On June 18, 2026, in a ceremony at the White House, President Trump presented Major Nicholas Dockery (Ret.)  with the Medal of Honor, for acts Dockery performed while serving as a Platoon Leader, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division in Kapisa Province, Afghanistan.

Nicholas Dockery was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Raised by his grandmother, Dockery graduated from St. John’s Military School in Salina, Kansas. After his application to West Point was rejected in 2004, he enlisted as an infantryman in the Indiana Army National Guard and was assigned to the 151st Long Range Surveillance Detachment (Airborne), 38th Infantry Division. He completed Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training for Infantry and Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia.

In 2005, he transferred to the New Mexico Army National Guard and entered the Army ROTC Simultaneous Membership Program while attending the New Mexico Military Institute.

Dockery applied to the U.S. Military Academy for a second time and was accepted. Although he was offered a commission by the New Mexico Army National Guard, he turned it down in favor of attending West Point. He graduated in 2011, earning a Bachelor of Science and was commissioned into the Infantry.

Then-2nd Lt. Dockery's first assignment in 2011 was to 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado. Upon completion of his infantry officer training and specialty schooling at Fort Benning, he deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in the summer of 2012.

He served as a platoon leader in Kunar and Kapisa Provinces, among the most dangerous areas of the Afghanistan conflict. During this time, Dockery worked alongside Special Forces teams training and advising host nation forces, which left an indelible impact on him and solidified his desire to one day become a Green Beret. It was during this deployment where Dockery’s selfless actions as a platoon leader earned him a Silver Star that would be upgraded to the Medal of Honor.