Petty Officer 1st Class Joshua Mefford, a cyber-warfighter, not too long ago distinguished himself within the subject of community safety. Vice Adm. Ross Myers, commander, U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and U.S. tenth Fleet awarded Mefford the Joint Service Commendation Medal, Monday.
“Seldom can we level to at least one individual making a distinction; nevertheless, you might be that instance! You’re a success story of how a single individual could make a distinction,” Myers mentioned to Mefford at an off-the-cuff presentation in entrance of his colleagues at Laptop Community Operations.
Mefford earned this recognition for work that straight impacted nationwide safety on dozens of events, with outcomes that had been included in a number of Presidential and Nationwide Safety Council briefs.
A lot of the work within the data warfare group is extremely labeled and for that motive, it’s uncommon to be publicly acknowledged and even observed. As a Cryptologic Technician who focuses on networks, Mefford conducts pc community exploitation and offensive cyber operations.
Mefford accepted the award, whereas recognizing his colleagues. He says hitting the fitting keys was a results of the help his crew supplied him.
“It took lots of people to get right here. The work doesn’t occur in a vacuum,” mentioned Mefford. “Though I used to be on the keyboard, the award is all of ours.”
Division Main Chief Petty Officer Patrick Lucia mentioned that Mefford receiving this award was not a stroke of luck, “He’s one of the best I’ve seen. Mefford is without doubt one of the brightest individuals I do know and is solely devoted to the job.”
Mefford’s achievement is exemplary, however his path up to now is much more extraordinary. A local of Lexington, Kentucky, he joined the Navy in 2007. He was homeless on the time, inflicting him to drop out of highschool after his first 12 months, however he didn’t surrender. He used the identical drive as he demonstrated in incomes his award to earn his GED diploma and pursue a naval profession.
“The Navy has actually cool jobs,” Mefford mentioned. “I’m a pc individual. When the [cryptologic technician (networking)] CTN price was growing, I appeared on the bibliography and research supplies and noticed I already owned lots of the books within the bibs.”
Mefford hopes that not solely will this set an instance for his teammates and shipmates however encourage those that are dealing with challenges. He mentioned that he rejected his established order and refused to let his state of affairs outline him, “You may’t succeed with out drive. I’m by no means content material. I at all times wish to do one thing higher than what I did the day earlier than.”
