A little over a week prior to the May 25 reopening of the Medal of Honor Museum at Patriots Point, retired US Navy SEALs Master Chief Britt K. Slabinski spoke
mattis was always cautiously optimistic about the talks. dana: what can you tell us about the medal of honor recipient that is going to be honored by the president moments from now? well, we sat down with him this week. master chief britt slabinski, 26-year navy veteran and member of the seal team six. he is being recognized for his actions on march 4, 2002, in operation anaconda. while trying to insert a seal team on top of takur ghar mountain to set up an observation post. the mission faced problems from the start. seven u.s. service members were killed. five on the rescue team sent in to extract the seals. the team helicopter was shot as it landed. petty officer neil roberts fell out of the helicopter which later crash landed. at that point, britt slabinski who was team leader took the difficult decision to return to the mountain top, knowing they were outgunned and out numbered. roberts, they believed, was still alive. a lot of heroics that day including the army special
deadly fire, to personally engage the second enemy bunker and orient his team s fire in the furious, close quarters firefight. proximity made air support impossible. and after several teammates became casualties, the situation became untenable. senior chief slabinski maneuvered his team to a more defensible position, directed airstrikes in very close proximity to his team s position. and requested reinforcement. as daylight approached, accurate enemy mortar fire forced the team further down the mountain side. senior chief slabinski carried a seriously wounded teammate through deep snow and led a difficult trek across precipitous terrain calling in fire on the enemy which was engaging the team from the surrounding ridges. throughout the next 14 hours, senior chief slabinski stabilize casualties and continued the fight against the enemy until the hill was secured and his team was
extracted. by his undaunted courage, bold initiative, leadership and devotion to duty, senior chief slabinski reflected great credit upon himself, and upheld the highest traditions of the united states naval service. [applause]