I do hope he is awarded a Silver Star. I pray for his family, but I thank God for people like this on the front lines.

And still only one little tweet from the mold spore. This old salt is shaking with sorrow and anger.

Haele

The Silver Star and the Congressional Medal of Honor are only awarded for actions in combat. The highest medal for bravery in a non-combat situation is the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, and if even 1/4 of what they are saying about this sailor is true he more than earned it several times over. Drowning is terrifying to even think about, and this man took his chances more than once and saved many from drowning at the cost of his own life. It's inspiring.

This seems at least slightly worthy of a Medal of Honor. He went into a damaged part of a ship that was filling with water and rescued 20 sailors. He then went back down to attempt to rescue the remaining 6 sailors. That seems worthy of a Medal of Honor.

" The act also clarified that the act of valor must occur during one of three circumstances:[88]

While engaged in action against an enemy of the United States
While engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force.
While serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor#Presenting

I think the U.S. military should change the rule. This sailor truly went above and beyond the regular duties of a sailor.

The Navy and Marine Corps Medal is what is appropriate. Honestly you're going to see a lot fewer NMCM's in a lifetime than you're going to see Bronze and Silver Star recipients, for the simple reason that there aren't very many opportunities to display the level of bravery required to be awarded this medal when you're in a non-combat situation. If you're a Marine in combat there are going to be times when you do things that might lead to your being awarded a Bronze or Silver Star, maybe even the Navy Cross or the Medal of Honor, but when you're a sailor in a peacetime setting there just aren't a lot of situations that lead to the award of this medal. I was in the Army for over six years and personally saw exactly zero of the Army equivalent of this medal, and only heard of a single award of the medal during the time I was in. I'm not trying to be argumentative, I'm just trying to convey that the award of the NMCM isn't exactly a small deal. It's the highest medal you can receive while not being shot at, basically.

The Medal of Honor is a combat award given for acts of valor in combat. Unless it is determined that the Fitzgerald was rammed intentionally in an act of aggression the MoH is out of consideration.


The appropriate award in this case will likely be the Navy & Marine Corps Medal, the highest medal awarded for acts of bravery not involving armed conflict.

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Literally calculating how many sailors he had to sacrifice to save the rest of the crew. "Needs of the many..."

That moment will no doubt haunt him for the rest of his life.