I know...this is a bugbear of mine.  He never fought in a war, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time...

Agree 100%. People die doing dangerous jobs all the time - does that make them all heroes?

There wasn't?.....Depends on who you're talking to really,some here saw it as a war some didn't,until 1976 prisoners had special category /POW status so is it fair that folk cut the cloth to suit themselves....I have no time for Steve as a HM but I can't be doing with double standards....You say he got unlucky so was that the case for IRA or loyalists  who died and were given military funerals having died on active service...Be honest ,you and I both know those who died on active service were/are saw as hero's ,they go on the roll of honour,Steve got medals sent in a jiffy bag.

Well you're not going to get silly little teenage boys brainwashed into joining the forces as cannon fodder if you don't glorify it a bit are you

Sorry he's a hero to me as are all in our Armed Forces.

this could open a can of worms really, cos you say "he got unlucky while on foot patrol" so all those soldiers in Iraq and Afghan are not hereos they were just unlucky???
I don't like Steve as a HM but as  anyone who goes into the armed forces whether it be NI,  Afghan or Iraq has my huge admiration for being there in the first place, and there lies the difference to me, I admire all of them,  but the ones who die saving their mates or the bomb disposal teams who risk their own lives to save others I define as Hereos

True.

Absolutely

I think anyone who is injured or killed whilst serving in the armed forces are heroes. Never mind how, in my opinion they are heroes.

TBH I think that was the aim of the thread.

I really fail to see how people who are sent off to foreign countries to fight illegal wars for Americans to have cheap petrol in their gas guzzling cars, and make thousands of children look like Steve or worse...can ever be called heroes....

In my mind only the people who think silly patriotism is more important than people can possibly think that way

Well that's you're opinion.

I admiete armed forces for putting tmselves in the position but I don't kid myself they're all heroes....some are completes arseholes as are people in all walks of life. ...bur just serving in the the army does not auomatically qualify one for hero status....gawd my brother did his tour in NI years ago, probably only a few years before Steve... is he a hero?? No


I think the words Hero and Brave are bandied around so freely it actually diminishes them.  As someone else said a hero is someone that goes out of their way to risk their own lives to help someone else. I'd define bravery in the same way...being afraid of something and doing it anyway fort he greater good (when you have  chice).like running  into a burning building to save someone or something like that...not having an illness or a disease which cannot be helped...all the 'brave Jennfer Sauders ' posts pissed me off too...

Having spent my childhood growing up in the troubles in Northern Ireland I would absolutely say that Steve is a hero

Actually I saw a similar thread on DS and I though I would post it here to see what the opinions on Gaga were.

well yes obviously.....and i'm pleased I don't buy it directly from the Daily Mail or the Sun

You don't think a soldier does that?  We hear time and time again, about our soldiers risking their lives to save their comrades and even civilians.  They risk their lives the minute they sign up for active duty - and yes I know no-one forces them to do it.  We would be in a helluva lot of trouble if we had no armed forces and I, for one, thank the lord we do.  They put their lives on the line and in so many cases, lose their lives - so yeah they are heroes imo.

Oh how funny and oh so typical - having to resort to comments like that

OP so in your opinion those who were *Killed/injured  on active service* cannot be deemed heroes either?...Go into any nationalist or loyalist area in N Ireland and the murals on the walls will indicate otherwise.

Prisoners in Ireland were never "prisoners of war"

well i would have preferred if you had addressed the comments i'd made instead about our "heroes" turning 1000s of children into amputees so we could have discussed that point instead....but typically, alas, that never happens

Which is irrelevant.  Go anywhere in the world and pretty much someone will be deemed a hero.  Even those the majority may deem as beyond the pale.

Until 1976 prisoners had Special Category status.

In other news, I farted so loudly in bed this morning I swear the windows shook.  That was rather heroic I thought. 

Not, correct me if I'm wrong, POW. 

the word HERO and its meaning is so easily used nowadays! and very overused

I blame Bonnie Tyler

If you'd have heard my noisy bott you'd have been in no doubt as to it's appropriateness. 

I also think firemen, police, mountain rescue and the likes and Joe Public who risks his/her life to save another person, are all heroes too.

Indeed! My father worked in the emergency services and as a result of what he dealt with on the A1 and A19 he is a total worrit if any of us are in transit. To be fair though he never had to deal with the untermensch throwing petrol bombs, stones, and worse at him.

Take that up with the post office and the prison service who delivered to the recipient mail addressed with that title.

I am so glad I didn't have the pleasure

and firewomen too

of course more people risk their life to bring your fish fingers to the table than any other profession.....why do they never get hero status

and Enrique

Fishermen/women too.

*Waits for OP to reply to my  question*

POW is an internationally recognised term - not conferred upon individuals by either the post office or the prison service.  Christ, stick a letter in the post addressed to Santa Claus and it goes somewhere.  As far as I'm aware the fat, beardy house invader hasn't, as yet, been represented at any global power broking conferences.

then you know nothing sunshine

Speak for yourself.  Come poppy time I decline to wear a paper representation of the fields of hell we gleefully constructed for ourselves and sport half a dozen Findus specials there instead.