 You could just say and spell your first and last name and then tell me your role here. Okay, my name is Mike and it's M-I-K-E Griffiths G-R-I-F-F-I-T-H-S. Was this sister principal when Dakota went to school here, but now I'm principal of the Virtual Academy. We have a new virtual school, so that's my new role. That sounds good. Great. Why don't we start by, to you, if you can just describe Dakota Meyer in your own words? Well, Dakota Meyer, it's one of those things, he's such a well-rounded individual, a person with a lot of passion for whatever he was involved in, whether it was athletics or whatever he took part in. He was always an athlete that came early, stayed late, I always wanted to know what was on the practice schedule. And as a student, he was one of those ones that not necessarily was just your normal everyday student. He was a student that wanted to do more, I wanted to be challenged and challenged you on a daily basis, as my role as assistant principal got to know him really well because of that. But he had a great passion for needy children and students that were in special ed program loved him because Dakota would spend time with them and do things with them that sometimes others wouldn't. And he looked at that as something, as a reward for being able to have a special class. So he got to work with those kids. And I really think that that kind of drove him, because it was a challenge, those were challenged students, and he liked to be challenged. And he told you he was going to train the Marines, but did you think that in itself is a pretty large challenge? Well, it did not surprise me. When you're an athlete and you've been a part of a team and you've been in a team environment your entire life, that didn't really surprise me that he was going to do that. What surprised me is that I knew that he would go in with the same passion. He does everything else. And I know his work level and that kind of thing. And I knew that when he went in the Marines, he was really going to be challenged to the ultimate, and not only physically, but mentally. And when you're 17 years old, and really being from a rural area, and maybe not exposed to everything that you're getting ready to be exposed to, I knew those were going to be more of the challenges than the physical part would be. And that was kind of a concern, and we discussed those. I know that he had talked about going and trying to play college football, and he had been beaten and banged up a little bit. And I really felt like if he could get in the Marines and do well, it would be a great career for him. And a lot of times in rural areas, there's not a lot of things for students at age to do, unless you just go to a four-year school. So I thought that it would be something that he could make a career of. Come on. Let me put you over. Oh, my God. Not good. Good. Okay. Ready? Yeah. When you first heard about what happened around Afghanistan, and you heard about what Dakota did, what impact did that have on you? What went through your mind? Well, you know, the big thing is I got the phone called. He was training in Hawaii, and I knew something was tremendously different. And he really could not say where he was going to go, what he was going to be doing. But he just told me, you know, it's just not going to be good. And they, I think, for months had been training them for that. And of course, their group's job was first in. They were the first in, and I'm really not sure what that meant. But he just told me that what they've been training for was not real good. And that, you know, that he was concerned. And basically that was the end of our conversation until he came back out. And, you know, he really couldn't talk about the situation because he was emotional. I was emotional about the situation. When he came home, you know, he called me. And of course he had to spend some time in the hospital and those kind of things. But he came out and spent a long time at my house. When we walked around the farm, we did a lot of talking. And I have a son that was nine years old and a time that loved to shoot guns. So Dakota, you know, being the weapon mastery that he has, he took my son. And they talked. So it was one of those things that when he came home, you know, you could tell there was something brutally different. He couldn't discuss that. He couldn't discuss what had taken place. But I do know that it was very difficult for him. I think that he felt like that he could talk to me about what took place. But he wasn't near ready to discuss it. And of course in the military, you know, you have things that you can't tell. And I think that was one of the things that was very difficult for him because he needed to tell somebody what he had been through. And, you know, he would call me at different times of the day or night. And we would have discussions. And, you know, he said, one day I'll be able to discuss this with you. But, you know, he might only talk for many. He might talk for five minutes because we had that kind of relationship. But he needed to talk to somebody. And, you know, he would call me at midnight or, you know, one o'clock in the morning. But, you know, I think that this this took place with him, you know, and once again, being on a team, you know, he really, the conversation, you know, he let his team down. That was the first conversation. But he couldn't go and elaborate. But, you know, I knew that, you know, when he told me, when he made the first phone call before they went, you know, I knew it was going to be tough. You know, we've lost students that have gone to school here in war in Iraq and, you know, the roadside bombs and those type of things. So I knew that it was going to be bad. He knew that it was going to be bad. But, you know, you don't realize how bad. And nobody could, you know, nobody could ever understand how bad, except the person that's going through it. And, you know, I know that the rest of his life, this is going to be a situation that he has to deal with and work through. And I hope that everybody supports him and understands, you know, receiving the Medal of Honor, it's an award. But I don't think people realize, you know, how Dakota actually feels because being his coach and working with him, that's not what he went to Iraq for. You know, he went to defend his country. That was important to him. Being a part of that team was important. Those guys on that team was important to him. And, you know, I don't want people to misconstrue this at all because he still feels responsible. What kind of impact has Dakota had on your life? Well, on my life, like I say, I look at every kid that I come in contact with. I try to find something positive about them. And, you know, he's had an impact because if he had a problem, or not necessarily a problem, I always kind of looked at those as opportunities with Dakota because I knew that he was a driven person. And I'm in him kind of get along because we're a lot the same way. We can say things to each other that might, other people might not understand. But if he really needed to say something, he couldn't say to somebody else, he could say it to me. And maybe I came back and maybe it wasn't real positive when I came back sometimes. But it's something that he needed to hear. You know, that's the type of relationship that we've had. And, you know, I think that his impact on my life is being that, you know, that every child that comes through the doors of a school, teachers don't realize the impact that they have on that person. You know, and that impact that they're going to have on them. And, you know, you don't, every day you don't really realize, you know, you have students that go out that are very successful at things, but you don't think about these type of situations. And Dakota's, you know, he's impacted my entire family. You know, my kids are close to him. He came and was the Grand Marshal of our Christmas Parade here. And, you know, I've got pictures in the house of my kids and him and his uniform and, you know, they're very proud of him. Because, you know, I look at him, like I say, as my own child. So we have that kind of relationship. And, you know, there's been, I know I've let him down and disappoint him. And on the other hand, he's done the same with me. You know, we, you know, as I say, that kind of thing's a two-way street. But I'm very proud of him just because he served his country. Well, what does he like to coach? Very challenging, very challenging. You know, Dakota's a guy that, you know, as a coach, you know, you want that guy on your team because he's going to go 100% every play. You don't have to tell him to go 100%. In practice, you did not have to tell him to go 100%. You did not have to tell him to lift weights. You don't have to tell him to run. You didn't have to tell him to train. He's a type of guy that's your team. The thing with Dakota, because of his leadership qualities in that, sometimes he pushed others over the edge, you know, because, you know, leaders, in a sense, when you outwork others, you know, you make it hard on them, you know. Because if a coach compares you, you say, you know, why don't you be more like Dakota? If that comes up, you know, players don't like that. But also in the sense that, you know, if others see you working hard, you know, everybody else catches on, you know, this guy wants to do something special. And that was the whole thing with Dakota as a coach. You know, he wanted to do something special. He just said, I just don't want to play football. I want to be a great player. And that's a thing that I can tell you that I sense from day one with him. And it made him enjoy able to coach him. It's because, you know, he had that drive to be a great player.