Staff writer
Barberet was a new squad leader in Afghanistan in 2005, and then-Spc. Salvatore Giunta was one of his Soldiers.
During one mission, he remembers Giunta saying, “I saw Josh up there, another guy in the same platoon, I thought he had a good rock to hide behind so I was going to go up there and hide behind the rock with him.”
What Giunta did instead was deserving of the Medal of Honor, the first to be awarded to a living Solider since the Vietnam War.
“What he really ended up doing was running up there and shooting a couple Taliban guys and pulling Josh back as they’re trying to drag Josh away,” Barberet said. “And he got recognized for it, and he’s very deserving of it. I’ve actually never seen someone run up there and shoot a couple guys and drag one of their comrades back.”
Soldiers like Giunta inspire Barberet to this day.
“These are the guys I’m leading,” he said. “If they’re going to do it, I have to do it for them, too. You see what that guy does for that guy motivates you and motivates everyone else, reinforcing what they already know — that their buddies will always come get them.”
Besides Giunta’s heroic move, Barberet has seen many other Soldiers do amazing deeds on the battlefield.
“Guys go out of their way for everyone because in the end, all that matters is the guys that are there with you,” he said. “You only care that they’re all coming back, and you’re coming back. That’s it.”
Some purposely put themselves in harm’s way to help their buddy, he said.
Through his deployments and leading Soldiers, he learned how to become a solid leader in the Army.
“I’ve just learned so many little things that you’re not going to see in any book especially with the cultures,” he said. “Anyone can tell you how it is, but you don’t understand until you see it firsthand. Seeing it for about 40 months all together, you just pick up on little things.”
One thing he found changed over the years from his deployments is his patience.
“When I was younger, it was like move faster, get there quick, but now I’ve learned over time you’ve got to let a situation build,” Barberet said. “You have to see the whole picture because if you just run head on into things, that’s when you’re focused on your front but you’re not focused on your left or right. If you let it build just a little bit, you can figure it out and get a better picture.”
As a cadre member at Call of the Wild at the Leader’s Training Course, his main influence is on the newly commissioned second lieutenants serving as fellow cadre members, not the Cadets.
“We get to really focus on these lieutenants and give them advice,” Barberet said. “We help them, show them how it’s done, what they can expect.”
The place he does have influence over Cadets is in the classroom. He teaches military science at the University of Southern Mississippi to third-year ROTC students, getting Cadets ready to attend the Leader Development and Assessment Course.
One second lieutenant at LTC was taught by Barberet as a junior.
“He sticks to regulations and makes sure everything is done the right way,” 2nd Lt. Calvin Wu said. “He’s a constant professional.”
Wu didn’t know how to swim, and Barberet took it upon himself to teach him his senior year of college so he could make it through LTC’s water training sessions, Call of the Wild and combat water survival training.
“I wouldn’t be a lieutenant without him,” he said.
