Afghanistan Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer reenlists in Marine Corps Rserves after 15 years

Dakota Meyer, a Marine who was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism within the Afghanistan Battle however later grew to become a pointy critic of the Biden administration over its chaotic withdrawal from that battle, is reenlisting within the army and can serve within the Marine Reserves.

In a briefing with reporters on Thursday earlier than his reenlistment ceremony, 36-year-old Meyer mentioned he’s returning to army service after 15 years out of uniform as a result of he felt he “had extra to offer.” He is additionally near President Trump’s protection secretary, Pete Hegseth.

However Meyer mentioned he would chorus from politics whereas in uniform.

“The good half about being within the reserves is I am nonetheless a citizen once I’m not on orders,” he mentioned. “Once I’m on orders I am going to comply clearly with no matter the usual is.”

In short remarks through the ceremony, Hegseth mentioned Meyer’s reenlistment is “not frequent follow” and the Marine Corps “does not do issues like this evenly,” however praised Meyer’s “unusual valor.” Hegseth mentioned the reenlistment reveals “you are by no means too previous, you are by no means too skilled, you’ve got by no means accomplished an excessive amount of you could’t proceed to contribute.”

Initially from Kentucky, Meyer was awarded the Medal of Honor, the army’s highest honor, by then-President Barack Obama in 2011 for his heroics in Afghanistan when he charged 5 instances in a Humvee into heavy gunfire to rescue comrades beneath assault by Taliban insurgents.

On Sept. 8, 2009, Meyer was a part of a safety workforce supporting a patrol transferring right into a village within the Ganjgal Valley. All of a sudden, the lights in a close-by village went out and gunfire erupted. About 50 Taliban insurgents on mountainsides and within the village had ambushed the patrol.

His actions through the six-hour assault and firefight saved the lives of 36 individuals, each People and Afghans. He killed no less than eight Taliban insurgents. Firing from a gun turret on prime of a Humvee pushed by a fellow Marine, he offered cowl for his workforce, permitting many to flee probably dying.

Meyer described the occasions in a 2011 interview with CBS Information’ “60 Minutes,” telling correspondent David Martin, “I did not suppose I used to be going to die. I knew I used to be.”

4 American troopers died within the ambush: 1st Lt. Michael Johnson, 25, from Virginia Seaside, Virginia; Workers Sgt. Aaron Kenefick, 30, of Roswell, Georgia; Corpsman James Layton, 22, of Riverbank, California; and Edwin Wayne Johnson Jr., a 31-year-old gunnery sergeant from Columbus, Georgia. A fifth man, Military Sgt. Kenneth W. Westbrook, 41, of Shiprock, New Mexico, died later from his wounds.

After leaving the army, Meyer remained within the highlight. In 2016 he married former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s daughter, Bristol, they usually had two kids. Years later, in 2019, he advised “60 Minutes” about his expertise with a new post-traumatic stress dysfunction remedy.

He is been outspoken in regards to the jailing of one other Marine — Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller — who criticized the Biden administration for the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan in social media posts whereas in uniform, which is a violation of army conduct.