Honoring Our Veterans – Clay Cantrell
Author: Matt Nelson
Matt Nelson
Clay Cantrell was born in Fayetteville, N.C. His Dad was with the 3rd Special Forces Group, and the time that Clay lived there was the beginning of his love for the military. He was raised in Drummond, MT. He grew up with his grandmother who was a great role model, and pretty much responsible for where he is today.
He started college at Carroll College, in Helena, where he played football, as a Strong Safety then, transferred to Montana Western in Dillon and played football there. He had a career-ending injury playing football, so he doubled up on credits and finished his Business Administration degree.
When he was working on his second bachelor's degree he had a position as the Admissions Supervisor at Montana Youth Challenge, which is a military structured program. He was there for six years and re-found his love for the military. He had a lot of great mentors there. He decided to enlist in the Army, and just under a year later he attended Officer Candidate School (OCS) in Helena for eighteen months. Once he received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant, he was assigned to the 190th Combat Sustainment Battalion (CSB) in Billings as an S-2, Military Intelligence Officer. After completing his Basic Officer Leadership Course (OBC) he went down to Fort Huachuca, Arizona where he learned all about the Intelligence world.
Clay is in the Montana Army National Guard and is an Active Guard Reserve (AGR) member. He held a position at Joint Force Headquarters as the Intelligence Officer and Aviation as the S-2 (non-flyer).
In October 2019 Clay deployed with the aviation unit as the intelligence officer to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, and arrived home in October 2020.
After that, he was given a command position with the Chemical Recon Detachment (CRD) of the 19th Special Forces Group. Clay commanded the unit for almost three years.
After that time, he accepted the Assistant Professor of Military Science (APMS) position with Carroll College ROTC which is the officer in charge of Carroll College. The ROTC unit there is probably the second-best and biggest in Montana. He relinquished command at the CRD in 2023 and totally focused on the ROTC. Now he is enrolled in a Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration through the University of Lousiville.
In June of this year, he was command-directed to be in current operations officer of G3 operations cell at Joint Force Headquarters.
Clay said he had had many mentors during his career. Clay has been in the military now for 12 years. Right now his packet is up for promotion to Major, and waiting to Scroll. The Scroll process means that you go through all of the departments of the DoD, to check off that you meet requirements before you are promoted.
Clay reflected back on his career. “It has been a very fruitful and blessed career. I think every day I learn. That never stops. The day it stops is when I probably shouldn’t be in the military anymore. I have 8 years left if I want to retire on the National Guard side, but I have 14 years left if I want to retire on the active-duty side as long as the timing with my family would work out right. Speaking of family, you are gone a lot, whether it is going to work every day, or annual training, deployments, or the schools you have to attend. I don’t think a lot of people realize how much military families put into it. There is a lot to be said about a family, especially mine, they always put their best foot forward at those times. I try to do what’s best for them. I think the resilience of the military family is something to be said. I owe a lot to mine, I was able to do the things I did successfully because I knew they were OK here and my wife, as strong-willed as she is, could handle it. There is a lot to be said for that.”
Clay, his wife Mariah, their daughter Alice and their son Gunner are members of the Trailhead Christian Fellowship Church, and people this reporter highly respects for their military service.
Article Images Click on Image Thumbnail(s) to view fullsize imageImage 1 Caption: Captain Clay Cantrell is with the 190th CRD and 19th SFG soldiers.
Photo Provided Image 2 Caption: Captain Cantrell is with his son Gunner and daughter Alice.
Photo Provided Image 3 Caption: Captain Cantrell is with his mother Dianna Rennie, wife Mariah, son Gunner, and daughter Alice.
Photo Provided
