Dakota Meyer never planned on joining the Marine Corps. Growing up on a cattle farm in Columbia, Kentucky, he planned to play college football after high school. He played running back for his high school team and wanted to play on a bigger stage. In 2006, when he was just 17, a Marine Corps recruiter visited his school and told Meyer that playing football was a good idea because he could never be a Marine. Dakota Meyer Joins the Marines and Begins a New Path Dakota Meyer signed up for the Marine Corps that day. After graduating, he shipped out to training at Parris Island, his first steps toward an entirely different destiny than he'd planned. Meyer would leave active duty in the Corps in 2010. The following year, he was working a construction job in his civilian career when the White House called his office to inform him he was receiving the Medal of Honor for actions he took in Afghanistan in 2009. The office told the White House Meyer would have to call them back during his lunch...
