Published 05 September 06

What it means to be a warrior

By Commander Mark Divine

WARRIOR: These days we hear the term used frequently – all too often, loosely – to describe a broad range of people from members of the military to tribal warlords, corporate leaders, vocal peacemakers, and martial artists. But are all such men and women truly deserving of the title? Or is a warrior, in the purest sense of the word, something different? Is a true warrior a type of person we have forgotten about in our unintentional dilution of the word, and in our quest to ensure that all are equal?

Surely there is something beyond special, perhaps even transcendent, that makes someone what we in the 21st century have come to define as a warrior.

My dictionary defines a warrior as a: "a person engaged or experienced in warfare; soldier ..." and "a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics."

But based on those definitions, nearly all members of the armed forces might be warriors. Though the question that continues coming back to me is, do all military members exhibit "great vigor, courage and aggressiveness" in their duties and overall service? Of course, military service alone may qualify as the service of "warriors," at least in some quarters (relative to other professionals). And all service to country is certainly noble.

But then there are those very few within the military who go above-and-beyond service to country. For them, service is far more than a commitment to duty and the fulfillment of a voluntary obligation.

Those few I speak of are the true warriors, the soldiers and sailors who – in my estimation – time-and-again perform decisively, courageously, selflessly: In short, in a manner that whether in peace or in war, they place the mission and lives of their teammates above their own. It is an almost spiritual approach to duty. This is where the line is drawn separating the true warriors from professional soldiers.

Fortunately for us all, America continues to produce such warriors: Good men who not only have demonstrated – what might seem to lesser men – an almost superhuman athleticism, a seemingly impossible courage, and whose legacies are far-too-often written in blood.

U.S. Navy SEAL Marc Lee was – and will forever be – one such warrior.

Marc was a member of the Navy's elite SEAL commando force serving in Iraq. He and his SEAL teammates were supporting an Iraqi and U.S. Army unit during intense combat operations to remove insurgent elements from Ramadi, the provincial capital of the al Anbar province in western Iraq.

According to Marc's Silver Star citation:

"During the operation, one element member was wounded by enemy fire. The element completed the casualty evacuation, regrouped and returned onto the battlefield to continue the fight. Petty Officer Lee and his SEAL element maneuvered to assault an unidentified enemy position. He, his teammates, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Abrams tanks engaged enemy positions with suppressive fire from an adjacent building to the north. To protect the lives of his teammates, he fearlessly exposed himself to direct enemy fire by engaging the enemy with his machine gun and was mortally wounded in the engagement. His brave actions in the line of fire saved the lives of many of his teammates."

In addition to his posthumous Silver Star, Marc was awarded a Bronze Star (with combat "V") and the Purple Heart.

Marc put the lives of his teammates above his own, and he died the most honorable death a warrior might hope for.

I did not personally know Marc, but I have corresponded with several of his teammates. And I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that they loved and respected Marc as only warriors can love and respect one another. The intensity of the emotions caused by the loss of their teammate, and their understandable concern for his family are powerful testaments to Marc's honor, his life, and what it means to be a SEAL.

These men are not alone: America has lost scores of such men in Iraq, Afghanistan, and throughout the world: fighting for their country and their teammates.

The love of one's teammate is a bond that separates warriors from ordinary men and women. That love is what Marc Lee and his teammates in Ramadi demonstrated for each other.

Though I have never tasted the horror and incomprehensible sadness of sitting beside a dying teammate; I have experienced the bond formed by self-sacrificing teammates while an active duty SEAL in the 1990's. It has not only defined me as a man. But it has given me a sincere appreciation for what it means to be a warrior: An understanding that not all men are warriors. And why America owes so much to its cardinal warriors like Marc Lee and the men who served – and continue to serve – on his left and his right.

— Commander Mark Divine (USNR) was the Honor Man of BUD/s [Navy] SEAL class 170 and served for eight years on active duty with SEAL Team THREE, SEAL Delivery Team ONE, and Naval Special Warfare Group ONE. He is currently a reserve Naval officer, and has written a report for the U.S. Special Operations Command on the development of a new U.S. Marine Corps special operations detachment. Divine is also the founder of U.S. Tactical, Inc., which operates NavySEALs.com and the SOCOM Store.

Visit Commander Divine on the web at NavySEALs.com.

© 2006 Mark Divine

Also by Cmdr Mark Divine:
• U.S. military response to Katrina both timely and proportionate [07 Sep 05]