Obama awards SEAL Medal of Honor for Taliban hostage rescue

“I firmly believe that if he had to do it all over again, he would”.

Obama said the White House ceremony for Byers offered a rare public opportunity to acknowledge the work of the military’s special operations forces, who often serve in the shadows. Of these, just a small fraction serve in our Special Operations forces. Their war-time exploits have entered popular culture from books and memoirs, in some cases undermining the “quiet professional” ethos of not talking publicly about their missions. “Special operators, aviators, engineers, technicians, analysts, countless enablers and their devoted families”.

Obama said it takes a very special American to “willingly volunteer for missions of extreme risk”, missions with “razor-thin” chances for survival. We may not always hear of their success. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can.

Byers spoke at a press conference following the ceremony.

“By the time I got to him, he already had a weapon in his hand”, Byers said in an interview with VOA. “The award is truly his”. “He was an American hero and the hero of that operation. If it wasn’t for that team, I wouldn’t be standing here today”, he said.

“We sleep more peacefully at night with patriots like these stand ready to answer our nations call”, said Obama. The first SEAL through the door, Byers’ friend Navy Chief Petty Officer Nicolas Checque, was badly wounded and later died. Byers was the second assaulter on the approach toward the building identified as containing the hostage.

After Obama paid tribute Checque for his heroic actions, CNN reports that Byers praised his fallen comrade.

Byers followed. He shot a guard, then noticed another who seemed to be crawling for a gun. As he was engaging that guard, another adult male darted towards the corner of the room. Byers moved in next and fired at an energy guard. And he’s done nine combat tours.

After a hard four-hour hike through the mountains, Byers and his team arrived at the location where Joseph was being held. Another man scrambled to the corner of the room where another rifle was stored, so Byers tackled him and then tried to adjust his night-vision goggles to see whether he was the American hostage. As he protected Joseph, Byers saw another enemy fighter armed with grenades.

“I was able to pin him against the wall by his throat, until the team was able to get in there and eliminate that threat”, he said. A teammate, the lead assaulter, pushed in and was hit.

That doctor kidnapped for ransom while attempting to set up medical clinics. Byers, a certified paramedic, performed CPR on Checque during the 40-minute flight to Bagram Airfield, according to the Navy’s citation.

“U.S. Navy SEALs have a reputation as the toughest people on the planet, one they have rightly earned from their training and from the skill they’ve demonstrated in mission after mission”, Joseph wrote.