Navy SEAL Edward Byers is scheduled to receive the Medal of Honor Feb. 29. This will be the eleventh Medal of Honor awarded for action in Afghanistan. According to a White House press release, “Senior Chief Byers will receive the Medal of Honor for his courageous actions while serving as part of a team that rescued an American civilian being held hostage in Afghanistan on December 8-9, 2012. … He and his family will join the President at the White House to commemorate his example of selfless service.”

According to an account from that night, the Taliban had captured Dilip Joseph, an American doctor doing aid work in the country, and planned to move him into Pakistan, where a U.S. military rescue operation would have been significantly harder to conduct. The Navy SEALs volunteered for the mission and hiked to where the Taliban was holding the doctor. When the SEALs burst into the compound, Byers was second through the door. After locating Joseph, he used his body to shield the rescued captive and pinned down a Taliban fighter while the rest of the SEALs dispatched the enemies. We’re thankful for a military full of men and women like Byers.