President Obama on Oct. 15 will award the Medal of Honor to William D. Swenson, a former Army captain, for his conspicuous gallantry in Afghanistan in 2009, announced the White House on Monday. Swenson will receive the MOH for his courageous actions in thwarting the enemy and saving the lives of comrades after an ambush by a large, well-armed insurgent force on Sept. 8, 2009, in Kunar province, Afghanistan, while serving as an embedded trainer and mentor of the Afghan National Security Forces. At the time, Swenson was a member of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division. He will become the sixth living MOH recipient for actions in Afghanistan. Swenson separated from the Army in February 2011 and resides in Seattle. (See also Army release.)
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.