ABSTRACT
This chapter explores gendered dimensions of the contemporary American construction of military heroism. It uses the awarding of the most prestigious US military medals for valour to soldiers who have fought in the post-9/11 wars, or the ‘Global War on Terror’, as a vehicle for examining military heroism as a specific form of militarised masculinity. Based on a close reading of Congressional Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, and Silver Star citations awarded during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, the chapter argues that behaviours regarded as feminine in civilian contexts, especially acts of nurturing and protection, are reframed as heroic and given central positions in these narratives of heroism, while acts that might be expected of a warrior hero, such as defeating the enemy and ensuring the success of the mission, are not regarded as essential. The chapter discusses the citations of the two women who received the Silver Star during this period, and argues that the subtle differences in the ways that their heroism is constructed in comparison to that of male soldiers in similar circumstances indicate some uncertainty on the part of the US military about what it should expect from its female heroes.
