# What makes a soldier a hero?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-soldier-a-hero/167535>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 9, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-soldier-a-hero/167535 "2003-04-09T13:06:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-soldier-a-hero/167535/21 "2003-04-10T14:21:45Z")

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Usually, the mess hall cook who pulled samwich duty that day.

Seriously, I have trouble with the word “hero”.

Often, what one side calls a hero, the other side regards as a villian.

How about: “a brave man” instead.

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**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-soldier-a-hero/167535/22 "2003-04-10T14:35:16Z")

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Obviously heroism is in the eye of the beholder. “My hero” is not someone else’s. A Republican Guard member may be SH’s hero, but not mine. I believe Jessica Lynch and her comrades were supply and maintenance staff, but in my book they are still heroes. The person who is safe at a desk job in home port is not necessarily a hero even though in uniform, but becomes one as soon as they put him/her on a boat or plane to go to the battlefield area.

Agree with Casey that we all may have lots of non-military heroes, some of whom remain unsung forever, but that was of course not the OP issue.

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**Author:** ![G-Unit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@G-Unit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G-Unit)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-soldier-a-hero/167535/23 "2003-04-10T15:40:54Z")

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Uncle bill has it right. This link is to one of the Marine Corps’ great heroes. [Check out this link.](http://www.mclm.com/tohonor/ddaly.html)

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**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-soldier-a-hero/167535/24 "2003-04-10T17:05:31Z")

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I was active duty for a bit over 11 years. Never did anything heroic. Wearing the uniform did not make me a hero.

Spouse was in for just under 4 years. He was injured on duty and placed on medical hold. One night, the hold barracks caught fire. He, among others, woke other residents and helped carry some of them to safety. _That_ was heroic. Years later, we were at my sister’s house when it caught fire in the middle of the night. He immediately got everyone out and helped contain and extinguish the fire before the firefighters got there. Also heroic, considering it was a townhouse and half a dozen adjacent homes were threatened.

It boils down to taking a personal risk to protect others.

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