Bad role models are not the only downside of a media culture that is obsessed with actors, musicians and other celebrities.  Our celebrity-driven media also implicitly denies the fact that ordinary men and women - who serve and sacrifice for the sake of others - are the real source of our nation's greatness. 

Most of us have never been helped by a celebrity actor who played a hero in a movie.  But most of us would not be who we are today apart from a few ordinary people who made important sacrifices on our behalf.  In my own life, this was most true of my mother who struggled to raise me on a welfare income after a serious violent assault left her disabled and unable to work.  So I thought it would be fitting for Great Americans to begin the New Year by honoring some of the mothers who serve our nation in uniform. 

Although many Americans may not realize it, there is a whole generation of women in uniform - including many mothers - who are on the front lines of defending us at home and abroad.  This profile of one military mom being reunited with her daughter offers a glimpse into the sacrifices that these women and their families make:
Watch the Video Here
 

Although the Pentagon Channel can be little stiff at times, they do a great job of capturing the heart of this mother in uniform - First Lieutenant Sandra Beauclair - who missed the homecoming of her two soldier sons from combat due to her own deployment as a military nurse:  Watch the Video Here


Ordinary Americans who touch other lives for good - without ever being given fame, wealth or celebrity status - improve life for us all.  When you hear Sandra Beauclair talk about the "nine wonderful sons" that she has chosen to adopt in her unit you'll hear the heart of a Great American speaking.

The families of our men and women in uniform serve and sacrifice for our country. Nowhere is this more true than at Fort Hood, Texas. The families of Fort Hood understand the real price of protecting our nation, both at home and abroad.

This video of soldiers at Fort Hood coming home to be reunited with their wives and children for the holidays offers a window into the real meaning of Thanksgiving. We should all be thankful for the freedom and safety that our national heroes in uniform secure for us every day. We also should be deeply thankful to them and their families for the sacrifices that they make on our behalf. Happy Thanksgiving.

Men and women in uniform make many sacrifices as they serve our nation.  Some of these sacrifices are obvious - including injury and death.  Others are hidden.

I originally went to law school to be a prosecutor and worked in the Brooklyn DA's Office.  But there was an emotional toll.  The turning point was when I was given a coroner's envelope with a bullet taken from the heart of a Latino father of four killed in a robbery of his store.  The slug rolled into my hand and something stabbed my heart as I looked at a picture of his kids.  That was the day I chose another career. 

I recommend this video - and this series - because it offers rare glimpses into the hearts of police women.  Be sure to watch the insightful profile of Detective Ana Murillo - especially her explaining at 6:16 how she has built "a shield around her heart to protect herself and function on the street.  This is part of the sacrifice that our men and women in uniform make.

I live a good life....a hard one, but I go to sleep peacefully at night knowing that I may have made a difference in someone's life.

This is how Sgt. Kim Munley - the hero of Fort Hood - summarizes her life on her Twitter page.  It's a comment on her humility that someone who fellow police officers call "Mighty Mouse" for her oversized bravery would describe her life this way.

Sgt. Munley made a difference in the lives of dozens of people who are alive today at Fort Hood because she stopped Nidal Hasan's shooting rampage while he still had plenty of ammo left.  She did so because she ran to the sound of the gunfire.  As a result, she prevented the kind of large scale killing that has happened in other shootings when law enforcement personnel chose to surround the scene without making an immediate entry.

The real heroes in our nation are the ones who don't think they're heroes.  What makes them extraordinary is that they see themselves as ordinary Americans who are simply doing their job when they risk their own lives to protect others.  This is what makes them Great Americans.

Any nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure.  Abraham Lincoln's famous statement is the reason that Great Americans was founded one year ago on Veterans Day.  But we also need to listen and learn from those who have risked their lives to defend our nation.  They are messengers of wisdom about courage, freedom, and sacrifice that are essential to our survival.

Army Staff Sergeant Jessica Clements has more wisdom than most people many times her age.  She earned it by recovering from devastating injuries that gave her a 2% survival rate.  She says that her suffering taught her to love our country and to value the sacrifices of all those who came before her.

Greatness of character is inseparable from adversity. Many of the stories on Great Americans reflect this enduring truth. One of those is the story of Marine Corporal Aaron Mankin and his wife Diana.

Corporal Mankin was badly burned from an IED attack during an operation to stop insurgents flowing into Iraq form Syria. His vehicle was blown over 10 feet into the air. Afterwards, Mankin recalls, "I opened my eyes and I realized I was on fire". Aaron Mankin

Mankin was so badly burned that it was six weeks before he could even bear to look at himself in a mirror. But the turning point came when his sweetheart Diana accepted his marriage proposal from his hospital bed. "At that moment, I realized that I was still the same man inside," he recalls.That realization - and Diana's consistent love for him - sustained him through 30 reconstructive surgeries.

Aaron and Diana Mankin are now the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl. Of his injuries, Mankin says they help him appreciate what he has been given. "I work harder at loving my daughter because of my injuries. I want her to see my scars as an advantage".

We all have a lot to learn from the story of Aaron and Diana Mankin.

One of the greatest privileges of my work has been meeting the "quiet professionals" of our Special Forces, whose extraordinary heroism is under appreciated by our nation. 

This video captures the story of one of the most important episodes in the War in Afghanistan, as told through the eyes of Major Jason Amerine. Amerine led a 12-man Special Forces team on an "impossible" mission to support a spontaneous uprising against Taliban rule in the town of Tarin Kowt. This demoralizing defeat for the Taliban set the stage for Amerine's troops to later capture the Taliban stronghold of Quandahar.

Amerine's team was outnumbered by more than 100-to-1 when 1,000 Taliban fighters in a convoy of more than 100 vehicles launched an attack to punish Tarin Kowt. American air support was unable to stop them. The key to victory turned out to be a classic SF tactic: arming the villagers and leading them in a defense of their own homes against the Taliban.

This video captures what not enough Americans fully appreciate: the extraordinary caliber and courage of American Special Forces personnel. In Amerine's words:  "The odds never felt overwhelming to me. I had something better than thousands of Taliban. I had an SF team."

Matt Daniels

Creator and Executive Producer

Did you know volunteer fire companies are a uniquely American tradition? In Europe, it would be unthinkable for anyone but the government to engage in the dangerous work of firefighting. But in America, the majority of firefighters are still volunteers. Ordinary Americans save the lives of others in countless communities across America -- simply for love of neighbor. 

This fact speaks volumes about what has always made America great. As a nation,we have a tradition of ordinary people caring for one another - even to the point of risking their lives. We sometimes forget that in many other societies, this would seem absurd. But when we forget that, we forget who we are. That is why I love this video portrait of one volunteer fire company in Maryland. It captures the greatness of the ordinary Americans who volunteer to serve as firefighters in every community in our country.

Notice how most of the firefighters say they serve because they saw someone else in their family do the same. That is the power of positive role models - and the reason Great Americans exists.

Matt Daniels

Creator and Executive Producer

It's sad that most of the top-ranked police videos on YouTube deal with the rare cases where police personnel abuse their power. It's also unfortunate that there are still forces in our culture and media that tend to cast the police in these negative terms. 

As a kid, I didn't dream about a home in the suburbs - because I didn't even know what that looked like. I dreamed about living as close as possible to the police precinct - because that was the safest place in our neighborhood. And when I stayed up at night worrying about how I was going to get to and from school the next day, I used to plan my route based on where I knew the cops would be. I was only a child, but I knew what a police uniform represented: It was the only visible symbol of safety on the street. It meant there were people who came into our neighborhood for the sole purpose of protecting us. 

Putting the safety of others before their own is what most police officers do most of the time. Here is a video that captures that truth in raw footage. Better than any film script, the dash cam tells the story of countless acts of selfless heroism by police personnel that happen every day in our country.


Matt Daniels
Creator and Executive Producer

Although some in the media seem to have amnesia about what we stand for as a nation, America still represents a beacon of hope in a dark world to people in societies where human life and dignity have been devalued. In most cultures, life is not treated as precious - and violence, rather than compassion, is the norm. There are even societies in the Middle East in which murder is considered a holy obligation. 

That is why every American should be proud of the amazing story of Steven Tschiderer - a young Army medic who saved the life of an Iraqi sniper immediately after the sniper attempted to kill him in cold blood. Tschiderer was shot with a high-velocity rifle - but his life was saved by state-of-the-art ceramic body armor.  Watch at 2:57 into the video, when Tschiderer gets to his feet while his would-be killers are praising Allah because they think he's dead.

But the most important part of Tschiderer's story is the character he displayed after capturing the sniper who tried to kill him. Sgt. Tschiderer's instinct to help rather than kill a wounded enemy speaks volumes about him and most of the men and women who wear our nation's uniform. Pay careful attention to how Tschiderer downplays this extraordinary act of compassion as being part of the training and culture of our military - and you'll have a measure of what makes our nation truly great.

Matt Daniels

Creator and Executive Producer

When I was growing up in Spanish Harlem, drugs were everywhere. In addition to the addicts who shot heroin in the park outside my building, I remember the drug dealer who would say, "Pass me by and blow your high" to me every day on my way to elementary school. But the worst thing about drugs was the violence they unleashed. When someone was shot on my street, it was usually drug related - like the time a kid from my neighborhood was hit by a stray bullet when a drug dealer opened fire on another dealer on our corner. The boy died, along with the drug dealer who was the actual target of the shooting. 

That is why, in my mind, some of the greatest heroes in our nation are the police who risk their lives to stop the drug trade on our streets. Get a taste for what it's like to be on the front lines of the War on Drugs by watching this riveting portrait of the DEA Swat Team in Detroit that raids crack houses and other drug-distribution points in the most dangerous city in America. If you're an adrenaline junkie, you can watch multiple episodes from the same series here.

Thanks, as always, to our great nation's true heroes,

Matt Daniels

Creator and Executive Producer

Something is wrong when a Google search on Michael Jackson turns up more than 62 million hits, but few Americans have ever heard of our nation's oldest living Medal of Honor recipient, John Finn, who turns 100 this month. Great Americans is honored that we were asked by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society to celebrate Independence Day by sharing this timeless profile in patriotism as an online video exclusive.

In creating the Medal of Honor, Abraham Lincoln said, “Any nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure.” Our partnership with the Medal of Honor Society reflects our commitment to honoring our nation's real heroes for their courage, sacrifice and patriotism. We hope you are enriched and inspired by John Finn's remarkable story, which embodies the phrase "home of the brave" in our national anthem. Here are more videos honoring our heroic Medal of Honor recipients.

Freedom has to be earned -- and appreciated -- by every generation. You can help us reach America with the stories of those who defend our freedoms by joining our Facebook community.

Happy Independence Day,

Matt Daniels
Creator and Executive Producer
GreatAmericans.com

Celebrities are often stereotyped as self-absorbed narcissists who are too busy counting their money and feeding their egos to trouble themselves with real-world issues. That common perception is a shame, because as these videos submitted by chcknhawk illustrate, there are plenty of artists who care about other people -- particularly the brave women and men in the military.

We hope you enjoy these examples of musicians who are using their art and influence to positively affect our troops:

The Crystal Method Supports the Troops

The Shins Support the Troops

Toby Keith Supports the Troops

Disturbed Supports the Troops

The Killers Support our Troops

Dropkick Murphys Support the Troops

3 Doors Down Supports the Troops

We pay a grave price when we fail to grasp the realities of war. Thats why combat camera personnel play such a critical role. Theyre a human bridge between the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform and the American people. They connect the American people to those who fight to protect us – by going where no one in the media ever goes. And they sometimes sacrifice to the point of losing their lives.