The Warrior Ethos

by Steven Pressfield

There’s a well-known gunnery sergeant in the Marine Corps who explains to his young Marines, when they complain about pay, that they get two kinds of salary—a financial salary and a psychological salary. The financial salary is indeed meager. But the psychological salary? Pride, honor, integrity, the chance to be part of a corps with a history of service, valor, glory; to have friends who would sacrifice their lives for you, as you would for them—and to know that you remain a part of this brotherhood as long as you live. How much is that worth?

Courage is inseparable from love and leads to what may arguably be the noblest of all warrior virtues: selflessness.

The group comes before the individual. This tenet is central to the Warrior Ethos.

Honor is the psychological salary of any elite unit. Pride is the possession of honor.

The will to fight, the passion to be great, is an indispensable element of the Warrior Ethos. It is also a primary quality of leadership, because it inspires men and fires their hearts with ambition and the passion to go beyond their own limits.

The soldier or sailor is not free to do whatever he wants. He serves; he is bound to perform his duty. Civilian society rewards wealth and celebrity. Military culture prizes honor. Aggression is valued in a warrior culture. In civilian life, you can go to jail for it. A warrior culture trains for adversity. Luxury and ease are the goals advertised to the civilian world. Sacrifice, particularly shared sacrifice, is considered an opportunity for honor in a warrior culture. A civilian politician doesn’t dare utter the word. Selflessness is a virtue in a warrior culture. Civilian society gives lip service to this, while frequently acting as selfishly as it possibly can. Is it healthy for a society to entrust its defense to one percent of its population, while the other 99 percent thanks its lucky stars that it doesn’t have to do the dirty work?