and 1/6 headed out the door in February to Afghanistan.
The British were outnumbered by the larger Taliban force which was receiving reinforcements from Pakistan. Then when 1/6 arrived they started their combat operations with an attack on the Taliban-held town of Garmsir. The rest of the deployment was filled with engagements as well, however, on 8 September 2008, control of Garmsir was returned to British forces, and after having operated in the area for approximately 130 days. The town was deemed safe and more stable.
Brian returned to North Carolina and began his career as a Scout Sniper Instructor where I want to take a moment to capture some of his accomplishments which as you will hear, were well above what is expected of someone of the same grade and experience. Earning a Navy Commendation medal as a Sergeant is about as rare as it gets. As a Primary Instructor during six Scout Sniper Basic Courses and two Scout Sniper Team Leader Courses he conducted more than 1,000 hours of instruction, practical application and performance evaluation that resulted in the graduation of more than 140 Marines. Throughout his execution of this billet, Brian managed to improve the student’s mastery rate to more than 98 percent for both known and unknown distance qualifications; a dramatic improvement from the historical average of 87 percent.
Following his highly successful tour as a Scout Sniper Instructor, Brian took orders to 1st Battalion 2nd Marines and shortly thereafter deployed with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Following deployment, a combination of maturity and farsightedness began to come over Brian and he decided, like to rest of us, to stop being a knuckle dragger and look for additional opportunities inside the Marine Corps. He sought out and conducted a lateral move to the Counterintelligence/Human Intelligence field and then received orders to Okinawa, Japan.
And par for the course, Brian heads off again – this time to Nepal to provide counterintelligence support to US Forces assisting in earthquake recovery efforts where 9,000 people were killed and 22,000 were wounded. Brian returned to Okinawa and was selected to serve as the CI/HUMINT Specialist assigned to support the Maritime Raid Force (MRF), 31st MEU for his uncompromising professionalism, admirable talent, and hard-charging attitude. He was immediately sent to Close Quarters Tactics (CQT) course and Airborne School in order to provide him with the qualifications necessary to support the MRF.
After serving his time in Okinawa he and Anna packed up the kids and headed off for instructor duty once again, however, this time in Virginia Beach. As he settled into his new billet, he quickly earned the Senior Instructor qualification and continued to prove himself in every regard. Even though his heart and his mind continued to tell him to push, his body told him otherwise and he transitioned to the Wounded Warrior Battalion in order to assist with his exit in the Corps.
Since his exit from the Corps in 2018, Brian has gotten involved with some charitable organizations that assist wounded veterans. He even created his own non-profit that provides a pheasant hunt each year for 24 wounded veterans. Brian continues to go above and beyond the call of duty and is a true American Hero.
