An Afternoon with the President

Sergeant Dakota Meyer was awarded the Medal of Honor last week, which is the nation's highest military honor. He is the only living Marine to receive it for actions in the current wars of Afghanistan or Iraq.

The incident began before dawn on September 8, 2009, as a patrol made up of Afghan forces and their American trainers were making their way on foot up a narrow valley in Kunar province to meet with elders in a village. Meyer was about a mile away when Taliban fighters ambushed the patrol, firing from three sides, Obama said.

But Meyer and Rodriguez-Chavez left their relatively safe location and jumped into a Humvee, with Meyer manning a gun in the turret, his body and head fully exposed to a rain of fire from AK-47s, machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, Obama said.

As they reached wounded Afghan soldiers, Meyer jumped out and loaded them into the Humvee, then drove them back to safety, Obama said.

-Quote from CNN

Meyer and Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez made 5 trips into hostile territory to rescue wounded and fallen soldiers at great danger to themselves.  Because of this, Meyer received the Medal of Honor and Chavez received the Navy Cross, the second-highest decoration that may be bestowed on Marines.

On September 14th, Obama and Meyer had a beer together on the patio outside the Oval Office. According to a series of tweets by White House spokesman Jay Carney, when a member of Obama's staff called Meyer over the weekend to prepare, "Meyer made a special request. ... Meyer asked the staffer if he could have a beer with the president." -Quote from CNN

The actions of that day are still difficult for Meyer to think about, according to the CNN article; however, the memory of sitting on the patio with the President of the United States will be a memory Sergeant Meyer will also never forget.

Thank you to all of our troops who have put their lives on the line to keep America safe.