Dakota Meyer, a Marine who was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism within the Afghanistan Struggle however later grew to become a pointy critic of the Biden administration over its chaotic withdrawal from that battle, is reenlisting within the navy and can serve within the Marine Reserves.
In a briefing with reporters on Thursday earlier than his reenlistment ceremony, 36-year-old Meyer stated he’s returning to navy service after 15 years out of uniform as a result of he felt he “had extra to present.” He is additionally near President Trump’s protection secretary, Pete Hegseth.
However Meyer stated he would chorus from politics whereas in uniform.
“The nice half about being within the reserves is I am nonetheless a citizen once I’m not on orders,” he stated. “After I’m on orders I will comply clearly with no matter the usual is.”
Briefly remarks through the ceremony, Hegseth stated Meyer’s reenlistment is “not widespread follow” and the Marine Corps “does not do issues like this flippantly,” however praised Meyer’s “unusual valor.” Hegseth stated the reenlistment reveals “you are by no means too outdated, you are by no means too skilled, you’ve got by no means accomplished an excessive amount of which you can’t proceed to contribute.”
Initially from Kentucky, Meyer was awarded the Medal of Honor, the navy’s highest honor, by then-President Barack Obama in 2011 for his heroics in Afghanistan when he charged 5 occasions in a Humvee into heavy gunfire to rescue comrades beneath assault by Taliban insurgents.
President Obama awards the Medal of Honor to former Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer, 23, from Greensburg, Ky, on Sept. 15, 2011, throughout a ceremony on the White Home.
Charles Dharapak / AP
On Sept. 8, 2009, Meyer was a part of a safety workforce supporting a patrol shifting right into a village within the Ganjgal Valley. Instantly, 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 folks, each Individuals and Afghans. He killed no less than eight Taliban insurgents. Firing from a gun turret on high of a Humvee pushed by a fellow Marine, he offered cowl for his workforce, permitting many to flee doubtless demise.
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 Seashore, 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 navy, Meyer remained within the highlight. In 2016 he married former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s daughter, Bristol, and so they had two kids. Years later, in 2019, he informed “60 Minutes” about his expertise with a new post-traumatic stress dysfunction therapy.
He is been outspoken concerning 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 navy conduct.