Courage, heroism, persistence: what they REALLY look like

STRONG HINT: They have nothing whatever to do with donning a wig and a dress, claiming to be a “woman,” and skulking about in school gym lockers or the Ladies restroom.

The Real Life Rambo: The True Story of Roy Benavidez
“If the story of his heroism were a movie script, you would not believe it.” These words, spoken by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, are probably the best way to sum up Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez’s actions on May 2, 1968.

On that day, Benavidez carried out arguably one of the most incredible acts of bravery during the Vietnam War and in the annals of US Army history.

But who was Roy Benavidez, and what did he do in life to earn the title of the real-life Rambo?

Early Years
Roy Benavidez was born to a Mexican father and Yaqui mother in southern Texas in 1935. Within two years of his birth, his father passed away from tuberculosis, and just three years after that, his mother also succumbed to the disease.

Now an orphan, his uncle took him and his siblings in to raise as his own. But as he later recalled, life in Texas as a Hispanic person at that time was not very good.

Benavidez remembers growing up that there was rampant racism in his hometown. Frequently, Hispanic and African-American people were not allowed to eat in restaurants, move freely, and were forced to work menial jobs.

Due to the hardship of his uncle providing for six of his own children, plus his two adopted children, Benavidez was forced to drop out of school during the 7th grade to work full time.

From his teenage years until he was 17, Benavidez worked a variety of odd jobs, including ranch hands, shoe shiners, and tire changers at a Firestone tire shop.

When he turned 17, he joined the Texas National Guard to better provide for himself and his family. Realizing that he enjoyed Army life better than what his hometown could offer, he requested a transfer to active duty, which was granted in 1955.

Thus began a new chapter in Benavidez’s life.

And boy oh BOY, did it ever. Read on for one of the most amazing stories you’re ever going to see or hear tell of, about a determined, true-blue American warrior who—in defiance of crippling odds, seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and setbacks that would have left even the strongest among the rest of us whimpering from a fetal crouch—flatly refused, over and over again, to utter the words, “Fuck it, enough already, I QUIT.”

It’s to our immense cost that, in an age when the words “duty,” “honor,” and “sacrifice” have become dirty words, the concept of “masculinity” itself reduced to little more than a punchline, America seems incapable of producing doughty, indomitable men like MSGT Benavidez anymore. There were precious few of them to begin with, and we’ll always need as many of them as we can possibly get.