U.S. Army Sergeant (SGT) Brandon Bryant is from Columbus, Ohio and enlisted in the Army in June 2002. SGT Bryant’s grandfather was in the Army for almost 40 years, so he knew he wanted to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps after graduating high school and join the Army.
SGT Bryant started his Army training at Ft. Benning, Georgia to become an 11 Bravo – Infantryman. After completing infantryman training, SGT Bryant stayed and completed Airborne School and the Ranger Indoctrination Program. SGT Bryant’s first duty station was at Ft. Richardson, Alaska with the 1st Battalion, 501st Airborne Infantry Regiment, and he deployed to Afghanistan for a ten-months. During his Afghanistan deployment, SGT Bryant’s time was split between patrols, discovering, and destroying enemy caches in the Hindu Kush mountains on the border of Pakistan, and nation building efforts.
After returning from Afghanistan, SGT Bryant moved to Ft. Hood, Texas as team and squad leader with the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment in the 4th Infantry Division. He deployed to Iraq for one year from December 2005 to December 2006. When SGT Bryant returned home from his Iraq deployment, he began his preparation to separate from the U.S. Army.
SGT Bryant’s awards and decorations include the Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Parachutist Badge, three Army Commendation Medals, and several other awards and decorations commensurate with his military service and combat deployments.
SGT Bryant’s proudest military moment occurred almost 12-years after finishing his time in the Army. While attending a wedding, a father of one of SGT Bryant’s soldiers came up to him with tears in his eyes and said, “thank you for saving my son” from an incident that happened in Baghdad, Iraq.
Today, Brandon Bryant is a second-year law student at Syracuse University’s College of Law and is on course to graduate in 2025.