Earl D. Plumlee

On August 28, 2013, an explosion ripped a 60-foot breach through the perimeter wall of Forward Operating Base Ghazni in Afghanistan. Ten insurgents wearing Afghan National Army uniforms and suicide vests poured through the opening. While others might have sought distance from the breach, Staff Sergeant Earl D. Plumlee moved toward it. Over the next minutes, the U.S. Army Special Forces weapons sergeant repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire, fought insurgents at close range, survived the blast of a suicide vest, helped counterattack the infiltrating force, and carried a mortally wounded American Soldier to safety. His actions would ultimately earn him the Medal of Honor, the United States' highest military decoration.

Born on April 6, 1980, in Clinton, Oklahoma, Earl D. Plumlee began serving his country before he had even finished high school. During his junior year, he joined the Oklahoma National Guard and served with the 45th Field Artillery Brigade as a 13M rocket artilleryman. After graduating from high school in 2000, Plumlee entered the United States Marine Corps, completed recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego and the Marine Corps School of Infantry, and joined Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, at Kaneohe, Hawaii. There he served in a weapons platoon and began building the combat skills that would shape the rest of his military career.

Before Plumlee became a Green Beret, he built an extensive operational record as a Marine. Following the September 11 attacks, he deployed to Okinawa, Japan, and later to Bahrain, where he served with a Marine Security Element supporting the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. In 2003, he deployed to Zamboanga in the Philippines with Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines at Camp Navarro. After returning, Plumlee entered the reconnaissance community through the 4th Force Reconnaissance Reconnaissance Indoctrination Program and completed the Marine Corps Amphibious Reconnaissance Course, qualifying as a Basic Reconnaissance Marine.

His training became increasingly specialized. Plumlee graduated from Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School, Basic Airborne School, the Marine Corps High Risk Personnel Course and Marine Combat Dive School. He then volunteered to deploy to Iraq with 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company. From August 2005 through February 2006, he operated in Iraq's Al Anbar region from Al Asad Airfield. After returning, he completed Military Free Fall School and advanced to reconnaissance team leader. Plumlee volunteered for another Iraq deployment in 2008, during which he was recognized as the Marine Corps Recon Team Leader of the Year.

By 2009, Plumlee had already accumulated years of Marine reconnaissance and combat experience, but his military career was about to take another demanding turn. In January of that year, he transferred to the United States Army through the 18X Special Forces accession program. After successfully completing Special Forces Assessment and Selection, he entered the Special Forces Qualification Course and graduated in 2009 as an 18B Special Forces weapons sergeant. He was assigned to 4th Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), and subsequently participated in rotations throughout the Indo-Pacific region. In April 2013, he deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

That deployment brought Plumlee to Forward Operating Base Ghazni, where his military career would be defined by a few extraordinary minutes of combat. On August 28, 2013, he was serving with Charlie Company, 4th Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), when the base came under a complex enemy attack. A massive explosion opened the perimeter, and ten heavily armed insurgents wearing suicide vests entered the installation. Plumlee and five other special operations Soldiers immediately moved toward the breach in two vehicles. When enemy fire struck his vehicle, Plumlee used his own body to shield the driver before dismounting and engaging an insurgent approximately 15 meters away with his pistol.

What followed was a series of close-range engagements carried out under intense enemy fire. Plumlee advanced without cover, initially fighting with his pistol before reaching a position from which he killed two insurgents. According to his official Medal of Honor citation, one was killed with a grenade and another when Plumlee used precision fire to detonate the insurgent's suicide vest. He continued advancing against the attackers, at one point coming within approximately seven meters of an insurgent whose suicide vest detonated. During another counterattack, the explosion from a wounded suicide bomber threw Plumlee against a wall. Despite his injuries, he recovered and immediately reentered the fight.

The battle was not over. Plumlee joined a small group of American and Polish Soldiers moving against the remaining infiltrators. During the advance, another insurgent detonated a suicide vest and mortally wounded a U.S. Soldier. Plumlee ran to the casualty, carried him out of immediate danger and rendered first aid. He then helped organize a defensive position, methodically cleared the area and continued searching for additional threats. His official citation concluded that his extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty reflected great credit upon himself, the Special Forces Regiment and the United States Army.

Plumlee's wounds did not end his Special Forces career. After returning from Afghanistan, he spent approximately nine months undergoing physical rehabilitation while continuing to serve with 4th Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne). In 2015, he moved to Okinawa with 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, where he served with the INDOPACOM Crisis Response Force. During that assignment, he also served on overseas details associated with Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. In 2018, Plumlee was selected for promotion to Master Sergeant and returned with his family to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, where he served at 1st Special Forces Group headquarters. In August 2020, he was selected to serve as a team sergeant with 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne).

Recognition for Ghazni took years to reach its final form. Plumlee's gallantry was initially recognized with the Silver Star, but the award was later upgraded to the Medal of Honor after further review of his actions. On December 16, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. presented Master Sergeant Earl D. Plumlee with the Medal of Honor during a ceremony at the White House. Although Plumlee was a Master Sergeant by the time of the presentation, his Medal of Honor citation properly identifies him as a Staff Sergeant, the rank he held during the battle on August 28, 2013.

The Medal of Honor stands at the center of Plumlee's story, but it represents only part of a much broader record of military service. U.S. Special Operations Command's official biography also records the Bronze Star Medal with "V" device, Purple Heart, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Achievement Medal, two Navy Achievement Medals, Combat Action Ribbon, four Army Good Conduct Medals, two Marine Corps Good Conduct Medals, Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Afghanistan and Iraq campaign awards, Global War on Terrorism medals, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with "M" device, NATO Medal and numerous service and unit awards. His qualifications included the Special Forces Tab, Combat Infantryman Badge, Military Free-Fall Parachutist Badge, Marine combat diving qualification and Indonesian Parachutist Badge.

Plumlee continued serving after receiving the Medal of Honor. He ultimately retired from the United States Army in 2023 after 25 years of military service, closing a career that had begun as a high school National Guardsman and passed through Marine weapons platoons, Force Reconnaissance, two combat deployments to Iraq, Army Special Forces operations across the Indo-Pacific and combat in Afghanistan. Few military careers cross so many demanding communities, and fewer still culminate in the nation's highest award for valor.

Earl D. Plumlee's legacy is therefore larger than a single decoration or a single battle. His path from the Oklahoma National Guard to the Marine Corps reconnaissance community and ultimately to the Green Berets reflects more than two decades of continuous professional growth and operational service. Yet the defense of Forward Operating Base Ghazni remains the defining moment. Faced with a breached perimeter, suicide attackers and intense close-range fire, Plumlee repeatedly chose to move toward the danger in defense of others. That decision, made again and again during the battle, is why Master Sergeant Earl D. Plumlee remains one of the most compelling Medal of Honor recipients of the post-September 11 era.