Dakota Meyer

They are known as the few and the proud. But there is one Marine who stood out the most out of the whole Marine Corps on September 8th, 2009. That Marine was Sgt. Dakota Meyer. Dakota Meyer's was the youngest marine to earn the Congressional Medal of Honor in Ganjgal, Afghanistan for heroic and courageous actions during an intense firefight. Dakota knew what the odds were and he defied orders to save his fellow marines. Dakotas story was told for years and is still told today; this is Dakota's story of courage and heroism.

Dakota Meyer is a United States Marine infantryman (0311). He was assigned to 3rd battalion 3rd marines (3/3) as his infantry unit. Dakota was brought to the country's attention for going out of his way to save his fellow marines that were trapped in a severe firefight due to a accurately planned Taliban ambush. "I have never seen the like" said one of the helicopter pilots that landed to pick up the wounded in Ganjgal Valley, Afghanistan on September 8, 2009. Now why would someone say that? what have they never seen? They have never seen a 21 year old sergeant run into a gauntlet of fire, not once but multiple times, to save his fellow marines knowing that there is an extremely high chance of getting killed. "When the forward element of his combat team began to be hit by intense fire from roughly 50 Taliban insurgents dug-in and concealed on the slopes above Ganjgal village, Sergeant Meyer mounted a gun-truck, enlisted a fellow Marine to drive, and raced to attack the ambushers and aid the trapped Marines and Afghan soldiers. During a six hour fire fight, Sergeant Meyer single-handedly turned the tide of the battle, saved 36 Marines and soldiers and recovered the bodies of his fallen brothers." (Kickerocker, Brad).

Dakota knew that his life was in serious danger by performing this heroic act. But Dakota did what he thought was right, saving a brother dead or alive. Dakota ran through a gauntlet of fire to save his fellow marines and Afghan national army troops. Not once but multiple times. Imagine being in an unarmored truck with a .50 cal turret mounted on the back and having the whole valley of Ganjgal shooting at you. You wouldn't even be able to shoot back or even stand up to look around, would you? Dakota did the exact opposite of hiding, he was standing up swaying left and right shooting the turret back at the Taliban even though bullets are whizzing past his face. "Meyer had driven into the heart of a savage ambush in eastern Afghanistan against orders. He'd killed insurgents at near-point-blank range, twice leapt from his gun turret to rescue two dozen Afghan soldiers and saved the lives of 13 U.S. service members as he fought to recover the bodies of four comrades, the president said." (National Security). Dakota's mindset was only on saving his fellow marines and nothing more. The view from above when the airstrikes came was jaw dropping, every pilot that was interviewed did not have a word to describe Dakota's actions. Dakota was labeled as heroic, his actions of putting himself in front of death to save his fellow marines was extraordinary and very unheard of in the corps. He held the title of the youngest marine to ever hold the Medal of Honor and doing something as he stated "the right thing to do".

The snapping of 7.62x39 rounds didn't phase Dakota, the closer the bullets got to him the more determined he was to push deeper into the valley. Marines call this the fateful rage because they are so determined that they do not care what is in there way, even if there is massive amounts of Taliban engaging them. Braving withering fire, he repeatedly returned to the ambush site with Army Capt. William Swenson and others to retrieve Afghan casualties and the dead Americans. He suffered a shrapnel wound. Dakota had a lot of courage to put himself into the fire. Grabbing an unarmored truck and driving back into the valley in a intense firefight to save others is one of the most courageous things anyone can do. The 21 year old knew what he had to do. in his view as he stated "the right thing to do", Dakota decides to go back into the fight to look for others. dodging bullets and exposing himself to most certain death was something that not even words can describe. He told President Obama that he didn't think about dying, he told him that he knew he was going to die. "Meyer went time and again into the killing zone. During the six-hour battle in Ganjgal, Afghanistan he evacuated 12 of those pinned down, provided cover for another 24 to withdraw to safety, and killed at least eight Taliban fighters in the process." (Kickerocker, Brad).