Because, sometimes, a lot of the time, the hero lives. And this might be the most difficult part. It is the part we don't really like to talk about.

To be clear, Marlantes believes deeply that military members who put their lives on the line in the service of their country are indeed heroic. But he feels we are not properly preparing young soldiers for everything that comes after. Marlantes precisely crafted and bracingly honest book focuses specifically on the aftermath of combat, but heroism can be a difficult yoke to bear in any situation. For all who commit heroic acts, the moment of glory ends: the plane lands on the Hudson and water-soaked luggage must be accounted for; the dive into the subway is survived and you go back to a life of anonymity. Marlantes uses both his own personal experiences and readings from authors and philosophers such as Jung and Homer, to show how an extraordinary situation can leave a person changed forever.

Marlantes examines the work of philosopher Joseph Campbell, best known for his writing on comparative mythology and author of The Hero With a Thousand Faces, who wrote, "A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man." Here Campbell explained the myth of the hero and stories that have survived for thousands of years to create the archetype by which we have come to understand heroism. This archetype, however, doesn't tackle the role of the contemporary hero in an instant-media-driven society in which we seek to raise people to impossible heights and then inevitably wait for the fall.

For some heroes, the aftermath is more than they can bear. Consider Robert O'Donnell, who rose to fame as the man who struggled down a narrow well to rescue Baby Jessica as a captivated nation watched, and who killed himself just days after seeing footage of rescue workers at the site of the Oklahoma City Bombing. He told his mother ""When those rescuers are through, they're going to need lots of help. I don't mean for a couple of days or weeks, but for years." Four days later he shot himself in the head, leaving a suicide note that read, "I'm sorry to check out this way. But life sucks."

"We ask a 19-year-old to play the role of God," Marlantes told me, speaking of young combat veterans. "It leaves behind an enormous wound to the soul." Once the adrenaline has worn off, once the parades have ended, one is left to face the consequences of what being a "hero" really means. And the isolation can be stifling. These moments of internal struggle don't make for good movies. The vision of the veteran, the good Samaritan, or the first responder, alone, struggling to come to grips with that singular moment and its real significance is just not nearly as glamorous. It doesn't make for good chatter on the morning television shows.