Medal of Honor recipient to be first lady’s guest at State of the Union

Former Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha, an Army veteran who will become only the fourth living service member from the Afghanistan conflict to be awarded the Medal of Honor, will be the guest of first lady Michelle Obama at Tuesday's State of the Union.

President Obama is set to present Romesha with the award, the military's highest honor, at a ceremony Monday at the White House. The honor, first awarded in 1863, is only granted to those who display "great personal bravery or self-sacrifice" and put their lives in danger, according to the White House.

The former staff sergeant is being recognized or his actions during the Battle of Kamdesh, one of the bloodiest days for American soldiers during the Afghanistan conflict. During the battle, hundreds of Taliban insurgents swarmed an American combat outpost in Eastern Afghanistan, overwhelming the coalition forces and leaving eight Americans dead and another 22 wounded. Romesha led efforts to retake the camp, repeatedly risking his own life.

Romesha's attendance as the first lady's guest was first reported by CNN. In recent decades, presidents have made a tradition out of acknowledging guests in the box, who are traditionally ordinary Americans with particularly inspiring stories. The custom began with Ronald Reagan's 1982 address, during which the former president acknowledged Lenny Skutnik, a government employee who dove into an icy Potomac River to save the life of a passenger in the Air Florida Flight 90 crash.

President Obama is likely to discuss plans to withdraw troops entirely from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 during the foreign policy portion of his address.

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