Dakota Meyer doesn’t believe in the midlife crisis. He believes you shouldn’t have stopped fighting in the first place.
That mindset is one reason Meyer, the cover story focus of Hook & Barrel’s July/August issue, recently did something most middle-aged dads wouldn’t dream of: He rejoined the Marine Corps Reserve and set his sights on earning a place in an elite recon unit.
“As men, we hit our thirties and we put our swords down,” Meyer says. “Guys just accept where they’re at instead of getting up and fighting for where they want to be. I still had more to give, and we’ve all got so much more we can put on the table.”
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So, in his late 30s, the legendary Medal of Honor recipient did something most middle-aged dads wouldn’t dream of: He reenlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve and joined an elite recon unit.
Since then, being around younger Marines has re-energized Meyer, as he sees men in their early 20s still trying to earn their way and uses it as inspiration.
“So much of it is your circle,” he says. “I would’ve never got through recon training if I couldn’t have looked around at these kids and watched them just getting after it, feeding off that to just push me through.”
Meyer is not suggesting every suburban dad head down to the local recruiting office, or even the local frat house. What he’s saying is that no matter where you are in life, you have more left in the tank than you might think. In the land of opportunity, you’re wasting a gift if you don’t strive to achieve more.
Dakota Meyer’s Medal of Honor Story
Meyer’s reenlistment is especially impressive, not just because of his age, but also because he could have easily called it a career after his heroics in Afghanistan. His Medal of Honor story goes something like this: On a cold September morning in 2009, Meyer was standing guard at a rally point for a U.S./Afghan joint patrol, which was set to meet elders in the village of Ganjgal.
Under the cover of early morning darkness, enemy forces ambushed the patrol, opening fire with rockets and mortars from the surrounding mountains. When Meyer learned the patrol had been cut off, he commandeered a gun truck with another Marine to help get them out. From the machine gunner’s position, Meyer took out enemy fighters as his fellow Marine sped over rocky terrain. Their truck became the focus of nearly all enemy fire, but it miraculously reached their pinned-down men. Over two trips, Meyer rescued more than 20 Afghan soldiers.
At that point, he still wasn’t done. With U.S. and Afghan troops still pinned down, he made three more trips through enemy fire. On his fifth trip, he searched for missing Marines on foot, retrieving the bodies of four and carrying them out. In total, his actions saved 36 lives. Two years later, President Barack Obama presented Meyer with the Medal of Honor, making him the first living Marine to receive the medal for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The Warrior’s Spirit Never Left
By the time he received the medal, Meyer had already left active service. Not because he was done fighting, but because the Corps wouldn’t let him deploy.
“I wanted to go back on deployment as soon as I got back,” he says. “However, the Marine Corps refused to let me go. I thought, Well, if you’re not going to let me deploy and go fight, then I’m getting out. I would’ve been great if they left me in combat, but I wasn’t going to be good if they left me anywhere else. I’m not a good green-side Marine.”
Like many veterans, he struggled adjusting to civilian life.
“To be good at fighting the enemy, you have to almost get on the enemy’s level,” he says. “Because of what had happened, I was dealing with some injuries and definitely struggling mentally. If you’ve seen some pictures of me, I was pretty beat up and was drinking every day.”
During the 2020 pandemic, he joined a local volunteer fire department, and his passion for public service was reignited. He attended the fire academy and became a professional firefighter in Texas. That still wasn’t enough.
“There are people who join the Marine Corps for an experience, and then there are people who do it because it’s who they are,” he says. “You just keep finding yourself in the same spot and the same desire to help people. It’s like, you might as well be in an institution that does that.”
So, Dakota Meyer rejoined the Marine Corps Reserve, joining the 4th Marine Recon Battalion in San Antonio. Though he wanted to be treated just like any Marine, he quickly learned that when you’re Dakota Meyer, that’s not really possible.
A Hero’s Return and a Hard Lesson
The revelation hit him like a blast of icy water when he was preparing for the swim qualification test at the U.S. Marine Corps Basic Reconnaissance Course. Meyer sat in the back of a truck surrounded by Marines half his age. All of them had learned of Meyer’s heroics during boot camp, the same way they learned names like Chesty Puller and Dan Daly.
“Man, I don’t know,” Meyer said. “I’m not sure about this swim. I might be going home next week.”
The transport truck grew quiet. Meyer thought nothing of it until later that week during the class’s weekly “hot wash,” where each member of the unit tells other Marines ways they can improve.
“None of these guys wanted to say anything to me,” he says. “I mean, imagine, you’re a PFC, and you’re there with this guy you learned about in boot camp, and you’ve got to say, ‘Yeah, sergeant, your swim’s kind of weak.’”
Meyer told his men they couldn’t leave until everyone told him a way he could get better. Finally, a young lance corporal spoke up.
“Sergeant Meyer, if you’re concerned about something, could you please not bring it up?” he said. “The other day, when you thought you weren’t going to pass swim qual, and you said that out loud, the whole class thought that they were failing. Because if you can’t make it, how can we?”
That was when Meyer realized he wasn’t just the ranking man in the class. He was an example to all Marines, and like it or not, he had to hold himself to an even higher standard.
“The stakes are higher,” he says. “There’s a ripple effect—if I start being late, everybody else is going to be late. It’s a responsibility, but there’s a reward when these kids are struggling. I can remind them they got it or walk them through it.”
Recovery, Healing and a New Standard
Training in his late 30s is difficult, Meyer says. “One of the biggest changes for me now is recovery isn’t optional—it’s part of it.” Meyer is stretching more. He’s cold plunging. He’s taking events at 80 percent instead of 100, understanding he can’t go all-out, all the time like he did when he was 21.
Mentally, he has credited alternative treatments with helping him address anxiety and post-traumatic stress.
“I came from the opioid generation,” he says. “We were shoving everybody with opioids and benzos, and that was the protocol. If I had listened to protocol, I’d probably be like a lot of my friends, and I’d be dead right now.
“Morgan Luttrell saved my life by making me go down to Mexico for Ibogaine treatment. That was huge for me, and we don’t need to keep sending guys down to Mexico to get healed. Why can we not do it in the same country that we fought for?”
It’s among the topics in his self-published book, Why to What, where Meyer chronicles his journey from post-war anxiety and PTSD to getting back on track, without letting society tell him what to do.
Why Dakota Meyer Believes in America
Meyer is spending America’s 250th anniversary summer continuing his Marine Corps recon training path. As we spoke, he was preparing to head to Airborne School, followed by four weeks of Free Fall school in June and dive school in July and August.
“I’ve got to get on a team, man, I’ve got to deploy,” he says with a laugh. “I just have this desire to serve people. I wish I could explain it. It will always be first and foremost, and I will never be fulfilled doing anything other than serving others.”
Service to others is the driving force behind Meyer’s life. However, he also reenlisted because he knows, despite his heroism, he still owes this country. He believes America is special because of the opportunities it provides and the Constitution it’s based on.
“America is nothing more than an idea that people believe in, that we can be better, we can do more for people, we can help better,” he says. “You’ve always had to earn your way. Nothing’s given here. Nothing’s a handout here. America doesn’t promise you success. What America promises you is opportunity. And there’s more opportunity today than there’s ever been.
“After fighting for America and carrying a gun in other countries and seeing how evil prevails, I see the difference,” he continues. “We’re the only country that swears allegiance to a piece of paper, not a human being. We’re the only military where leaders swear not to a party, but to a document that has the rights of every single human being since we’ve been founded.”
To Meyer, that’s what makes service in the United States military so special.
“It’s not a person,” he says. “Not his thoughts, his ideas, his intentions or their manipulation. It’s a document that will stay true to the rights of everyone, that is unconditional. And I believe that is the secret sauce.”