U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Brett D. Meil is awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., on Sept. 24, 2024. (Adeola Adetimehi/U.S. Marine Corps)

U.S. Marine Corps Staff. Sgt. Brett D. Meil has received the Department of the Navy’s highest non-combat award for his heroic conduct during a training incident in June 2023.

Meil, originally from Texas, was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal on Sept. 24, 2024, at a ceremony hosted by School of Infantry — West at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California.

The training incident in question involved a potentially deadly mishap with a live fragmentation grenade. Meil was instructing a student to use an M67 grenade, but the student accidentally released the safety lever while still holding the grenade.

Meil remained calm and repeatedly instructed his student to throw the grenade into the designated target area. When the student failed to act, Meil physically extracted the grenade and forced himself and the trainee out of the pit.

However, the grenade bounced off a wall and ended up landing outside the pit — a few feet away from where Meil and the student were covering. Meil immediately moved to shield the student with his own body. 

Meil absorbed hundreds of pieces of shrapnel when the grenade went off, but the student he protected received only minor injuries.

Despite being injured, Meil’s immediate response to the detonation was to check on the young Marine he had covered, only attending to himself after being relieved by medical personnel and other combat instructors.

“My initial thought was how do I get this private out of the pit and leave the grenade in it,” Meil said, according to a Marine Corps press release.

“My secondary thought was the grenade’s outside the pit and pulling him as close and tight to me as possible.”

The commanding officer of SOI-West, Col. Patrick B. Bryne, said that Meil’s actions were “exactly” what is asked of combat instructors.

The Navy and Marine Corps Medal signifies distinguished acts of heroism in a non-combat environment and is akin to the Soldier’s Medal or Airman’s Medal.

U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Brett D. Meil speaks on the importance of composure and situational awareness after receiving the Navy and Marine Corps Medal at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., on Sept. 24, 2024. (Adeola Adetimehin/U.S. Marine Corps)