Ever meet a real hero?

Yes i cant remember his name he was my friends dad's neighbor he was a survivor of the Bataan Death March. He was a very humble man.

I had the pleasure of meeting 3 people that really wowed me.

General David Petraeus. He came to the first Iraqi Regional Police Academy where I was the NCOIC. He just wowed me. He is a leader in every since of the word.

LTG Richard P. Formica. For me he was the one of the biggest kick starters to getting the police trained in Iraq. We were giving him a tour of the police academy in Al Kut. My BN-XO kept giving him politically correct answers to direct questions he was asking. He finally blew up on him and dressed him down right in front of me. Then he gave me a coin for "making things happen". I carry that coin every day. I used to see the XO and I would ask him where his coin was. I met him again in Afghanistan as a contractor. I showed him that coin. He said he remembered giving it to me. It was better than any medal I ever received. He just retired as Commanding General, US Army Space and Missile Defense Command.

The last hero I don't even know his name. He was Marine Master Gunnery Sargent in a wheelchair. We were at the USO fundraising dinner in Cincinnati. He had his dress blues on. He had unit patches on his uniform (so that tells you how old that uniform was). He was so old that he could barely speak, but we talked for a few minutes. He had served in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam. Some people want to be a super hero, sports star, or musician. I wanted to be that guy. Heroes like that are hard to find.

Joe Bauer Neighbor, Korean War Railroadman and Vietnam War MEDEVAC Helo Pilot. Capt Carl Lewis OIC Refueler for Nuclear Rockets on the old KS/MO Nuclear Missile Zipper Line.

I had the pleasure to met COL Puckett. I have read the Ranger handbook many times since I was a private but never realized his actions are mentioned in it. He stood up the 8th Ranger Company in Korea. It was the first Ranger unit in the Korean War. I didn't realize he was selected to train and fight with them. He also stood up the Lancero in Columbia. I got to to have his sign his book. I was humbled by such a great man.

I met Joe Galloway and Col Crandall at a book signing at JBLM and they autographed their book for me.

"Hero" is a relative term...my Dad served proudly in 3/4 branches...first Army during the last two years of WWII...European Theater (Germany)...then crossed over to the "Blue" when they split off in 1947 to finish out his second tour. Re-enlisted again and earned the Globe and Anchor just prior to participating in the Inchon Landing of 1950...I really have to look no further...but here is my own Top 2 while serving in uniform...

I met Col George "Bud" Day USAF Medal of Honor recipient during a visit to our Squadron (Hurlburt Field FL) a few years ago...this guys was a "no shitter" and told us all that this country was going to "Hell in a Handbasket" under the current administration....had just finished a round of Chemo on Monday but STILL kept his appointment with us that same Friday....great words...I shook his hand and told him that if I didn't thank him I'd be dishonoring my entire bloodline....#1!

In 2004 I met Army Maj General Pat Brady, Medal of Honor recipient on a planeride from San Antonio to Japan...he was speaking in Korea and I was returning to Osan after my own mid-tour...as an active duty Airman, I'd actually bumped his wife out of her seat and we discussed that just before takeoff...all he told me was that he was a "Retired Soldier" in conversation. When I gladly switched seats with his wife explaining that "they'd already been there done that and deserved all the luxury that life could bestow" I didn't think too much more about it....until he coined me during the planeride between Osaka and Seoul and I realized EXACTLY who he was...definitely my #2 of all time....SALUTE to all who have met their own "heroes"

I have met several.
While assigned to Pope AFB in NC, I became friends with a member of the XVIII ABN Corps who had been a Marine in Viet Nam. He received a Silver Star, Bronze Star with V device, and three Purple Hearts during his multiple tours. He later become Godfather to my eldest daughter.
While attending Squadron Officer School, I was fortunate enough to have as my Dean of Students Lt Col Jim Fleming - a Medal of Honor recipient from a helicopter special operation in Viet Nam. During one of our seminars, he told the story of his mission, during which he was shot down once and had his flight helmet split by a round coming through the cockpit. His efforts saved the lives of a 6-man team.
Also during that same course of study, I was privileged to have had lunch with a shuttle astronaut who had flown two shuttle missions by that point in time.
Not long afterwards, I was privileged to have worked for Bill "Buddha" Caldwell at HQ MAC. Buddha's cargo on this date was 27,000 pounds of ammunition, which caught fire and began burning as a result of the damage to his cargo plane. Caldwell's Load Master, Staff Sergeant Charles Shaub, managed to jettison the burning ammunition before it could explode and destroy the aircraft. Both received the Air Force Cross.
Later in my career, I was a member of the staff for an international tactics symposium for which we had secured Joe Jackson as the keynote speaker. Col Jackson received a Medal of Honor for an extraction mission in Viet Nam from a hot LZ.
There have been many others over the years - some of whom have been recognized by the Awards & Decs system and others who have not. Many of them have never had their stories published or otherwise made available to the public. The common thread with all of them is that they did not consider their actions heroic at the time.

It occurs to me that I did meet and spend an hour or so with the late COL David H. Hackworth.

Until I read his book "About Face" and noticed one critical paragraph, I thought there was no chance that I would be able to identify, meet and thank that faceless Pentagon somebody who made a tremendous positive difference in my life both AD and after. It was he that was the primary designer of the Skill Development Base course. I'm still using (and selling) the principles I was taught, with my own additions over the years, usually to good effect.

I ambushed Hack one evening when he was doing a book signing in Dallas. Memorable, easy to talk to. Really cheesed a lot of people off over time.

When then, Lt Col Bernard Fischer(MOH) returned from Vietnam to CONUS, he was assigned as the Executive Officer with the 87FIS in Duluth, MN, flying F106A/B aircraft as part of the nuclear deterrent to the Soviet threat. I was his crew chief for 18 months before moving with the squadron to K.I. Sawyer AFB, MI. Great guy, very down to earth.

I create heroes. I'm a storyteller, a writer. But, that's not the kind of hero you're talking about, is it?

I've met people who have acted heroically in real life, but I don't refer to them as heroes. I prefer to celebrate the act rather than the person. Why? All heroes fall. Funny coincidence. I wrote about that very topic and posted it in my blog yesterday (before seeing this on RallyPoint). http://www.jackdurish.com/4/post/2015/01/heroes1.html

In Vietnam, I had the honor of investigating and writing about heroic acts. Four were awarded the Medal of Honor. I was delighted to find one on the Internet talking about his experience. Of all the people whose acts of valor I found in Vietnam, he is the only one I would be tempted to celebrate as a hero in the sense you probably mean it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOWBw7muH9M

Because of my experience, I was well prepared to help my son and his fellow Cub Scouts prepare to become Boy Scouts as they learned the meaning of "A Scout is brave". Like most, they thought that "brave" meant being without fear. I was able to tell them stories until they decided that "brave" meant doing what needed to be done in spite of the fear.

Indeed, I have often considered the possibility that without fear, a person isn't brave. They're merely a fool or, as I discovered in some cases, they acted in a fugue state. Basically, that means that they're running on autopilot. Their minds have gone somewhere else, to a happy place, while their bodies rush into harm's way.

That being said, I won't quibble with the popular trend these days to name anyone as a hero who is willing to don a uniform of any kind and serve. Soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, firemen, policemen, you name it. No one who serves in any of these capacities will grow rich, but they will gain a wealth of respect and admiration from people whose opinions matter.