Dakota Meyer reenlisted in the Marine Corps in 2025 after 15 years away, then completed reconnaissance training at 38. Pete Hegseth administered the oath of enlistment as Meyer returned to the Marine Corps after leaving the service.
He said completing the course at 38 was "To be able to do that at 38, it was definitely one of the — hands down — probably the hardest thing that I've ever had to do." Meyer had decided at 36 to put the uniform back on, making the return a late move by the standards of military training.
Marine Corps in 2025
Meyer became the first Medal of Honor recipient to reenlist. He later entered the training pipeline to become a reconnaissance Marine and finished the course in his late 30s, turning the reenlistment into more than a symbolic return.
In an interview with Digital ahead of Veterans Day, Meyer said, "Every day after I took that uniform off, that desire to serve didn't just end because my commitment to the country did." He added, "I think sometimes it's looked at as you've done your part, and I am wholeheartedly against that."
Battle of Ganjgal in Kunar Province
Before that return, Meyer had already lived through the 2009 Battle of Ganjgal in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, when he was 21. He had been assigned to remain with the vehicles at a rally point while other members of his team moved with Afghan troops toward the village roughly a mile away.
The patrol was ambushed by more than 50 insurgents firing from fortified positions on the surrounding slopes. Meyer and Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez could hear the battle unfolding over the radio, while four members of Meyer’s team were trapped inside the ambush.
That earlier fight helps explain why his 2025 return drew attention beyond the reenlistment itself. Meyer had spent years building a life outside the military, yet he described service as something that continues rather than ends, and his late-30s completion of reconnaissance training matched that view in practice.
Veterans Day and
The unanswered piece is what comes next after reconnaissance training. Meyer completed the course, but the record here stops there, leaving his return defined by the reenlistment, the training, and the fact that he did it at 38 after 15 years away.
