Airman 1st Class Stone, a medical technician, was promoted to Senior Airman and then to Staff Sergeant at Travis Air Force Base in California. The second promotion, was at the order of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark. A. Welsh III.

According to Air Force guidelines, the chief of staff has the authority to promote any enlisted member to the next higher grade. Stone became the recipient of this rare honor following his role in subduing the gunman on a train headed to Paris.

Stone and two friends, Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos, who is part of the Oregon Army National Guard, took down a man armed with a box-cutter, a pistol and an AK-47 assault rifle on a high-speed train bound for Paris in August. They won accolades for their actions from the presidents of France and the United States.

Stone made headlines again in October after he was stabbed several times during a fight outside a Sacramento bar in an unrelated incident.