Ever vigilant as the team was proceeding on foot from the Forward Operating days to its destination when it reached a narrow bridge. Sergeant mahoney noticed the individual and identified abnormal bulge under his shirt. As Sergeant Mahoney and captain grover tackle the bomber, the assailant detonated his best wanting both soldiers. Captain grover suffered wounds to his left leg and Sergeant Mahoney suffered a severe soft tissue wound to his left forearm and trap the ones to his right shoulder and leg. For his exceptional gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty, Sergeant Mahoney receives the silver star. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, its my distinct honor to present to you the 2014 u. S. Oh soldier of the year, Sergeant Andrew mahoney. [applause] [applause] we are honored to have a sensible alumnus and naval aviator here to present the uso marine of the year award. Please welcome marine corps deputy commandant of programs and services, Lieutenant General waters. [applause] thank you so much. Unfortunately, the marine of the year could not be with us tonight as he is currently attending officers candidate school. However, you have to do what you have to do. [applause] several members of his family are here on his behalf and i would like to take a moment to recognize them. His wife jody who is expecting their first child in december [applause] speaking to her backstage, she says she is due on the fifth. Her husband is not ready to deploy until the 12th. Schedule dependent. [laughter] the teleprompter notwithstanding, i will make a shameless plug and i did the math and i think and 2032, we will have another recruit. [laughter] i would like to recognize his fatherinlaw, john and his motherinlaw celeste, [applause] his aunt and his uncle, catherine and don keller. [applause] Sergeant Matthew melici is an osprey crew chief and defended his aircraft and the crew during an approach of a reconnaissance rated to a heavily defended enemy landing zone. His actions warranted the presentation of the distinguished service for his heroism and on june, 2012, he was serving as an aircraft gunner to death delivery suppressive gunfire while approaching the landing zone. This allowed the raid force chooses some part disembark the aircraft and engage the enemy. Despite serious damage to the control system and gunfire, he kept the aircraft commander and crew appraisal the situation. The california native maintained his poise while returning to the area to support the withdrawal of the raid force enabling the successful completion of the mission. His superb airman to inspired courage and loyal devotion reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the marine corps and United StatesNaval Service bradleys and gentlemen, im honored to present the 2014 u. S. Oh marine of the year to Sergeant Matthew e, belleci. [applause] accepting on behalf of the sergeant is his wife jody. [applause] this is an extra barry night. Aordinary i feel like cuba gooding junior in Jerry Maguire you all are going to make me cry. A native of butler, pennsylvania, this admiral has served at every level of command in honolulu seven fleet to u. S. Fleet forces command and now chief of naval operations. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the 30th chief of naval operations, admiral jonathan greeneert. [applause] thank you very much. Thank you, i as my fellow Service Chiefs are honored to be here tonight. I would like to extend a special welcome to the friends and family of our recipient, officer cromer. This is a Family Affair as well. His wife laura and his parents gary and marie are here. Lauras parents,marita and richard are here. , hes got them all here tonight everybody gets along, its a wonderful thing. I thank you all for coming out to support troy. Before we present the award, i would also like to thank the uso for their longtime support as marty has said and ray said, we all have a story, good story about the uso of what they have done for ourselves and our shipmates and those of us who are serving. We are here to recognize brave and committed teammates who epitomized the Selfless Service that defines our military today. Courageous and committed force continues to provide our United States with an advantage, and asymmetric advantage unmatched by any nation. Officer first class troy cromers job is in explosive Ordnance Disposal he is a oneperson bomb squad. He distanced himself on numerous occasions. This is Pretty Amazing during a 2013 deployment to afghanistan where he was serving with a Navy Seal Team 10. On a foot patrol, the petty officers platoon encountered intense emmet enemy fire and were forced to withdraw in an armored vehicle. After leaving the patrol, and getting away from the ambush, troy is covered a remotecontrolled improvised explosive device that was placed between the vehicles. You all know improvised explosive device is a homemade bomb. While directing fire against the enemy and getting her buddy out, he discerned the ied and allowed the platoon to save the department area. To safely depart the area. On a separate mission, petty officer cromer led for special operations vehicle through an area littered with ieds and disabled three of them and insured once again their safe passage. On another occasion, he located and destroyed about 1 4 mile long tunnel underground cave system that had been used to store a bunch of weapons and explosives and got rid of that. Two other separate occasions in other instances, his quick actions and bravery helped save the lives of at least five wounded afghan soldiers, those who are serving with him. Petty officercromer has received the Army Commendation medal and the navy and marine corps Achievement Medal with a combat v and action ribbon. You might think thats pretty extraordinary, there is more. After a couple sheet all of that, most of us would have gone to duty and be completed and go home. This sailor, while he was off duty, rescued a mother and her 18monthold daughter from a burning apartment. In his free time [laughter] he dedicates a lot of time, countless hours to the makeawish foundation. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome a really handsome looking guy, by the way, but hes taken the 2014 sailor of the year, petty officer first class troy cromer. [applause] our next presenter is a native of washington, d. C. And also the First Air Force officer to serve as assistant chief of staff on the white house military office. To present the 2014 uso airman of the year award, please look him vice chief of staff of the United States air force, general larry o. Spencer. [applause] good evening, everyone. You may have noticed a little ruckus in the back because i demanded equal time with the chairman. You can tell obviously i am not from irish ancestry. [laughter] but i actually wrote a rap song. [laughter] [applause] however, because he said its getting late, i have to wait until next year. Sorry, chairman. After party. Ok, after party. I am honored to represent general mark welch this evening. His family and friends are here this evening. Joining Senior Airman john c hamilton in the audience tonight are his wife andrea, his mother sabrina, stepfather paul, father mark, and stepmother teresa. [applause] Lieutenant Colonel mason doolan and his wife are here to support airmen hamilton. [applause] Lieutenant Colonel dollan was a special Tactical Squadron commander and had the foresight to nominate john for this award to thank you. Both of you represent the values of honor and integrity we hold so dear. Senior airman john c hamilton, a parrot rescue men, distinctions up when he displayed remarkable courage and critical lifesaving medical skills during an august 14, 2013 firefight in afghanistan. Senior airman hamilton acted as a rescue and battlefield trauma specialist for an elite Army Special Forces team during 13 high risk combat missions in afghanistan. While assaulting a knownhakani network sanctuary, they were pinned down by heavy fire and his bravery and medical expertise help save the life of a wounded comrade during the fourhour firefight and that proved decisive in preventing his small unit from being overrun. Senior airmen hamilton who enlisted in the air force in 2009, had been assigned to the 23rd special Tactics Squadron since 2012 and hold combat diver, freefall, and static line qualifications and is nationally certified paramedic. His dedicated service earned him and air force chief and metal and is a compass must reflect great credit upon himself and the United States air force. Ladies and gentlemen, i am pleased to present the 2014 u. S. So air men of the year, Senior Airman john c hamilton. [applause] our next presenter leads the largest component of the department of homeland security. To present the award for the 2014 uso coast guardsmen of the year, please welcome the 25th commandant of the coast guard, admiral paul s. Zuchoonst. All right, you have heard it from az. Aisha, im not sure which is more difficult your name or my. I have the not cool name. My last name means future and the future of the coast guard is very bright. [applause] in two months, the u. S. Coast guard, the Shallow Water service, will cover all seven continents on the globe. Today, we are in afghanistan, iran, africa, liberia, in south america, china, we are everywhere and i could not be more proud to serve the service but i cannot be more proud to have a seat that chairman dempsey has afforded me to be a guest on the chairman of the joint chiefs as we deal with many challenges that face us and the world ahead. Really what people ask why do you give to come to work every day . What causes you to get up to work every day is the people we are proud to serve. First of all, we are an all volunteer service and how appropriate we are here with the uso, an all volunteer service as well. Im just delighted to say that my wife fran is one of those 29,000 volunteers. [applause] she kept her maiden name because no one can pronounce zukunft so people would come through Reagan National air force airport at the uso office and asked what her husband does. All of a sudden, they laid down alms but fran is anything but that. She is very proud to be part of this Great Organization that we call the uso that serves our members and not just our members but our families as well. Theres a family i will call out tonight and that is the family of petty officer brett bates, joined tonight by his wife leanne and joined by his mother and father lisa and mark and his grandfather doyle. [applause] why are we calling out brett tonight . Many of you may have seen the movie the guardian. Brett bates is one of the guardians of the coast guard. He jumps out of perfectly good helicopters and he did so. It was back in april of 2013, launching over 100 miles south of galveston, texas and there is a fishing vessel foundering in 15 foot seas. Normally you lower your rescue down by a hoist and it was too rough to lower him down so he jumps out of a perfectly good aircraft. He swims up to a life raft. Then he not only comes up to the life raft but he says, its ok, im here to give you a lift. Thats exactly what he did but if we could do the same with ebola that he did with this mariner in distress, and then he hooked up, and then we lifted this mariner out and all thanks to brett bates for doing that. If that was not enough, he also is an emt. On a tennis court, somebody playing tennis suffers cardiac arrest and he happened to have an id kit and administered cpr and saves another life. He has done that again and again. And so he is truly a lifesaver. The biggest challenge for me as i call ourselves the silent service because we never talk about what we do. Brett bates is one of the many in our service that time and again, they save lives and thats what im trained to do. What you heard before his many heroes who have come before them and i will call another one out but thats what he is trained to do, to serve our nation as a volunteer. Sobrett bates, please come forward to be recognized, thank you for your service. [applause] i would like to think admiral zukunft for correcting me so beautifully. It was very classy. My people cannot help but to put flair on everything we do. If your name was smith, i would call you smithay. Ill never forget it again. I will remember it when i am crying alone in my hotel room. Its all good. The National Guard provides a vital role in the Nations Defense hold it together [laughter] both at home and overseas. In his civilian life to merit presented pursued a career with the u. S. Army corps of engineers to present our National Guardsmen of the year, please welcome the 27th chief, National Guard bureau general frank j graff. [applause] good evening, everyone and i think if i checked the schedule, i am the last military presenter. Ive got the simplest last name. I got to tell you when i went to basic training i went to ocs, that name did not give me any benefit whatsoever. [laughter] i was thinking as i was standing there listening to general dempsey throw me under a bus a few times and im the last military presenter, weve got a great chairman, no doubt. You should here this guy sing frank sinatra. For pat and i its a real pleasure to be here and so many places we have been, what a Great Organization that takes care of the men and women. You dont ask for anything. You walk in over and over, i have seen it, and i have to tell you that no matter where i have been on the map, theres always a friendly smile and sometimes you really need that especially if youre going to dover or going somewhere to meet family and you need that smile to build your endurance up and do what you have to do when you have to notify someone. Whenever you go in there and the family has been taken care of by the uso, it makes our jobs much easier. For everyone involved with the uso, thank you so much. Before i introduce our award winner tonight, i want to introduce Sergeant Andrew multredders family, his daughter cora, his parents are here, his brother al, sisterinlaw emily, sister amy, and brotherinlaw charlie. Thank you so much for supporting this great warrior. [applause] andrew, as any guardsmen who has done his training is an active duty training on the weekend. At the end of his training, he was heading home and back to lexington, his training was and shelby, kentucky. On the 12th of january, 2014, on his way home, he came upon an overturned suv on fire. With no regard for his personal safety, he went to the vehicle. He saw the driver who was unconscious and still strapped in. Assisted by two of his Kentucky ArmyNational Guard and army veteran that stopped to help, sergeant mehltretter took charge of the situation and went into action to extract the driver from the vehicle even while it was burning. He wanted to make sure there were no more injuries caused. So he began to organize the effort at the crash site. The driver who was a canadian citizen, as he came out of the vehicle, this combat medic, Sergeant Andrew mehltretter, uses combat skills and destabilize the patient and he stayed with that patient until the ambulance arrived. When the driver came back to consciousness, he looked up and andrew said you are ok emma we are here with you. Many folks especially the First Responders say that andrew. Save that gentlemans life anders commander said his dedication to duty and Selfless Service warrants recognition. His extraordinary here was him heroism establishes him as a professional, as a leader, as a mentor of soldiers. Ladies and gentlemen, the 2012 the 2014 uso National Guardsmen of the year, Sergeant Andrew mehltretter. [applause] and now ladies and gentlemen, we present to you the 2014 uso Service Members of the year. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back asiha tyler and the Vice President of monster, steve coker. [applause] i just want to say if i have not made it clear what an honor its been to share this night with you. All night, people have thanked me for being here. I keep telling them how much of an honor it is for me and how grateful i am. Thats not casual conversation. I said yes immediately when i was asked. The best part of my job is all the close and the carpets and bull you read about the best part of this job is to give back and its incredibly high honor to serve that there is no higher honor than to be of service to those who serve. I am so, so grateful to be here with you. As an incredible night for may. Thank you. [applause] thank you and great job. Except for the zumkunft thing that was that. Is that the only thing . That was the only thing. On behalf of monster military. Com i want to thank you all for attending this evening. It is truly an honor to support the uso and their mission to lift the spirit of american troops and families and to jd and the uso staff, what an Inspiring Program you put together tonight. Thank you for creating such an extraordinary event. To those who are honored this evening, i am in in all. In awe. I spake for everyone in this room when i say we are humbled by your stories.