​Kaylan Harrington, Chief Warrant Officer 3, US Army

​Kaylan was born and raised in San Jose, California. She comes from a long line of incredible veterans from WWI to present. Her grandfather was aboard the USS California during the attack on Pearl Harbor, her Uncle lost his life on the USS Houston, and her own father, a disabled Vietnam hero, lost his fight with Agent Orange in 2013. Kaylan had just started her first semester of college when the twin towers fell. After watching 9/11 unfold from her college classroom, she dropped out that very day and found the nearest recruiter… joining the Air Force just two days later. She spent 8 years in the Air Force as an Intel Analyst and Interrogator, deploying three times to Iraq attached to various U.S. Army and Marine units in locations including Camp Bucca, Al Qaim and Al Asad, Iraq. Realizing that she loved being around soldiers and wanting a new challenge, she transferred to the Army in 2009. Kaylan graduated Warrant Officer School and served in 2BDE, 25th Infantry Division, deploying to Diyala, Iraq for a year in 2010. In 2013, she moved to the Maryland Army National Guard and deployed to Afghanistan in support of Special Operations, serving as a female engagement team member in austere locations throughout eastern Afghanistan. It was here she discovered her love and passion for the women children of the country. In 2017 she returned to Afghanistan as a member of the NATO Special Operations Detachment and continued her work with the local children, working to build schools, expand educational opportunities for girls, and treating battered and abused Afghan women at local clinics throughout the country. She is on schedule to deploy again in 2020, with hopes of returning to Afghanistan.

Kaylan has been passionate about riding since before she can remember. Working three jobs through high school (and a little secretive help from dad), she bought her first bike on her 16th birthday: a Kawasaki Ninja EX500. She rode her Ninja religiously, never going a day without heading somewhere along the California coast. Along the Pacific Coast Highway, she discovered the feeling of absolute freedom and happiness that the bike gave her. Returning from her third tour in Iraq in 2008, her husband surprised her with her dream of owning a Yamaha YZF R1. Kaylan completed Yamaha’s racing school in New Jersey and multiple advanced rider clinics throughout the country.

She currently lives in Maryland with her husband, Ret. 1SG Gregg Harrington, and her three German Shepherds: Rommel, Stuka and Panzer. She continues to serve in the National Guard Special Operations Detachment (SOD)-NATO in Towson, Maryland. Her work overseas, and the loss of her own parents at a young age, have inspired her to pursue nursing and she is currently a full-time student. She is an active member in her American Legion Riders Club and Veteran’s causes state-wide.