By Taylor Moak

FarmHouse Fraternity had a special guest at its Monday meeting this week: Marine Sergeant Dakota Meyer, Medal of Honor recipient.

Meyer, who is 23 years old,  received the medal for his life-saving actions in Afghanistan in 2009.

He shared his story with fraternity members.

During battle, he said he decided to go against the orders of his commanders and go into battle because he thought his team needed backup.

When he was in battle, he found that his four team members had been executed. Meyer was wounded in the process, but entered the kill zone four separate times and saved the lives of 13 Marines and 23 Afghans, according to his website.

He said he would rather have gone against his commanders’ orders and tried to help his team than wonder if he did the right thing.

“(It’s) better to have confidence … than to sit back and hesitate about what’s going on,” Meyer said.

For his medal, Meyer was able to meet with President Obama over a beer. He said sharing a beer with Obama was “all right,” and he joked he would rather share a beer with FarmHouse members.

He said if people had told him a year ago he would be in the position he’s in now, with the national recognition for his medal, he wouldn’t have believed them.

“The day the president of the United States called on my cell phone,” Meyer said, “it really hit home.”

Meyer has been on many shows including the “Late Show with David Letterman,” “60 Minutes,” “The Sean Hannity Show” and “The O’Reilly Factor.”

He said he has met the secretary of defense and navy, and speaks to crowds of 10,000 to 15,000 people.

“You can never predict what’s going to come up next for you,” Meyer said.

If he ever has a bad day, he said he looks at his wrists, where he wears bracelets with the names of his four team members who died.

“(There are) four reasons at my hands not to give up,” Meyer said.

He said he wants to help raise awareness about several problems in America, including education and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

According to his website, Meyer has partnered with the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation to raise $1 million to honor Marines by educating their children.

He urged FarmHouse members to treat Marines with respect and to let those overseas know someone is thinking about them.

“All anyone wants as a human being is respect,” Meyer said.

Meyer came to the meeting because his first-cousin Matt Meyer, a FarmHouse alumnus and adviser, asked him to speak.

FarmHouse member Cameron Hamilton said the fraternity “thought it’d be worthy if he came to talk.”

“It’s really an honor he came,” Hamilton said.