A female U.S. sailor was recognized last week for her efforts during the January incident that resulted in Iran detaining 10 Americans.
Military.com reports the only female among the two crews of the Navy riverine boats that entered Iranian waters off Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf managed to activate an emergency beacon while she was kneeling, bound, and being held at gunpoint with her colleagues.
The Iranians later discovered the beacon and shut it off, but her effort signaled to U.S. officials that they were in some sort of trouble.
The sailor, whose name was not released by the Navy at her request, is a petty officer second class and was the No. 2 gunner on the second boat during the Jan. 2 incident. She received the Navy Commendation Medal during an Aug. 3 ceremony for her actions after the military said she displayed "extraordinary courage … at risk to her own safety," Military.com reports.
The 10 sailors were released by Iran after 15 hours of detention.
The commanding officer of the captured sailors will be punished. Others were also reprimanded.
The boats apparently had navigational errors and drifted into Iranian waters, at which point they were approached by several Iranian boats.
The sailors, according to a military report, were not prepared for the 300-mile journey to Bahrain, nor did they have the proper support — including from the air, which could have prevented the incident from happening altogether.
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