The feat that inspires witnesses to honor it is almost invariably one of selflessness.

Warrior cultures employ honor, along with shame, to produce courage and resolve in the hearts of their young men. Honor is the psychological salary of any elite unit. Pride is the possession of honor.

General Moshe Dayan, refused to discipline the man. “I will never punish an officer for daring too much, but only too little.”

CITATIONS FOR VALOR

Every warrior virtue proceeds from this—courage, selflessness, love of and loyalty to one’s comrades, patience, self-command, the will to endure adversity. It all comes from the hunting band’s need to survive. At a deeper level, the Warrior Ethos recognizes that each of us, as well, has enemies inside himself. Vices and weaknesses like envy and gre

So that no man would have grounds to feel superior to another, Lycurgus divided the country into 9000 equal plots of land. To each family, he gave one plot. Further, he decreed that the men no longer be called “citizens” but “peers” or “equals.” So that no man might compete with another or put on airs over wealth, Lycurgus outlawed money. A coin su

Selflessness produces courage because it binds men together and proves to each individual that he is not alone. The act of openhandedness evokes desire in the recipient to give back. Alexander’s men knew, from their king’s spectacular gestures of generosity, that the spoils of any victory they won would be shared with them too, and that their young

Every tattoo parlor adjacent to a U.S. Marine base has this in innumerable design variations: Death Before Dishonor

Fight for this alone: the man who stands at your shoulder. He is everything, and everything is contained within him. The soldier’s prayer today on the eve of battle remains not “Lord, spare me” but “Lord, let me not prove unworthy of my brothers.”