October 27, 2022: Brian Cagle
Brian Kenneth Cagle was born in May 1970 in Atlanta, Georgia. With both his uncle and father having previously served, Cagle decided to join the military in 1992, completing basic training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina. He began his service in the Marine Corps Reserve, but the Marine Career Planner was not accepting any reservists to transfer to an active duty position. As he was hoping to serve on active duty, he transfered to the Army in 1993.
Cagle began his Army career at Fort Stewart in Georgia as an air defender, a position for which he had trained while a Marine in Atlanta. Soon after, he took part in Operation Vigilant Warrior with the 3rd Infantry in 1994, supporting the mission to deter a possible Iraqi attack on Kuwait. After being stationed in Hawaii for three years, as well as at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, he deployed to Kosovo in 2000 to support the U.S. peacekeeping mission, doing cutting-edge work through “guarding Serbs living in Albania.”
Following a brief break in service in 2000, Cagle joined the Georgia National Guard in 2001 after the 9/11 attack. He then deployed to Iraq in 2005 with the 48th Brigade. A lot of the work he performed there involved route clearance, observation posts and main supply routes. He described his deployment as “a very hard experience,” although he did have “good company” and “met a lot of great folks.”
After serving in Iraq, Cagle deployed to Afghanistan, serving in 2009 and 2010. He spent months living in remote combat outposts. Though his situation was similar to the one in Iraq, he described his experiences in the two wars as “totally different,” particularly because of the differences between the strategies of the Iraqi and Taliban forces.
After a career spanning 22 years, Cagle retired from the Army in 2014. Despite this, he has remained “in contact with a lot of folks” in the military, and has looked on as his former fellow service members attained high-ranking positions in the military. A father and a husband, Cagle was also able to spend more time with his family and travel to watch one of his children play in Division I football games.
We honor his service.
Nominate a Veteran for #VeteranOfTheDay
Do you want to light up the face of a special Veteran? Have you been wondering how to tell your Veteran they are special to you? VA’s #VeteranOfTheDay social media feature is an opportunity to highlight your Veteran and his/her service.
It’s easy to nominate a Veteran. Visit our blog post about nominating to learn how to create the best submission.
Veterans History Project
This #VeteranOfTheDay profile was created with interviews submitted to the Veterans History Project. The project collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war Veterans so that future generations may hear directly from Veterans and better understand the realities of war. Visit the Library of Congress website to learn more.
Writer: Khaled Maalouf
Editors: Cynthia Xu, Tayler Rairigh
Researchers: Carl Wesseln, Ryan Nishiyama
Graphic Designer: Kaylie Ferguson
Topics in this story
More Stories
This week’s Honoring Veterans Spotlight honors the service of Army Veteran David Bellavia, who received a Medal of Honor from the Iraq War’s deadliest operation, the Second Battle of Fallujah.
This week’s Honoring Veterans Spotlight honors the service of Army Veteran Scotty Hasting, who served in Afghanistan.
This week’s Honoring Veterans Spotlight honors the service of Army Veteran Roy Sheldon, who served in 97th General Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany.
