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MillRatUSMC
11-08-03, 12:26 AM
The other day, there was mention about "Heroes and Cowards".
So it got me to thinking what is the difference between the two?
At times men and women might act heroic and at times they might act cowardly.
This might be timely dued to what the media and the Army of One has tried to made of Jessica Lynch.
Did she act heroic or did she act cowardly by going to her knees and praying?
From the web...

Inside, they are the same.
It's what the hero DOES that makes him or her a hero.
And what the coward DOESN'T DO that makes him or her a coward.

“You can judge a man’s character, not during times of comfort
and content, but rather in times of crisis and confrontation.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King ~
Dr. King might have been talking uni-sex here.

Both the hero and the coward are normal men or women.
They have similar size, similar builds, similar genetics, and similar backgrounds.
They are presented with a crisis, one that involves risk and has an element of danger.
Each man or woman is placed in a challenging situation where the stakes are high.
Each man or woman has difficult decisions to make and the possibility of defeat, embarrassment, and/or endangerment is there, and it’s very real, very possible.
They’re both scared.
They’re both frightened.
Both men or women have butterflies going haywire in their stomachs,
both have broken out into a cold sweat,
and both men or women have chills running up and down their spines.
They both have the same amount of fear.

They both feel the same way,
it’s what they do that makes them different.

It’s the decisions they make,
and the actions they take,
that separate them.

The coward can’t control his fear, it controls him or her. The coward is not prepared for the crisis he’s or she confronted with, therefore he or she lacks confidence in his or her's abilities.
He or She decides to be indecisive and chooses nothing.
He or She takes no action as he or she is frozen in doubt.
Even if he’s or she faked it up to this point, now is the moment of truth. Deep down inside he or she doesn’t know if he or she can come through.
He or she has doubts; serious doubts.
Therefore he or she chooses to play it safe and minimize the consequences that are highly probable.
So he or she ducks out in cowardice.

The hero feels the exact same way as the coward, he’s or she just as scared, he or she has just as much fear, but he or she has the discipline and the ability (developed through preparation) to follow through with the task and get the job done.

The hero has the:

CAPACITY to rise to the challenge

TALENT to draw on in times of emergency

FORTITUDE to endure stoutness of mind and heart in times of severe hardship

STEADFASTNESS of purpose

STRENGTH of character

TENACITY to resist adversity

BRAVERY to accept fear as a perfectly normal response to endangerment

DETERMINATION to stick it out and the

ABILITY to execute the necessary actions toward achievement.


All this adds up to what really defines what the hero has and the coward lacks:
COURAGE

Courage is a prerequisite for pride and honor.
The coward knows the odds aren’t in his or her favor and the risk is too great.
In a sense, the coward makes an intelligent decision based on the instinct of survival.
Even if he or she was foolish enough to try, he or she wouldn’t be able to pull it off and matters would just end up worse.
The hero has the ability to decide which move to make because of his or her experience and preparation.

The hero has the discipline to execute actions under extreme pressure. He or she has true confidence in his or her's decisions and therefore executes them correctly without hesitation.
The hero is not a reckless thrill seeker.
He or She makes calculated choices because he or she knows the odds are in his or her favor.

The hero takes the action the coward can’t.

The hero has the ability to control his or her fear and achieve the desired outcome, and ends up saving the day!

A Medal of Honor recipent said or stated "It was an insanity!".
When speaking of the actions that resulted in him becoming a recipent of the Medal of Honor.
The line between Hero or coward is very thin as stated above.
It's what one does or doesn't do that makes the difference.
If one is thought a hero or a coward.

A final thought;
Spartan Mothers to their sons;
With it = victorious hero; on it = fallen hero; without it = coward.
So was Jessica Lynch a hero or a coward?

Semper Fidelis
Ricardo

PS Maybe this is reason that the Marine Corps makes boot camp so hard.
There should never be any lowering of the standard!

Devildogg4ever
11-08-03, 03:17 AM
There is a fine line between the two, until that decision is made, then the gap is widened to a big degree!! I don't believe a hero is born a hero, but the natural instincts of over coming the fear of the situation, and working with that fear, and what we do with it, is the final decision! Either you have it, or not.

Sparrowhawk
11-08-03, 09:28 AM
She herself mentioned that she took cover, when her weapon malfunctioned.

Others have said her weapon never malfunctioned, who knows, but she has mentioned that she was dove for cover and another soldier had to care for her, cover for her.

We must realize that at that time she was injured and that makes all the difference in the world.

We care for our wounded. A very brave and honorable Marine, took one of the first hits in an NVA ambush we were in, another Marine dragged him out of harms way, then cared for him until he was medivac, two Marines, both brave Marines at different times during the war and circumstances drew them a different picture. Today, the wounded Marine regrets not being able to fire in what was a fierce firefight, and his last battle. The other Marines feels he let others down because he was not there for all the others that were later wounded or killed.

Perhaps under different circumstances Lynn would have acted differently, fought off her attackers. She survived and that is what is important.

I've seen both in the battlefield, cowards and heroes, the brave, the nuts and the fool.

I think you can add another word to your list Ricardo and that is

DETERMINATION, a hero is determined to so what is right because they have been trained to do that, not only by the military but also by their up-bringing. That family home factor comes in strong in the battlefield.

If you had to make do with what you had at home, have had to survive in a hostile neighborhood, you often would do well in the battlefield.

A mama’s boy on the other hand, does not.

But, a hero often does what he was trained to do, and does that make him a hero?

Perhaps its the BRAVE we need to look at, now, there's a word that isn't used much these days, but I saw it often in combat.

BRAVE Marines arising to the challenge doing what they were trained to do, and determined to seek out and kill the enemy, now that was above the norm.

The problem with Jessica is that she is unbelievable, one-way or the other. New news items say she was never raped. Once you give an indication that you acted differently, by drawing attention to yourself over something that may not have been true, your life’s history is tinted, and there may not be a reason at all to do that.

She was wounded and rescued; others fought along side of her, were captured then released. Those are real heroes but they are not saying anything, they just went on with their lives.

Just my thoughts

Cook

MillRatUSMC
11-08-03, 11:03 AM
I know that we all try to live our lifes as normal.
For some of us, heroes and cowards is far removed from our normal lifes.
Yet, sometimes we might need to make a decision that is difficult.
Some might take the easy route and try to avoid making that decision.
So we're taking the cowardly way out.
In Vietnam, we tried to do our duty.
Heroics never were thought of.
Because that call for taking foolish chances.
You had to keep your head.
We still live that way.
Some might never have the occasion to do something heroic.

Semper Fidelis
Ricardo

firstsgtmike
11-08-03, 12:51 PM
A hero is never recognized until AFTER the fact.

I know I'm a coward when it comes to dentists.

I've never been in a situation where I called myself a hero.

=============

Three lines, and books could be written to explain them.