An Army of Normal Folks - Supporting Greatness: Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer (Pt 2)

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

Dakota celebrates his own Army of Normal Folks who’ve supported his greatness: Big Mike, Sergeant Major Hector Soto-Rodriguez, Tana Rattliff, Tim Kennedy, his daughter Sailor, and so many more.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney with An Army of Normal Folks, and we continue now with part two of our conversation with Dakota Meyer, right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Hey everyone, it's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the home stretch and I'm exhausted. But turns out the end is near, right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question. This podcast is for people like me who need a little perspective and insight. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's,

to help me out, like Ezra Klein, Van Jones, Jen Psaki, Astead Herndon. But we're also gonna have some fun, even though these days fun and politics seems like an oxymoron. But we'll do that thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee, Roy Wood Jr., and Charlemagne the God. We're gonna take some viewer questions as well.

I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about? Power to the podcast for the people. Whether you're obsessed with the news or just trying to figure out what's going on, this season of Next Question is for you. Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, y'all, I'm Maria Fernandez. My podcast When You're Invisible is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped my life. I get to talk to a lot of people who form the backbone of our society, but who have never been interviewed before. Season two is all about community, organizing, and being underestimated. All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said, this sucks, let's do something about it. I can't have more than $2,000 in my bank account,

or else I can't get disability benefits. They won't let you succeed. I know we get paid to serve you guys, but like be respectful. We're made out of the same things. Bone, body, blood. It's rare to have black male teachers. Sometimes I am the lesson and I'm also the testament. Listen to When You're Invisible as part of the MyCultura podcast network. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The impact of a meal goes well beyond feeding our bodies,

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Is your country falling apart? Feeling tired, depressed, a little bit revolutionary? Consider this. start your own country. I planted the flag. I just kind of looked out of like, this is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. There are 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Everybody's doing it.

I am King Ernest Emmanuel. I am the Queen of La Donia. I'm Jackson I, King of Caperburg. I am the Supreme Leader of the Grand Republic of Montonia. Be part of a great colonial tradition. Well, why can't I trade my own country? My forefathers did that themselves. What could go wrong?

No country willingly gives up their territory. I was making a rocket with the black powder, you know, this explosive warhead. Oh, my God. What is that? Bullets. Bullet holes, yeah. We need help!

We still have the off-road portion to go. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You and I have a, have a, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but we have a little bit of a similar background. And then my dad left when I was young and had no relationship with him. He died recently.

Still no relationship. Mom was smart and hardworking and always managed to figure out a way to keep a roof over my head and me fed and clothed, but there wasn't a whole lot of consistency there in terms of men in my life. My mom was married and divorced five times. My fourth daddy shot at me down a hallway one day and I had to dive out a window. I don't know that you had that traumatic of an upbringing, but I think I understand your story to be you all bounced around a lot, you and your mom. This guy named Big Mike was briefly one of your mother's husbands. At 11, she said, look, I think Dakota would be better with you,

and basically said, Mike's your dad, I'm out. And Big Mike didn't see that as a burden, he saw it as an opportunity. Is that about right? Yeah, 100%. When you look at, and my dad has sacrificed his whole life taking care of other people. And Big Mike is your dad. Yeah. No, I mean, look, here's the deal.

The reality is, it's just because your blood doesn't mean your family. Just because your blood or... Titles are earned, they're not given. The title dad is the most, like it's something that's earned. There's a difference between a sperm donor and a dad. So tell me about Big Mike. Tell me about how he supported your greatness. Well, I mean, listen, I mean, my dad, he gave consistency. He held me accountable.

He taught me what a work ethic was. He taught me to, you know, the one thing my dad always was very... My dad is the hardest working... I mean, listen, he doesn't live his life based off the court of public opinions. My dad lives his life based off his foundations of what he believes is right and what's the right thing to do for the greater good. That was just the way we grew up. Work hard, you do what's right. And I think when I think of one word of my dad and my grandfather and my uncle, the men in my life, the core men,

the biggest thing that they ever really instilled in me was legacy. And when you talk about legacy, and not necessarily like in this type of communication, but just through their actions, was that name represents a lot of people. Our last name represents a lot of people. And when you go out there and you better live

and you better represent it of what a Meijer is, and that legacy is important because a lot of men have fought to build the reputation that a Meyer has and you better protect that and you better honor it and you better live up to it every single day. Big Mike was an engineer and a cow farmer. How's that work out? So he, so my grandfather was the engineer.

My dad went to college. He went to UK. I don't know what he got a degree in, but he also worked for a company called Southern States, which is like a tractor supply. It's a co-op. My dad ran that. That's a 40, 50-hour job. At least. And the way my dad did it the right way was 60 hours.

My dad was the first one in there every day, and he was the last one home every night, right? And that's the way my dad did everything. If my dad was going to do it, he was going to do it the right way. He didn't half-ass anything. I mean, that was what he instilled in us, was like, you know, responsibility, accountability of doing things the right way, finishing what you start. When you look at all these ethos, I mean, these were uncompromisable ways of life, no matter what. So after that, then he came home, put on overalls and screwed with a bunch of cows? Another 40 hours. Yeah, I mean, that's my dad. My dad, my work ethic that I have, like if I, I mean, it comes from my dad. Like, cause he just, my dad was always, always working to improve, to make things better. He was always doing that.

So if one of the guys that supported your greatness early on is Big Mike, aka Dad, the one word you would describe that he lent to you is an understanding of a legacy. Yeah. Yeah, building a legacy. Who else? I mean, a ton of people, right? It takes a village to raise a kid like me, and you take the teachers, the coaches, but I would say the next person that was probably instrumental in changing the trajectory of my life was a guy named, he's now a Sergeant Major, but Soto Rodriguez. He was my staff sergeant when I was in the Marine Corps.

What was his name? Soto Rodriguez. Now it's Sergeant Major Soto. Right. Is that Sergeant Juan Rodriguez Chavez? No, no. That was a guy who was with me that day. Okay, hang on. Soto Rodriguez. Yeah. Tell me about him. You know, this guy was… He believed in me before I ever believed in myself and helped me accountable to a standard, but also helped guide me, helped teach me lessons

and learning. He was my- Were you working under him or trained? Yeah, I worked for him. In Hawaii. So he was my sniper platoon sergeant. Got it. And really, he just poured into me.

He still does today. I mean, I talked to him two or three times a week. Just a guy who really taught me all the lessons that I have as a leader were really instilled the foundational pieces of that were him because he was an example. He was probably the first real leader that I came in contact with that was a do as I do, not as I say. You know what I mean? He he wasn't the lead. You know, there's two types of leadership, do as I do or do as I say. And he was the do as I do, right? He was the leader by example, and just a really incredible guy that kind of got me dialed in and really amplified who I am today. Was he a sniper too?

He was. You do that training in Hawaii? Yeah. That's so bad. Yeah, go do it. That's pretty cool. The Marine Corps has a way of making anything that you think would be nice, miserable. That's called preparation, I think.

If Sergeant Rodriguez, if there's one word that's summed up, what part of you he helped instill the most? Selflessness. Selflessness. I love it. Yeah, the guy is one of the most, I mean, selflessness. Yeah. Yeah. And there's still so many, I mean, we'd be here all day if I tried to list all of them. And I would say like probably another one. Gosh, there's just so many. What I'd love to hear about is Tanya Ratliff.

I mean, it's a little bit bragging about you and what you did, but it's such a great story. The special needs teacher. Oh, Tana Ratliff, yeah. Yeah, I mean, Tana, I mean, that's, you know, again, Mike Griffiths, Tana, Heather, like all of them, you know, they were, in high school, they were teachers. And you know, Tana really, she, you know, she was kind of like a mom to me, you know,

always, you know, because like growing up, I don't care. Even the girl, my daughter is with me. No matter what, I can't, there's no way I can pretend to be that motherly love. It's just, you can try, you can say you can do it, but it just is impossible, right? And so growing up with my dad, you know, I mean, listen, there was none of that. And I think Tana was probably one of the first women, other than my grandmother, that came in and was like, you know, really, that really showed. What'd she teach you? What was her, what did you know?

So she was a special ed teacher, right? So, and I, I volunteered in her class. Are you kidding? Yeah. And I volunteered in her class as like- She was a special ed teacher and you volunteered there. Yeah. Yeah. I volunteered in her class. You've been a good dude ever since you came around, man. High school kids don't typically want to volunteer in the special eds class. Let's be honest. I mean there's a certain stigma around that especially in high school. I think that people who have been hurt, they go one or two ways.

They either continue to hurt people or they step in and they continue to be the person that they needed when they needed it. If you want to know where it drives from, it drives from that, right? Like, you know, is that's why I can't pass up wrong. I can't pass up the way, like even still today, like people are like, oh, you know, that's, that's not your problem. No, it's going to be my problem. Because obviously if somebody, if everybody looks at it that way, you know, like I'm not passing up a confrontation for the sake of I don't want to do confrontation. If somebody needs to be protected, somebody needs to be taken care of,

somebody needs to be stood up for, I'm going to do it because I know what it's like to be that person to have everybody stand there and watch and not take out for that person. I think that's where early on it drove from is just- Being dragged around by a single mom. Well, not just that, but the evil of some of the kids. We'll be right back. Hey everyone, it's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the home stretch and I'm exhausted. But turns out the end is near, right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question.

This podcast is for people like me who need a little perspective and insight. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out like Ezra Klein, Van Jones, Jen Psaki, Ested Herndon. But we're also going to have some fun, even though these days fun and politics seems like an oxymoron. But we'll do that thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee, Roy Wood Jr., and Charlamagne the God. We're going to take some viewer questions as well. I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about? Power to the podcast for the people. Whether you're obsessed with the news or just trying to figure out what's going on,

this season of Next Question is for you. Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, y'all. I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz. My podcast, When You're Invisible, is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants

who shaped my life. I get to talk to a lot of people who form the backbone of our society, but who have never been interviewed before. Season two is all about community, organizing, and being underestimated. All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said, this sucks, let's do something about it. I can't have more than $2,000 in my bank account or else I can't get disability benefits. They won't let you succeed.

I know we get paid to serve you guys, but like, be respectful. We're made out of the same things. Bone, body, blood. It's rare to have black male teachers. Sometimes I am the lesson and I'm also the testament. Listen to When You're Invisible as part of the MyCultura podcast network. Available on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everything okay? Yes, I'm fine. Honey... Hey, I'm here for you. Tell me about school today. When kids can't find the right words, music can help them sound it

out. Talk to the kids in your life about their emotional well-being. Find tools and resources at soundedouttogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal Ventures. Is your country falling apart? Feeling tired, depressed, a little bit revolutionary? Consider this. Start your own country. I planted the flag. I just kind of looked out of like, this is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy.

There are 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Everybody's doing it. I am King Ernest Emmanuel. I am the Queen of La Donia. I'm Jackson I, King of Capriberg. I am the Supreme Leader of the Grand Republic of Montonia. Be part of a great colonial tradition. Why can't I create my own country? My forefathers did that themselves.

What could go wrong? No country willingly gives up their territory. I was making a rocket with the black powder and all this explosive warhead. Oh my god. What is that? Bullets. Bullet holes. We need help!

We still have the off-road portion to go. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from ZAQistan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I haven't talked about it much, but I mean, elementary school, like I still remember, you know, the fourth grade was probably, and people might be like, oh, this is dumb. This is not, but the fourth grade, there's a couple guys that, that I still to this day,

like I remember the way that they were right. And I remember that's why even when my daughter, like, I will not let my daughters use the word bully. And I remember how evil they were, now whether they knew it or not, but how evil they were. And that shaped my whole, like, being scared to go to the bathroom because of these two guys in the fourth grade like being scared to go anywhere because of these two guys like I once I got to the point to know that nobody was gonna help me and that I was gonna go and make sure the rest of my life that nobody would ever in my presence have to feel that way to fear any other human being.

I think that early on that was something to be able to do. I'm so thankful that I had that early because guess what? It just means that I can help more people. I know what it's like to be there and that's where all of it drives from. If there's a word that all of it drives from. What did, if there's a word that describes what you learned from your time with Miss Tanner and what she instilled in you? You know, Miss Tanner taught me empathy. You know what I mean? Like she, she was so empathetic

and caring her and Marcus. That's interesting to me, dude, because you just told me about bashing a guy's face in with a rock and in that moment you actually had empathy for him. Yeah. Yeah, because things aren't like, things are complex. You know, we talk about you believe in two types of people, good and evil. And certainly we can describe the Taliban as an evil organization, at least in our perspective, because they don't want women to be educated.

They, you know, we go on and on about what they're doing that the Afghani people are having to live under yet again. Well, this guy was fighting for what we would call an evil cause, but you don't even see him as evil. Yeah. I mean, it's, listen, yes, he was evil, but his evil was driven from a lack of information. It was uneducation, right? When you look at most of these fights amongst their own society, it comes from uneducated people being driven and education being weaponized and knowledge being weaponized to them in order to drive them to divide each other, right? And so, yeah, I understand that now.

First off, I never said I regretted killing him, right? He needed to die. That was the only way to get rid of evil is to kill it. You're not changing evil's minds. The only way to get rid of it is to kill it. Which is an uncomfortable, not very politically correct, inconvenient, very raw truth. But here's the reality. I'm gonna give you an even more direct and raw and real.

Sometimes people have to die so that others live. And if you're not, if you can't do business that way and you can't live with that, this ain't the business for you. People want everybody to live, people want everybody to win. Like people want, that's not the way the world works. It is so, it is so stark to hear that come out of the mouth of a person who talks about

selflessness and empathy and legacy as being some of their most important lessons from the most important people in their life. And we've become, we've become so soft somehow that we don't understand that what you just said is actually as loving a thing as could come out of another man's mouth. Yeah. And, and, and, but, but here's the thing is, is that's why you have, like, I don't look externally to get my validation. I don't look externally.

Like never, never has doing the right thing or standing up for the right thing ever been easy. Like if you're not willing to do conflict, like compromising on conflict for comfort gets us to where we're at today. That's called complacency. It is. It's where you get weak. So we've talked about Big Mike, we've talked about Soto Rodriguez, Sergeant Rodriguez, we've talked about Ms. Tanner. And I know, dude, I'm putting you on the spot. There's probably 30 people, but we don't have

five hours. Is there a fourth person at all in kind of the track of your life that you feel like was instrumental in supporting kind of who you are now and supporting? I know it sounds weird to hear supporting greatness, meaning you're great, but you are great. You've achieved great things. The things that come out of your head and the narratives and the lessons that people can learn from you are great. Is there anybody else you want to talk about? There's a ton of people in this next one, but what I'm going to route it back to is my daughter, Sailor, my first daughter.

I've got two, but my first one really changed the trajectory as Sailor, like the Sailor. The change of trajectory of it was understanding that I needed to be the man that she deserved, not the one that I was being. I came back and I was dealing with depression, PTSD, anxiety. Which is common, unfortunately. Yeah, it is common. It's common in the military, but it's also common in all of our communities right now. Everybody. The struggles that the military or that I was dealing with was nothing that was unique

to us. It's something that the whole population is dealing with was nothing that was unique to us. It's something that the whole population's dealing with right now. I was drinking, I was a bitcho. I'll tell you, a lot of people around me wouldn't question me. They wouldn't hold me accountable. They were like, oh, what you've gone through, couldn't imagine what you've gone through And I gotta tell you something, you know, I walked in a guy named Tim Kennedy I was working out with Tim and Shane and a guy named one his brother and and you know Brandon Harrell and I walked into Tim one day and and And I was late for a workout and Tim looked at me and he goes, and I was in the middle of my divorce. Lance Armstrong was part of this whole group

and just guys I was just really just shared suffering with. And I walk in and Tim looks at me and he goes, yeah, you've been missing workouts and you're late. And I was like, yeah, you know, and really just victimizationing, but like just, yeah, but you know, man, like I'm going through divorce, it's really tough right now and really just excuses. And Tim looked at me and goes, hey, check it out.

Like when you walk in a room, people expect a warrior. So how about you start acting like one? Oh, I love Tim. And and I got to tell you, like, like it was one of those moments that like moments that gets exactly what I need here. And I tell you, I got rid of everybody who was in my life before 2018 is gone. Because all they were doing was empowering me to waste my life. And Tim, Shane, Juan, all of them. Brandon, Lance, they've all held me accountable. People

might think this word love, and I want to go back to this piece of love. The reason the world's messed up right now is because people have tied love to an emotion. Love's not an emotion, it's a choice. Love is not that temporary, oh, you say something to do with me, make me feel good. That's not love. That's not love. Love is truth, and love is holding people accountable and telling them what they need to hear even if it's not what they want to hear and that's what Tim and all those guys do is accountability piece

And so, you know, I got rid of all the people are wasting my time But when you look at accountability you look at like like he calls it we all call it, you know sharp Keep keeping the sword. Don't drop the sword and you know, just being able to have that real people you trust They're going to tell you what you need to hear, even if it doesn't feel good and even if it's going to piss you off. These are guys that love you. Like, Tim loves me. Brandon loves me.

Lance loves me. Like, when you go down this, like, Juan loves me. These guys love me. They don't give a s*** how I feel. They don't give a s*** what, you know, if it hurts my feelings or not. They're going to always tell me what I need to hear so that I'm always who I should be and who I strive to be. They're your compass. They're my compass. We'll be right back. Hey everyone it's Katie Couric.

Well, the election is in the home stretch and I'm exhausted. But turns out the end is near, right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question. This podcast is for people like me who need a little perspective and insight. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out like Ezra Klein, Van Jones, Jen Psaki, Ested Herndon. But we're also gonna have some fun, even though these days fun and politics

seems like an oxymoron. But we'll do that thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee, Roy Wood Jr., and Charlemagne the God. We're gonna take some viewer questions as well. I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about? Power to the podcast for the people. Whether you're obsessed with the news or just trying to figure out what's going on,

this season of Next Question is for you. Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, y'all, I'm Maria Fernandez. My podcast When You're Invisible is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped my life. I get to talk to a lot of people who form the backbone of our society, but who have never been interviewed

before. Season two is all about community, organizing, and being underestimated. All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said, this sucks, let's do something about it. I can't have more than $2,000 in my bank account, or else I can't get disability benefits. They won't let you succeed. I know we get paid to serve you guys, but like be respectful. We're made out of the same things. Bone, body, blood. It's rare

to have black male teachers. Sometimes I am the lesson and I'm also the testament. Listen to When You're Invisible as part of the MyCultura podcast network. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everything okay? Yes, I'm fine. Honey. Hey, I'm here for you.

Tell me about school today. When kids can't find the right words, music can help them sound it out. Talk to the kids in your life about their emotional well-being. Find tools and resources at soundedouttogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal Ventures. Is your country falling apart? Feeling tired, depressed, a little bit revolutionary? Consider this, start your own country.

I planted the flag. I just kind of looked out of like, this is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. There are 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Everybody's doing it. I am King Ernest Emmanuel. I am the Queen of La Donia.

I'm Jackson I, King of Capriberg. I am the Supreme Leader of the Grand Republic of Montonia. Be part of a great colonial tradition. Well, why can't I create my own country? My forefathers did that themselves. What could go wrong? No country willingly gives up their territory. I was making a rocket with the black powder

and all this explosive warhead. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Bullets. We need help! We still have the off-road portion to go. Listen to Escape from Zakistan.

And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. ["Sailor's Guide to the Future"] Taylor? Sailor. Yeah. Sailor. Yeah. What. I'm sorry. Yeah. Taylor. What you said you wanted to be what you were supposed to be for her?

You know, the reality is every problem on the earth right now is caused by weak men. Every single problem that we see in society, we see in our homes, every one of them is rooted. You're seeing symptoms that are rooted by weak men, period. And so, you know, when I look at my daughter, Sailor, I realize early on that I'm going to be the longest man she ever dates. And I can't ever become or be what I'm trying to protect her from. And I had to get my shit together because she's watching move. I make I have to I have the so first off

I'm gonna get 18 years with her I Automatically get the highest status of a male figure in her life So I am either gonna like I'm gonna be the bar So I better be the bar because when she goes out she starts dating men If there I need to go look and I only got one person to blame and that's me. What has she taught you?

What's the word? What's the, what's the phrase? What do you feel inside you when you think about what you've learned from being a dad to your daughter? I don't know, like whenever I, when I think about my daughter, Sailor and Atlee, I mean obviously both of them, they teach a different type of love. Like there's, it's obviously still unconditional love,

but it's not it's obviously still unconditional love, but it's but it's more of Because with them when it comes to love It's it's not it's not it's not direct it's still rooted in directness, but it's it's about I don't know like I guess like I still go back to love with them because they... But I think accountability is what I would say. You talk about the anchor of who I... If I go back to it and I wake up and I don't want to do it for myself, I've got to do it

for them, right? And I think I would say accountability is what I would put both of those two on. Because I'll tell you this, I think a way that God softens hard men is he gives them daughters. I got two of them, and it is true, bro. Yeah. Yeah. And Lisa and I often talk about our sons will expect from their wives and treat their wives how they see me treat my wife. And our daughters will be to and for a man and expect from a man what they see Lisa give and treat me. And if we don't square

up on what that illustration is and we end up with a bunch of broken, dysfunctional, crappy grandchildren and horrible in-laws, it is because we reap what we sow. But you know what that goes back to? Legacy. It's anchored. Everything you're talking about is anchored in legacy. The stakes are high. The problem is people stop giving a shit about these little things about the stakes being

high and understanding how high the stakes are of these small moments, of how you treat, how you think. People are not living with intentions. We've got to have intentional living, intentional thoughts, intentional conversations of trying to accomplish something. People aren't doing that. They're just going with the flow. They're just doing to do and without any intentions.

When you look at this, how you treat, think about this, how you treat your wife and how you build and you keep your house in order and you living with that intention of, Hey, how I talk to my wife in this situation, that the second day and tertiary effects of that to your grandchildren, you will, I mean, the stuff, the problems we're dealing with right now are the that's been passed on from generations and we're just dealing with all of it. You have a choice. None of us are getting out of this life unscathed of bad trauma, hurt, pain. That's part of the world. The world is painful. You got one or two options. You can either take that

pain in, process it, get through it, learn from it, and help others with it and turn it into good, or you'll pass it on. Once again, good versus evil. What wins? What wins? Good versus evil. Dakota, I could spend easily three hours, have a beer break, and spend three more hours with you and cut up some really, really red, well-burnt meat. I wish we had the time to do it.

Maybe we'll come back to it next time. Hey, man, I hope so. But I do want to say this. I sit across from a lot of people every week. One of the biggest regrets of my life is I did not serve my country in the military and almost did and I didn't. I wish I could I honestly do wish that I could look you in the eye and tell you I understand and I can't. But what I can do is listen and learn and be inspired by, and I am by you and your brothers

and all of those who have fallen for our freedoms. Your story is incredibly phenomenal. But as we think about that greatness and as we think about that greatness and as we think about your story and as we think about the heroism of you and the people that serve alongside you and we think about the fact that we sleep well at night because men like you are on the wall, I think it's really important to talk about that legacy that you were talking about and that legacy goes back to who supported you to get to a point like this to be so inspirational for us. And when we talk about Big Mike, your dad, and what he taught you about legacy and Soto Rodriguez,

a sniper platoon sergeant in structure who, who taught you how to lead by actions and taught you about selflessness and your teacher, Ms. Tanner, who was a special edged teacher, who taught you how to lead by actions and taught you about selflessness. Your teacher, Ms. Tanner, who was a special-edged teacher, taught you about empathy and showed you to stand up for the weakest among us. Then your daughters teaching you about love and accountability to fatherhood. Then guys like Tim and Sean and Juan and Brandon and Lance who talked to you about love but brotherly love and accountability and all of these fundamentals and tenets that comprise the man that you are I just think it

needs to remind us that at the end of the day even the greatest among us are who they are and was supported by an army of normal folks just normal folks doing what they could for you and The power of that army even in your life as you and the power of your army create freedoms for our lives so dude The lessons for you the lessons from you and the lessons from you, and the lessons to you and sharing them with us today, I just can't thank you enough.

I really would like to have about seven more hours with you. Yeah, man. No, listen, thank you. Thank you so much for having me. What an awesome thing. I'll say this. Don't regret anything, and I'll tell you why Because to say that you would change one thing means that you're saying you would change what you're doing today

And to change one thing changes everything You don't know you might not be able to hear be here to tell the stories of David of myself of all these other people All these people who are listening to you, anytime you live with regret, that regret is holding space for things that you could be doing to help others, and it's not serving anything that you're trying to do, right? I've lived my whole life, I've lived a lot of life with regret, and I don't do it anymore.

You not serving, there's probably a reason for it, right? And what you're doing today to still give back and to still tell the stories of people is probably way more impactful on the greater good of communities than your service in uniform ever could have. So I think while we might, while we're none of us, most of us aren't where we wanted to be

or where we thought we should be, I think we're all where we're supposed to be. I appreciate that, I really do. But telling stories and winning the Medal of Honor are two completely different things that we can argue about out of a beer one day. Thank you so much. Dakota, thanks so much.

Have safe travels wherever they, where are you headed? I'm headed back to Austin in Miami in the morning Yeah, are the demands on you big? You know listen any time I can be busy and any time I can go remind people I tell you people need hope right now Many help the world every room you walk into people are struggling with something people are worried about something The world needs hope right now They need to be reminded that that look with the reality of their today isn't the reality of their forever.

And so, you know, we gotta remind people it's still worth going out and doing the right thing. Dakota Meyer, God bless and God speed. Thank you. And thank you for joining us this week. If Dakota Meyer or other guests have inspired you in general, or better yet, by joining the military, supporting someone in your life to help them achieve the greatness

that they're called to achieve, or something else entirely, please let me know. I'd love to hear about it. You can write me anytime at bill at normalfolks.us and I promise I will respond. If you enjoyed this episode, please do us a favor, share it with your friends, share it on social, subscribe to our podcast, rate and review it, join the army at normal folks dot us. Consider becoming a premium member there. Any and all of these things that will help us grow, an army of normal folks. Guys, the more listeners, the more impact. Thanks to our producer, Iron Light Labs,

I'm Bill Courtney. Until next time, do what you can. Hey everyone, it's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the home stretch, right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out like Ezra Klein, Jen Psaki, Ested Herndon. But we're also going to have some fun thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee and Charlamagne the God. We're going to take some viewer questions as well. I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about? Check out our new season of Next Question with Me,

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