According to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Earl was born on the 6th of April 1980, in Clinton, Oklahoma, where he grew up on the family ranch. During his junior year of high school, he enlisted with the Oklahoma National Guard but because he got into fights and would get injured, he couldn’t get a ship date to Basic Training. Earl then enlisted in the US Marine Corps in 2000 as an option in lieu of legal charges. He attended boot camp at the Recruit Depot in San Diego, California, as well as the Marine Corps School of Infantry at Camp Pendleton. Earl wanted to serve overseas and at the time, the only duty station that qualified for infantry was at Kaneohe, Hawaii.

After the terror attacks of September 11th, 2001, Earl attended the Recon Indoctrination Program with 4th Force Reconnaissance and continued onto the Marine Amphibious Reconnaissance Course, completing it to become a Basic Recon Marine. He went on to complete Navy SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) school, Basic Airborne School, High Risk Personnel course, and Combat Dive school before returning to the 4th Force Recon. Earl did two deployments to Iraq as a Recon Marine, got married to his wife Terrie, and attended Military Free Fall school before having a 12-hour break in service to join the US Army with a Special Forces contract in 2009. He went directly to Special Forces Assessment and Selection and continued onto the Qualification Course, where he attended SERE school for a second time.

After graduating, Earl was assigned to the 4th Battalion of the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) as a weapons sergeant and his actions during the April of 2013 deployment to Afghanistan would earn him the Silver Star, which would later be upgraded to the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:

Staff Sergeant Earl D. Plumlee distinguished himself by acts of gallantry above and beyond the call of duty on August 28th, 2013, while serving as a weapons sergeant, C company, 4th Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) in support of Enduring Freedom. Sergeant Plumlee instantly responded to an enemy attack on Forward Operating Base Ghazni—Ghazni Province, Afghanistan —that began with an explosion that tore a 60-foot breach in the base’s perimeter wall. Ten insurgents wearing Afghan National Army uniforms and suicide vests poured through the breach. Sergeant Plumlee and five others mounted two vehicles and raced toward the explosion. When his vehicle was engaged by enemy fire, Sergeant Plumlee reacted instinctively, using his body to shield the driver prior to exiting the vehicle and engaging an enemy insurgent 15 meters to the vehicle’s right with his pistol. Without cover and in complete disregard for his own safety, he advanced on the enemy, engaging multiple insurgents with only his pistol. Upon reaching cover, he killed two insurgents —one with a grenade and the other by detonating the insurgent’s suicide vest using precision sniper fire. Again, disregarding his own safety, Sergeant Plumlee advanced alone against the enemy, engaging several insurgents at close range, including one whose suicide vest exploded a mere seven meters from his position. Under intense enemy fire, Sergeant Plumlee temporarily withdrew to cover, where he joined up with another solider and, together, they mounted another counterattack. Under fierce enemy fire, Sergeant Plumlee again moved from cover and attacked the enemy forces, advancing within seven meters of a previously wounded insurgent who detonated his suicide vest, blowing Sergeant Plumlee back against a nearby wall. Sergeant Plumlee, ignoring his injuries, quickly regained his faculties and reengaged the enemy forces. Intense enemy fire once again forced the two soldiers to temporarily withdraw. Undeterred, Sergeant Plumlee joined a small group of American and Polish soldiers, who moved from cover to once again counterattack the infiltrators. As the force advanced, Sergeant Plumlee engaged an insurgent to his front left. He then swung around and engaged another insurgent who charged the group from the rear. The insurgent detonated his suicide vest, mortally wounding a U.S. solider. Sergeant Plumlee, again, with complete disregard for his own safety, ran to the wounded soldier, carried him to safety, and rendered first aid. He then methodically cleared the area, remained in a security posture, and continued to scan for any remaining threats. Staff Sergeant Earl D. Plumlee’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the finest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the Special Forces Regiment, and the United States Army.

Earl underwent nine months of physical rehabilitation after returning from Afghanistan and was later stationed in Okinawa with the 1st Battalion of the 1st Special Forces Group (Airbourne). Endorsements for Earl to receive the Medal of Honor went to the Senior Army Decorations Board in 2015, two of which were from Marine General Joseph Dunford and Army General Mark Milley. The board consists of three Lieutenant Generals from the office of the Secretary of the Army unless the nominee is enlisted. In that case, the third seat is filled by the Sergeant Major of the Army. The board can vote to approve, deny, upgrade, or downgrade the award that appears in front of them. When Earl’s Medal of Honor nomination appeared in front of the board, two members voted to downgrade it two steps to the Silver Star and one member voted to downgrade to the Distinguished Service Cross. What would later lead to an investigation, one of the members stated that the actions were worthy of the Medal of Honor IF they were carried out by a lower enlisted soldier and not by a senior non-commissioned officer. It was explained that a senior NCO should be expected to carry out the actions that Earl did that day. It is now known that there was a lack of detail in the witness statements that had been submitted and that some prejudice might have been applied during the review process, since valor awards are not supposed to reflect one’s rank. When asked about the investigation and the controversy, Earl said, “…I think a downgrade to the Distinguished Service Cross wouldn’t have got everyone stirred up. It just fed into 800 different conspiracy theories about why I didn’t get it and why it had to be downgraded twice.”

Thanks to years of advocacy from Earl’s friends and colleagues, his Silver Star was upgraded to the Medal of Honor via the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, and he received the Medal of Honor from President Biden on the 16th of December 2021, in a ceremony at the White House. As of this episode, Earl D Plumlee is still actively serving in the US Army at the rank of Master Sergeant, with about 24 years of service.