happy day after veterans day. a couple of assertions: no one is a hero in virtue merely of belonging to a big organization, even a vast configuration dedicated to violence. if everybody in the military is a hero, then nidal hasan is a hero. if you are a hero you are a hero in virtue of actually taking heroic action, perfectly possible in the military context, but probably not all that frequent there or anywhere else. second, no one is fighting for our freedom unless they are actually doing things that actively preserve or expand our freedom. so if the conflict in iraq or afghanistan actually preserves or expands our freedom, then the people who are fighting in those conflicts are fighting for our freedom. if not, not. it's not a matter of what you or we can convince yourself or ourselves that you are doing, but what you are, actually, doing.
treating mere enlistment as an act of heroism or a defense of freedom is just disingenuous; all you're really trying to do is recruit.