Heroes

There was an interesting exchange of email in August 1998 on the NCVA reflector. It was precipitated by a CPO selectee's wife who innocently asked about Naval Security Group heroes. Reading through that thread of emails underscored such trite phrases as: "things are relative," "perception is everything," "one man's junk is another man's treasure" and "where do we get such men?"

Identifying heroes is difficult because we differ so much, from person to person, in our definitions of a "hero." There are men and women in our halls of honor who clearly made a mark and contributed notably and directly to the defense of this nation. There have also been many men and women whose names are not displayed in halls or on plaques. Their names are merely buried in the long list of former Naval Security Group personnel. In one way or another, they also made their marks by contributing to or influencing things less glorious than battles or other historically momentous achievements.

Each of us have some personal heroes. People who substantially influenced our lives and careers; people who were our role models and mentors. There is no value or definition which can do justice to such heroes.

I am tempted to list my personal heroes and how they came to be on my list. Fact is, that would mean little to anyone else, so I'll spare you. Instead, I'll just urge each of you to take a moment and reminisce through your personal hall of honor.

We need not decide the definition of a hero. One thing for sure though, we owe it to our professional heritage to be very thankful that we had the myriad heroes in our lives and history. We are the sum of all of them. Because of them, we can proudly project our chests, stand tall and smile, for there are no Naval Security Group personnel who shall ever feel the bite of hell's fire on their tender feet.

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AFTERTHOUGHTS

Heroes

By Pete Azzole