My little grunt-brother, Larry, wrote We Wore The Same Dogtags . I have received a lot of positive feedback on it. You're right, of course . Do not feel any less a hero for not having seen combat. There is no heroism in survival.
Heroism is in the eye of the beholder, or in the eye of the recipient of an extraordinary deed.
I enlisted in the US Army in September 1967. Upon experiencing the same fun things you did in boot camp, I developed the same attitude toward Volunteerism. By raising our right hands and swearing before the symbol of our country, we all volunteered to go and do anything the Government deemed necessary. I suppose that I had more than my share of those experiences, but to this day I cannot muster up even the smallest shred of pride in having taken another human life. The pride, my friend, comes from knowing that you raised your arm to the square, took an oath, and upheld it no matter what.