Why I Respect Corporal Meyer
Corporal Meyer earned the Medal of Honor for achieving success against overwhelming odds during the fight of Ganjgal in September of 2009. His herioc acts include rescuing many marines while being shot at and carrying a hot piece of shrapnel in his arm. When more than 100 Taliban soldiers were trying to overrun the city of Ganjgal, the marines and Afghan soldiers asked a nearby army base to send mortar rounds to clear the hills.
Corporal Meyer realized that the artillery was not going to arrive, he grabbed his rifle and went in.
Braving a hail of gunfire and RPGs, Dakota Meyer manned the turret and blasted through the enemy, and then hopped out to help the wounded Afghanis, while Rodriguez-Chavez provided covering fire from the truck.
On his trip into town, Meyer and Rodriguez-Chavez found a group of American Marines. Meyer one again hopped out of the turret and occasionally swapped rifles with wounded men when his weapon jammed or overheated. Firing with one arm, helping wounded men with the other, he loaded the wounded into the truck, and once again Staff Sergeant Juan Rodriguez-Chavez managed to drive them out of there intact.
In the end, Dakota and Rodriguez-Chavez had saved the lives of the 36 men and brought home the bodies of four fallen Marines.
Meyer, 24, is now sergeant in the Individual Ready Reserve. After the Battle of Ganjgal, he went home to write a book about his time in the Service. During that time, Meyer was struggling with suicide, but decided to disclose the attempt because it shows the realities of war. The close call occurred in September 2010. Meyer had been drinking at a friend's house in Kentucky, when he pulled his pickup truck over and took out what he thought was a pistol. He pulled the trigger and was surprized when nothing came out.
Since then, Corporal Meyer has been struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Corporal Meyer realized that the artillery was not going to arrive, he grabbed his rifle and went in.
Braving a hail of gunfire and RPGs, Dakota Meyer manned the turret and blasted through the enemy, and then hopped out to help the wounded Afghanis, while Rodriguez-Chavez provided covering fire from the truck.
On his trip into town, Meyer and Rodriguez-Chavez found a group of American Marines. Meyer one again hopped out of the turret and occasionally swapped rifles with wounded men when his weapon jammed or overheated. Firing with one arm, helping wounded men with the other, he loaded the wounded into the truck, and once again Staff Sergeant Juan Rodriguez-Chavez managed to drive them out of there intact.
In the end, Dakota and Rodriguez-Chavez had saved the lives of the 36 men and brought home the bodies of four fallen Marines.
Meyer, 24, is now sergeant in the Individual Ready Reserve. After the Battle of Ganjgal, he went home to write a book about his time in the Service. During that time, Meyer was struggling with suicide, but decided to disclose the attempt because it shows the realities of war. The close call occurred in September 2010. Meyer had been drinking at a friend's house in Kentucky, when he pulled his pickup truck over and took out what he thought was a pistol. He pulled the trigger and was surprized when nothing came out.
Since then, Corporal Meyer has been struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.