Fight to the Finish: U.S. Marine receives Medal of Honor for actions in Afghanistan

MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII - Removed from an ambushed platoon of Marines and soldiers in a remote Afghan village on Sept. 8, 2009, his reality viciously shaken by an onslaught of enemy fighters, Cpl. Dakota Meyer simply reacted as he knew best — tackling what he called “extraordinary circumstances” by “doing the right thing … whatever it takes.”

Nearly two years later, the White House announced Aug. 12, 2011, the 23-year-old Marine scout sniper from Columbia, Ky., who has since left the Marine Corps, will become the first living Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor in 38 years. Retired Sgt. Maj. Allan Kellogg, Jr. received the medal in 1973 for gallantry in Vietnam three years earlier.

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There's No Place Like A Patrol Base

PATROL BASE BURY, Afghanistan — Their humble home is exceptionally primitive, but it’s all the deployed infantrymen need.

Patrol Base Bury, a tiny base contained by concertina wire and giant Hesco barriers, is the humble home of Marines with 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment during their seven-month deployment to Helmand province’s Garmsir district.

This deployment has brought them far from home in both distance and circumstance.

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U.S. forces treat Afghans wounded by suicide bomber

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELHI, Afghanistan — The sounds from a controlled flurry of medical activity drifted through a narrow hallway packed with patients, stretchers and U.S. Navy corpsmen, funneling their calm conversations and unbreakable focus into the buzzing aid station.

Faced with a mass casualty situation following an attack by a suicide bomber in southern Helmand province’s Garmsir district, corpsmen with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment treated eight wounded Afghan National Policemen here, April 19, 2012.

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