Valor under fire earned lt. a Navy Cross he can’t wear

[308Mike]

Linkarooni

Valor under fire earned lt. a Navy Cross he can’t wear

By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Oct 27, 2008 13:13:11 EDT

Somewhere out in the fleet, there’s a Navy medical officer who earned the Navy Cross during vicious, hammering combat five years ago.

And he’s not authorized to wear the award — second only to the Medal of Honor.

That’s because the 2003 mission, during which the officer fought like a demon and put himself in the line of fire to save several wounded American and Afghan comrades from al-Qaida and Taliban forces, remains classified.

And so does his identity.

A spokeswoman for the Navy secretary confirmed the existence of the Navy Cross recipient after Navy Times forwarded her a copy of the officer’s citation, in which his name is redacted. So secret was the award that the Navy did not include it when queried as to the number of sailors who have earned the Navy Cross since Sept. 11, 2001. The Navy has now changed the number of recipients from six to seven, even though the seventh award was presented more than a year ago.

More to this story..............

[308Mike]

I'm sure he's taking it all in stride and says he was only doing his job like anyone else. But it's nice to know his superiors recognized what he did and took steps to enhance his career potential.

[MarkD]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why would him being on a classified mission mean he couldn't wear a medal he'd been awarded? Do the details of what happened have to be made public? If someone seeing the medal were to ask him what happened couldn't he say he couldn't discuss it? Or are they afraid he wouldn't keep his mouth shut?

I've never been in the military, so I'm sure there's something there I'm missing.