 Just last month the White House announced that Dakota Meyer, a 23-year-old marine scout sniper from Columbia, Kentucky who has since left the Marine Corps will become the first living Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor in 38 years. We caught up with Dakota in his hometown before the awards ceremony to bring you his story. We went in to do a key-leader engagement to go in and meet with the elders of a village called Gansgaw and there was a group of about 21 Marines in there and AD Afghans with us and I was sitting outside of the outside of the village with some trucks with another staff sergeant and They they ended up getting hit and a little little ways into air support wasn't coming in So we decided we should go in there and try to help him get out Risking his life even when a medical evacuation helicopter wouldn't land because of the blazing gunfire Meyer charged through enemy machine gun and rocket propelled grenade fire to help rescue and evacuate his Marine Sailor and Afghan brothers. We made five trips in there and We got in there to find them. They were they had already been killed Dakota's family and friends say they were not surprised that he put his life on the line and ran headlong into a dangerous Situation like he did that day. Dakota is Dakota. I mean he he's a hard worker You always know where you stand with him. He'll tell you what's on his mind He always would dive head first into things and think later and so he was always looking for a Challenge and he always thought of others first every time I'd tell him I'd say now cold You take care of yourself He said now me ma I will but I Have to also take care of my brothers which he was talking about the other Marines He would have been willing to lay down his life He would have been willing to die for others to die for the battle to Do what he needed to do for his country. It's a mixture between training and it's a mixture between Morals, you know your brothers in there You know you don't leave anyone behind and there was no time. I ever thought that they would all be dead when I got in there But you know, it's just just how it happened Meyer joins a small elite group of heroes a Reality that will often require him to conjure up haunting reminders of the battles He has fought the friends he has lost and the painful regret he bears You could tell maybe sometimes it might get to him, you know, like you know the guys He was with that he you know pulled out there, you know, he was I was like brothers to him, you know, so kind of respected You know, it's it's big and in the media now in a big celebration, but to him. It's a lot more than that It's hard, you know, it's a It's hard, but you know that there's nothing that's gonna be too hard to keep getting their story out and getting the Recognition for the guys that passed that day. It's a great honor to be getting the Medal of Honor It's it's not for me. It's for those guys. It's for the Marine Corps. It's for the the Marines are reserving You know the Marines that will serve