Article snippet: The Navy and President Trump have been in a tug of war over Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, the Navy SEAL at the center of a highly publicized war crimes case. The Navy prosecuted Gallagher and wanted to expel him from the SEALs, but the president, as commander in chief, has repeatedly intervened in the sailor’s favor. Here is what you need to know about Gallagher, the war crimes case, and the tussle over his fate. Who is Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher? The son of a West Point graduate and career Army officer, Edward Gallagher enlisted in the Navy as a medic in 1999 and deployed to Iraq attached to a Marine infantry unit. He became one of the few Navy medics ever to complete the Marines’ demanding scout sniper school. Now 40, he sometimes goes by the nickname Blade. He graduated from the Navy’s punishing Basic Underwater Demolition course in 2005 and joined the SEALs, the most elite commando force in the Navy. Since then, he has deployed to combat zones with the SEALs five times, rising to become a special operations chief, as SEAL chief petty officers are known. Gallagher was named the top platoon leader in SEAL Team 7 and has been awarded several Bronze Stars for valor in actions under fire in Iraq and Afghanistan. The chief came to be widely known among the SEALs as a battle-wise veteran. Since his arrest last fall, his supporters, including conservative lawmakers and media outlets, have portrayed Gallagher as a valiant SEAL who was being unfairly... Link to the full article to read more