In Arthur Jackson, we find an interesting dichotomy. An accomplished warrior rightfully venerated for exhibiting a level of personal valor unimaginable to most of us normal folk, he later found himself in an unexpected dark place.

When things went a little nuts one November day back in 2004 in Fallujah, SSG David Bellavia briefly unlimbered his inner monster.

Much like insurance, I don’t carry a firearm because I ever expect to use it. I keep a gun handy in the rare event that there are no other options available.

Some people seam more inclined to scrap than others. One of those curious men who seemed born to fight was Joseph Drexel Biddle.

On November 28, 1950, Hector Cafferata was asleep in his sleeping bag in a mountainous area near the infamous Chosin Reservoir in Korea. The ground was frozen too hard to dig foxholes, so he and his fellow Marines simply covered themselves in tree branches to afford some modest degree of cover. At around 0130 Cafferata was shocked awake by small arms fire nearby.

While CPT Salomon was working to stabilize a patient, he looked up and saw a Japanese soldier slip into his tent and bayonet a wounded American.

Simone Segouin rose to the occasion. A rural farm girl with limited education, her passion for her people and her country drove her to some truly epic levels of heroism in the face of profound peril.

When “Jumpin’ Joe” Beyrle first walked into that Army recruiting office and volunteered there is no way he could have imagined the places that decision might take him.

Alejo Garza Tamez’s last stand has been described in the Mexican media as having been fought with “dignity, honour, and courage.” Don Alejo showed the world that one determined man with a gun still can make a difference.