On May 9, Chief Warrant Officer Jason W. Myers was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross — the nation’s second-highest military honor — for his acts of gallantry in going above and beyond the call of duty in rescuing 15 hostages in Afghanistan.

His citation reads:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Warrant Officer 1 (WO-1) Jason W. Myers, United States Army, for acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as Assistant Detachment Commander for Operational Detachment Alpha 3321 (ODA-3321), Special Operations Task Force-East during combat operations against an armed enemy in Khost Province, Afghanistan, on 27 March 2010. During a joint ground vehicle patrol with members of the Afghan National Police, Warrant Officer One Myers’ detachment was ambushed by an enemy force of approximately 75 to 100 insurgents, who promptly disabled the lead vehicle which exposed the entire column to an enemy kill zone. As the patrol was barraged by heavy volumes of enemy fire, an unarmored truck became disabled, further hindering the patrol’s movement. With complete disregard for his own personal safety, he ran forward to the disabled truck and found two Afghan National Police officers taking cover behind the truck, one of whom had a serious gunshot wound to his right leg. He dragged the wounded policeman 20 meters through intense enemy fire to temporary safety, ignoring multiple shrapnel wounds he sustained during the attack. Warrant Officer One Myers returned to the disabled truck and turned the steering wheel, allowing the truck to be pushed into a ravine, clearing the path to advance. Still dismounted, he moved ahead without cover for over 100 meters while engaging the enemy, which allowed the Afghan policemen pinned down by enemy fire to mount their vehicles and advance the patrol. He continued on foot through the kill zone, providing supporting fire to the patrol and relaying verbal communication to his commander. His heroism inspired his teammates to continue to fight and maneuver the patrol out of the kill zone. Warrant Officer One Myers’ actions are in keeping with the finest traditions of military service and reflect distinct credit upon himself, Operational Detachment Alpha 3321, Special Operations Task Force-East, United States Forces-Afghanistan and the United States Army.

“I’ve always been fortunate,” Myers said when asked about receiving the Distinguished Service Cross Award twice. “I’ve always been surrounded by the best officers and the best (noncommissioned officers) in the Army. And with multiple deployments to the same area, we knew the locals. We had a lot of rapport and these longstanding relationships with some of these people, so there was a lot of trust and history between us, the locals and the partner forces.”

Lt. Gen. Francis Beaudette, commander of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, noted that Myers is the only current active duty service member to receive two Distinguished Service Crosses. “Jason has demonstrated on not just these two (Distinguished Service Cross Award) occasions but each and every day he rolls out of the team room that he has the same fearless courage and unbending character of these men,” Beaudette said. “He’s going to continue to inspire others to protect the nation without fail,without fear and without equal, and we are incredibly proud of him today.”

“Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

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