President Donald Trump has awarded three long-overdue Medals of Honor. The recipients include two Vietnam War Marine Veterans, Maj James Capers Jr. (citation) and Col John W. Ripley (posthumous, citation). The third recipient is Army MAJ Nicholas Dockery, Operation Enduring Freedom, and he is profiled below.

I have previously posted Profiles of Valor for Maj Capers and Col Ripley.

As I have noted before regarding long delays between service rendered and recognized, Medal of Honor nominees are, first and foremost, humble warriors. Inherent in their willingness to “lay down one’s life for his friends” is the ultimate expression of humility, valuing the lives of others above one’s own. Thus, it is not in their nature to advocate for their personal recognition. The advocacy to upgrade a warrior’s prior decoration to a Medal of Honor falls to others — often those with whom the recipient served, and frequently many decades after their “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.”

Regarding Maj Capers, President Trump had requested expediting his Medal upgrade last year, as his health is failing. For those who watched the ceremony, the extraordinary tenderness and respect Trump demonstrated for Capers was touching — holding his hand and arm to brace him.

Capers offered these words: “Receiving the Medal of Honor for what we did at Phu Loc is a profound and humbling milestone, but this medal does not belong to me. It belongs to the exceptional men who fought with me, whose absolute trust, preparation, and shared sacrifice made survival possible in the darkest of circumstances. All but one member of our team survived the fight at Phu Loc. I made it out alive because our War Dog King shielded me from the full impact of a Claymore mine. King died, but I was able to push on despite being significantly wounded, and together we made it out.”

Accepting Col John Ripley’s Medal, his son Tom Ripley said: “Our family is humbled to accept the Medal of Honor on behalf of our father. … Our father loved the Marine Corps and viewed his actions at Dong Ha Bridge not as heroism, but as simply doing his duty. He was a Marine doing what he was trained to do. We accept these honors not just as a tribute to his individual actions, but as an enduring testament to the courage, sacrifice, and brotherhood of all the men who fought by his side.”

Nicholas Dockery is an Indian native, born in Indianapolis, and raised by his grandmother. He graduated from St. John’s Military School in Salina, Kansas, in 2004, but was not accepted to West Point. He decided to enlist as an infantryman in the Indiana Army National Guard and completed Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training for Infantry and Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He then served with the 151st Long Range Surveillance Detachment (Airborne), 38th Infantry Division.

In 2005, he transferred to the New Mexico Army National Guard and, while attending the New Mexico Military Institute, entered the Army ROTC Simultaneous Membership Program. He again applied to West Point and was accepted, graduating in 2011 and commissioning as an infantry officer. His first assignment was with 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado, and then he completed infantry officer training and specialty schooling at Fort Benning.

Then-2LT Dockery deployed to Afghanistan in the summer of 2012, serving as a Rifle Platoon Leader, Company Executive Officer, and Security Force Advisor with 2d Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, in Kunar and Kapisa Provinces, two of the most dangerous combat zones. He earned two Silver Stars for his service in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom and later during Operation Freedom’s Sentinel — the first of which, for his actions on 2 October 2012, was upgraded to a Medal of Honor.

According to his Medal of Honor citation:

Dockery’s platoon and associated Afghan forces were ambushed by an estimated 150 Taliban fighters. Ordered to eliminate the threat, Lieutenant Dockery planned and led an assault on the enemy forces. [He] traversed 100 yards of open terrain under enemy fire to reach U.S. forces in need of assistance. Hearing a U.S. soldier had been wounded, [he] fought his way to soldiers who were taking cover in a building that was occupied by enemy fighters. Realizing the immediate danger, he organized and led the forces in clearing six rooms of the multi-level compound, killing one enemy fighter and detaining two others. When an enemy grenade landed nearby, he shoved a team member behind cover preventing him from being killed or wounded by the resulting blast.

His citation continues:

Attempting to regain momentum after the blast, [he] led a four-man team to clear the compound’s courtyard before the enemy used a rocket-propelled grenade, resulting in an explosion that incapacitated two soldiers. Although dazed and wounded himself, Lieutenant Dockery went to the aid of the wounded soldiers who were fully exposed to enemy fire. After helping one soldier to his feet, he engaged and killed two enemy fighters who were attempting to approach the other injured soldier. Lieutenant Dockery provided first aid and used his own body to shield the soldier from further injury, saving his life. Air support assets could not differentiate between friendly and enemy positions, so Lieutenant Dockery marked his position on the building’s roof, exposing himself to enemy fire on multiple occasions while providing covering fire to friendly forces evacuating the wounded. He was the last individual to leave the battlefield.

His citation concludes: “Second Lieutenant Dockery’s conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.”

Dockery deployed to Afghanistan again in 2014. In 2015, then-CAPT Dockery was selected for and completed the Special Forces Qualification Course, becoming a Green Beret. He then served with the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Eglin Air Force Base, commanding Operational Detachment Alpha 744, a free-fall infiltration team.

In 2017, he was awarded the USMA’s Alexander R. Nininger Award for Valor at Arms. In 2018, he again deployed to Afghanistan with ODA 744. He served as an advisor with 5th Special Operations Kandak Commandos and the 24N Afghan Special Forces Company when he was awarded his second Silver Star for actions during the Battle of Faryab Province. He became the only Army officer to receive the Silver Star twice since the 9/11 Islamist attack on our nation.

Returning stateside in 2018, he received the GEN Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award for the top 1% of company-grade officers in the U.S. Special Operations Command. He was promoted to Major in 2023 and received a scholarship to pursue his Master of Public Policy at Yale University’s Jackson School of Global Affairs. He was a White House fellow in 2024. In 2025, he began a second graduate degree, an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He retired from active duty in 2026 after his final assignment with the Special Operations Command’s Pentagon unit, and we are waiting to see where he excels next.

All three recipients were inducted into the Hall of Heroes the day after their White House ceremony.

MAJ Nicholas Dockery: An ordinary man faced with extraordinary circumstances, he summoned the greatest measure of courage to place his life in imminent peril to save others. Your example of valor — a humble American Patriot defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty — is eternal. Live your life worthy of his sacrifice.

“Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of American Liberty, and for our nation’s Veterans, First Responders, and their families.

(Read more Profiles of Valor here.)

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776

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