Google Engineer: What I learned in the war 
(I hope I get the tone right on this. I don't mean to insult any person or institution)<p>The interesting thing here is how military service is respected to such a high degree, bordering on worship, in the United States.<p>Other  countries have voluntary armies too,and yes soldiers get <i>some</i> respect as people who do a necessary and  dangerous job, but you don't see the "start your conversation with "Thank You for your service"  " style everyday deference outside the United States. This is a little baffling to a non American,especially since America's wars post WW2 are mostly invasions of random third world countries against underequipped,and mostly untrained enemies, and even then the victory/defeat ratio is very mixed.<p>Genuine question, why does a soldier deserve so much more respect than a  doctor or teacher or fireman or policeman or engineer?<p>Specifically wrt the article under discussion,(to a non American) this article is a generic feel good article which doesn't say very much at all. (I am sure Dan is a great person. Just saying there wasn't (imo) much meat to the article).