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by Ryan Dube

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I do not know my Hero. At least I don't know him personally. He certainly doesn't know me. However I respect him and appreciate him more than anyone I've ever met. I'll tell you why he's a soldier.

But he's not just any soldier. His name is Sergeant Brian Horn of LaPlata, Maryland. In August of 2003 while serving with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in the Kirkuk region of Iraq, Brian decided to help his fellow soldiers who were living under very rough conditions. Brian was blessed with a family who sent him care packages as often as they could but Brian also noticed there were a number of soldiers who didn't receive packages or mail, and could see the detrimental effect this had on morale.

Brian's father, a 20-year Army veteran, started a website on August 26th, 2003 and asked friends and neighbors to help sending their support to the troops. Brian wanted to hand out any care packages with "Attn: Any Soldier" addressed to him to other troops in his brigade who didn't normally receive much mail. By June 2004, Brian and his family had accumulated 100 additional volunteer contact soldiers soldiers who were willing to invest time and energy distributing care packages to soldiers in their units as well.

In November of 2005, Brian wrote in a letter from Afghanistan:

"To have been able to distribute the mail personally as a contact to soldiers who get next to no mail at all and for that brief moment see the look of hope in their faces of good things to come. The hope that somebody out there does care. That somebody does in fact love them as they deservingly should be loved. The hope that some day their involvement in the fight on terror was to preserve those that believed in them so much through and through, until their fight was done. We fight so that maybe, just maybe your grandchildren won't have to. Pray for us in all that we do."

These were care packages sent in by caring Americans who wanted to show their support for the troops and to do it from where it really counts, right out of their pocketbooks and from the heart.

Brian, and Brian's family, in their actions and in their love for the many soldiers who suffer through some of the harshest conditions without receiving correspondence or any luxuries have exemplified the core values that were adopted by the Army in the 1990's. Those core values are stated as follows:

LOYALTY Bear true faith and allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, the Army, your unit, and fellow soldiers
DUTY Fulfill your obligations.
RESPECT Treat others as they should be treated.
SELFLESS SERVICE Put the welfare of the nation, the Army, and your subordinates before your own.
HONOR Live the Army Values
INTEGRITY Do what's right, both legally and morally.
PERSONAL COURAGE Face fear, danger, or adversity, both physical and moral.

Since January 2004, Brian and his family extended the Any Soldier effort to include any member of the Armed Forces in harms way.

This selfless and caring effort by Brian Horn and his family represent true heroism in every sense of the word.

Jesus Christ has been quoted as stating:

"I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me." (Matthew 25)

The quote is more than a simple bible quote. It represents what it means to be truly selfless and what it means to be a real hero in a commercial world that has no real sense of the word.

In attending to not only the physical, but even more so the emotional needs of these solders, Brian and his family have so far offered over a million soldiers solace in a world of chaos and havoc. They've offered the world an opportunity to become heroes as well. Anyone, from any walk of life, can become a hero through the simple act of putting together a box of basic necessities, and a heartfelt note of love and appreciation - the necessities for the body, and the note for the soul.

Although they don't know me, nor I them - in offering up their time, energy, and resources so selflessly, Brian and his family have become my personal heroes. I strive every day to live my life according to the message that their actions convey to love others just as we love ourselves, and to do for others exactly what we wish someone would do for us, if we were in their shoes.

It is with heartfelt appreciation for Brian and his family that I call them my true heroes. If but there were only more humble and selfless heroes in the world such as these...we would end the suffering and despair of this age, and all those beyond.

Learn more about this author, Ryan Dube.

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