Later this month, President Obama will present the Medal of Honor to Special Operator Senior Chief (SOCS) Edward Byers. The action for which Senior Chief Byers is recognized took place during a personnel recovery operation. The Senior Chief was a member of a SEAL special missions unit and this singular decoration is for “his courageous actions while serving as part of a team that rescued an American civilian being held hostage in Afghanistan, December 8-9, 2012.” Details of the mission and the unit are classified, but multiple sources report that Senior Chief Byer’s conduct on that mission was “above and beyond,” per the precepts of the Medal.
The Senior Chief is the third Navy SEAL and the sixth military special operator to be awarded the Medal of Honor since Vietnam. He also takes the place of Lieutenant Tommy Norris (USN Ret.) as the most recent living SEAL Medal of Honor recipient.
For you non-Navy types out there, the numerical pennants Bravo and Zulu, when hoisted together are signal-speak for “Well Done.” Indeed, well done Senior Chief Byers.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/02/02/navy-seal-edward-byers-medal-of-honor-taliban-hostage-rescue-afghanistan/76977748/
http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/648810/role-in-2012-hostage-rescue-earns-medal-of-honor-for-navy-seal
