Into the Fire

 In the fall of 2009, a patrol of Afghan soldiers and Marine advisors was ambushed in a mountain village called Ganjigal by Taliban insurgents positioned to wipe out one hundred men who were pinned down and repeatedly refused artillery support. Ordered to remain behind with the vehicles, twenty-one-year-old Marine corporal Dakota Meyer disobeyed orders and attacked to rescue his comrades. Over the course of five hours, he charged into the valley time and again, rallying Afghan troops to follow.