When Harm, Mac and Bud are ordered to run a routine background check on a Navy SEAL who is a candidate for the Medal of Honor, they uncover unsavory information that may make him unworthy.

Lt. Rivers is up for a medal after he single-handedly rescues the undersecretary of state from fundamentalist terrorists. Harm and Mac, in their investigation, find Rivers, an African-American, to be a very tough, complex and uncommunicative individual who is totally devoted to his country and his duty. But his men paint a different picture of him as a gung-ho loner who doesn't care about the safety of his team and, in fact, botched the mission by leaving one of his men behind. Rivers finally agrees to open up to Harm -- but only if Harm can withstand arduous SEAL training for one day -- including the brutal manhandling required of the ""hostage interrogation.""