On Tuesday, Army Ranger Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry, was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Obama. This high honor is awarded to military personnel who show "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States."
If you haven't heard Petry's story, it's one that will leaving you thinking, "What a courageous man" and "Wow, what a badass!" After taking bullets to his legs, Petry grabbed a live grenade to throw away from his fellow soldiers. As he was throwing the grenade, it exploded, causing him to lose his hand and part of his arm. He saved not only his own life, but the lives of his fellow soldiers.
Many of us have had some training experience in our lives, whether it was training for a sport or on-the-job training. We learn all about the the position, the expectations, the day-to-day requirements, and so on. Our military men and women are constantly involved in rigorous training and are prepared to do "whatever it takes."
But... How many of us have been aware of what we need to do to succeed in a job or sport? How many of us have from time-to-time done something maybe we weren't supposed to do at work (like go on Facebook or browse the Internet)? Yet when work gets busy, we do what we need to do. We pull late nights, we skip lunch, we do a rush job on emergencies, and so on.
I've come to learn that most our of military heroes are very humble. I'm sure the Medal of Honor winners would say, "I just did what I had to do" but in reality, they did more than that. No amount of training can make you mentally prepared to throw a live grenade after already being shot. No amount of training can make you instantly land on a grenade to save your friends and fellow soldiers. That comes from within. That comes from being a natural hero.
For a list of all recipients of the Medal of Honor and their unbelievable stories, you can go here: http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-archive.php
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