The Sentinel ~ Kingsport Veterans Memorial Park ~ Kingsport, Tennessee - USA. - Figurative Public Sculpture on Waymarking.com

The Sentinel is a life size bronze US combat soldier in light battlefield armor and is equipped with a M4 carbine with optical sight and range finder and a full battle pack of magazines.
He stands guard at the Kingsport Veterans Memorial Park.

From the internet:

KINGSPORT — A new sentinel now stands watch over the Kingsport Veterans Memorial.

"The 6-foot, 4-inch tall bronze statue — meant to represent all branches of the U.S. Military — was placed on a granite pedestal in the plaza area of the memorial on Monday. It will be dedicated at a Veterans Day event on Nov. 12 beginning at 11 a.m.

This statue marks the second sentinel to be placed in the memorial. The first one, placed two years ago, was quickly removed soon after Veterans Day when many local veterans said it resembled a Chinese soldier.

This new one? There's no mistake of how it looks. A local active-duty member of the U.S. military served as the model for this sentinel, from his chiseled jaw down to his size 13EE boots."

"Val Lyle, an artist from Bristol, Tennessee, sculpted the sentinel using a “lost wax” process that took about 18 months from conception to completion. One of her previous works for the city was the Santa Train sculpture at Centennial Park in downtown Kingsport.

This life-sized, hollow sculpture weighs in at about 700 pounds and includes weapon and equipment details consistent with those currently used by U.S. military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. That was one of the more challenging parts of the commission, Lyle said, since civilians typically can't get their hands on state-of-the-art military equipment."

Source of internet research:

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Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: The Sentinel Figure Type: Human Artist Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: Val Lyle Date created or placed or use 'Unknown' if not known: 11/12/2018 Materials used: Bronze Location: Kingsport Veterans Memorial Park

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Date Logged Log User Rating   12/29/2020 Manville Possum visited it