British soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan aren't heroes

The word hero is certainly overused by the media to the point where it becomes a little meaningless. Not every soldier is a hero but regardless of how justifiable you or they think a war is, soldiers in it may still be heroic in their actions.

The soldiers' intelligence, or whether or not they volunteered hardly matters when it comes down to deciding if they are heroes. They are willing to act selflessly, putting aside moral qualms they might very well share with you, and putting themselves in considerable danger for our sake. The fact is they are willing to do the job of defending our country and its interests - it doesn't matter if the war is actually defending us or not, it's the fact that they believe it is and are willing to die in order to do so that makes them worthy of some praise at the very least.

Your complaint should be directed at the media's use of hyperbole, not the soldiers who act out of a sense of duty to the rest of us and their comrades.

"We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence upon those who would do us harm."

George Orwell *




* Although the origins of the quote are disputed