Heroes

[Bob Of Burleson]

Hero worship of the military
is getting in the way
of good policy

By Benjamin Summers
The Washington Post

Benjamin Summers is a captain in the U.S. Army. The views expressed are his own.

I have worn an Army uniform for the past eight years and deployed twice to Afghanistan. This doesn’t make me a hero.

Many veterans deserve high praise for their heroism, but others of us do not. Infantrymen who put their lives on the line for a mission, aircrews who flew into harm’s way to evacuate the wounded, servicemen and women who made the ultimate sacrifice — these are some of the heroes I’ve been privileged to know. Applying the label “hero” to those of us who haven’t earned it diminishes the service and sacrifice of those who did. It also gets in the way of constructive debate and policymaking.

Over the past decade, a growing chasm between military and civil society has raised the pedestal upon which the United States places those who serve in its military. Too much hero-labeling reinforces a false dichotomy that’s commonly heard in our political discourse: You’re either for the troops or you’re against them. We badly need to find ways to bridge this civilian-military gap to cultivate a more nuanced appreciation of service and to produce better policy in Washington.

. . .

Not every service member is a hero. The quicker we realize that, the quicker we start creating a political environment that can foster genuine debate and answer the difficult policy problems we face.

COMPLETE ARTICLE

[BigTex]

That's all well and good, but veterans returning from Vietnam were treated poorly by this country, and I think this is an effort to make up for that.

[BillB]

I think it's more than that. It's another case of the shifting of our language.
The word "Hero" has morphed into anyone we want to say something nice about.
I was in the military for four years and certainly was no hero. I served honorably, did my job and that was it.
Audie Murphy's Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross citations are good reading for anyone who has forgotten what heroism is.

[Grassman]

You could also translate this to fire fighters and the police, I get it, they are tough jobs, but the term "hero" gets thrown out way too often.

[GFB]

You could also translate this to fire fighters and the police, I get it, they are tough jobs, but the term "hero" gets thrown out way too often.

Ditto!

[truep]

I don't consider myself a "hero", but I did serve! We never knew if when the siren went off in the van I maned if wit was the real thing or just a drill and we would have to launch
a " loudenboomermitgrossholeinground!. Missile. We sometimes slept under a nuke warhead. A lot to think of for a 20-21 year old!

[Red Oak]

It has been over used and thus devalued - the correct term for those that do their duty is Honorable.