I guess it is how you define extraordinary. To me the norm in the military is they are all extraordinary. The military expects and demands 100%+ from all of their members, that is their norm.
Now let's also realize that the norm is not to buck the system. Regs exist for a reason and military members are expected to salute sharply and follow the order.
Military members are extraordinary compared to the avg society member, but I highly doubt they think of themselves as anything else, but NORMAL!
It is not extraordinary to them when they fly Mach 2 and dog fight, or have a Shack. That is their job, that is normal to them. It is not extraordinary to the CG to rescue people off the coast of AK in sub zeo degree weather from a sinking ship, that is what they do. It is not extraordinary to a Sailor to launch a Cruise Missile or to a soldier to launch an offensive. It is normal.
Like I said it is how you define extraordinary. I would say Pardo or Doolittle were extraordinary. McCain enduring 5 yrs in a POW was extraordinary, but I am pretty sure they also would say it wasn't because that was their job, that is the NORM for the military. Jessica Lynch did not see herself as extraordinary for enduring her pain, she saw herself as the same as the others.
JAM,
We all get it, to you this is civil rights and that is it, end of subject, period, dot. You do not view the military as a corporation. The reality is, it is. WHy do you think the Quadrennial Review was such a big deal? Why do they do budget and personnel planning? DO you think that RIFS and SERBS exist for willy nilly reasons? Of course not! They exist because there is a MILITARY BUDGET, that they must stay within. They are not like our FED GOVT and say, lend me some money because we can't make the bills. (CAVEAT: WAR). Have you ever talked to a military member what the end of September is like from an operational standpoint? For example, there have been yrs that training missions ended in the middle of September because they ran out of money. (FY is Pct 1 to Sept 30). There are units that CANNIBALIZE equipment because they ran out of funding. I recall one time where Bullet was double turning, he looked at the tires and said I think we need ones, they said don't worry Sir, it has 3 more rides left. Gee, that makes a military member feel safe....NOT! We no longer have at most bases/posts OB/GYN, yet we do have female soldiers. Why? MONEY! We no longer have self help stores for on base residents...why...MONEY. We now have contracted doctors and not military members...why...MONEY! Why do most base/post hospitals no longer have ER...MONEY! Why do they now ask if you have secondary health insurance...MONEY! Why do we have NAF for the clubs, pools, golf courses, etc...MONEY, yes, 20 yrs ago all of them were subsidized by the govt. Want a shocker go to an O'Club on Monday morning, you know what you will see in the kitchen? Dirty dishes because they can't afford to pay staff on the weekend to clean up after Friday night...MONEY! WHy do you think they extend committments...MONEY!
You may want to believe that is a civil rights issue, but it isn't! It will be repealed, all the military is saying, is give us time to fiscally do it right....and hopefully during that time we will also repeal DOMA and the Fed will recognize homosexual unions. However, if we don't the military will spend money defending why they are not giving bennies to state recognized unions...HMMM bennies isn't that a MONEY issue?