As a veteran of the service during Viet-Nam era (pretty pale stuff for me since I was essentially a chow-hall inspector for the air force in N. California) I am fully prepared to say there is very little heroic in most military service.  I had no intention of being a hero-or I would have stood up and gone to Canada or prison like some of my favorite people did, to their detriment, I chose a branch of the service and a job in that branch that reduced the odds as far as possible.

The most anti-war guys I knew were the guys that came back to our little midwest town and said, "DO NOT GO!"

I think Americans need to have this discussion.  I've got a nephew over in Iraq that I worry about-I hope to high heaven that he isn't considered a hero.

I would say that the guys on the helicopter that stopped the My Lai massacre were heroes, to me they qualify.

"I said, 'Wait a minute, Chester, You know I'm a peaceful man...'" Robbie Robertson