Rare Breed

CSM: [Yesterday] Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer was awarded the Medal of Honor for his attempts to locate and rescue missing comrades despite hostile fire in Ganjgal, Afghanistan. Rather than stay at a relatively safe distance from the intense firefight as he had been ordered, the then-21-year-old crossed battle lines five times and saved the lives of 36 US and Afghan troops pinned down during a Taliban ambush in September 2009.

Meyer is the third living recipient of the Medal of Honor for actions in the wars of Iraq or Afghanistan.

From The Wrong War by Bing West:

"A few weeks later, Lt. Gen. Joseph Dunford, commander of the Marines in Afghanistan, visited Camp Joyce, ate lunch with a subdued Dakota Meyer, talked with the survivors of Gangigal, and flew off, studying his notes.

"Dunford was no man's fool. His troops called him Fighting Joe because he had led from the front in battles in Iraq. He was thoughtful and literate. He studied war, leadership, and courage. Meyer had him stumped. In 28 months in command as a regimental and assistant division commander, he had never come across anything like this.

"In 1942, Sgt. John Basilone had charged several Japanese machine gun nests on Guadalcanal and received the Medal of Honor. Dunford was looking at a similar feat. To rush forward five times, knowing you were going to die...what kind of man did that? Dunford had talked with Capt. Swenson, the savvy advisor, who could only shake his head. The fury of the battle and the lack of support had infuriated Meyer. That four comrades were trapped was unacceptable to him. He wouldn't stop attacking.

"In The Anatomy of Courage, Lord Moran described his firsthand experiences in observing bravery in World War I. 'When the death of a husband or son or brother has grown distant,' he wrote, 'and the world is free again to think without impiety that courage is not common, men will remember that all the fine things in war as in peace are the work of a few men; that the honor of our race is the keeping of but a fraction of her people.' Meyer was one of those 'few men.'"