Another great guest post from Jared of Legends Of Men a site where he writes about masculinity and literature among other things. In this article Jared discusses the difference between a warrior and a soldier as well as topics such as freedom. Enjoy.
That title is a bit of a trick question. To be either in the true sense of the words you must be at war. Not many American men are at war right now and there are probably even fewer European men at war as well. But you can understand what makes a warrior a warrior and what makes a soldier a soldier and apply those differences to your own life for a benefit.
Warriors
We love to read about the warriors. Heroes are warriors. Hero stories are triumphant and bombastic. When you picture the hero you want to be him, you want to be that warrior standing on the corpses of his enemies while women pine for your protection. What makes the hero a warrior?
A warrior, more than anything else, is competent. War is his trade (hence the word), but in a much broader sense, skill and competence is his trade. The warrior is great at what he does. Because of that, he does not fear like the average man does. He has more confidence, more strength, speed, and skill.
All of that affords him more independence. At the top of this website, you’ll see the call to reclaim your freedom. Warriors are free because of their competence. Violence is the final and most potent manipulator of actions. That’s why warriors are so free; they are experts at violence. Thus they cannot be easily manipulated by other violent men.
Soldiers
Soldiers are in the violence trade as well, but they are different than warriors. Whereas the warrior is fiercely independent and free, the soldier is tied to his team, some element of a bigger army. Soldiers are also competent but they are one cog in a war machine, not a one-man war machine. This also affords a type of freedom.
The soldier is not truly free in the sense that the warrior is. Soldiers take orders from their leaders and obey them with discipline. Warriors don’t have to do that. But by obeying the orders the soldiers are able to work as a team to defeat men more competent at violence than any individual soldier is. As a team, soldiers are free from the tyranny of being bullied and controlled by more violent men.
In a sense, warriors are limited to what they achieve because they are so independent and free. A team of soldiers can accomplish much more than any warrior can because they are willing to sacrifice some freedoms to achieve a higher goal.
On the Battlefield
Who wins, warriors or soldiers? One-on-one warriors will win every time. They are in the business of being the best at their trade. But the warrior’s advantage is not scalable. Ten warriors are not necessarily superior to ten soldiers. This has been historically true. In his account of the Gallic Wars Caesar praises the bravery, strength, and ferocity of the Germanic warriors. They were excellent warriors. Any one Teutonic warrior would likely have slaughtered a Roman soldier, but that’s not how the Romans fought battles.
The Roman army used teamwork and battle tactics to beat the powerful Germanic warriors. A team of uncoordinated warriors was no match for the well-coordinated Roman soldiers, who, through disciplined training and adherence to the Roman fighting style, conquered all of Gaul and most Germanic peoples. Only when warriors learned to work together were they able to defeat Roman armies (at the Battle of Teutoberg for example) and eventually bring down the Romans on a larger scale. At the Battle of Adrianople, the Goths beat the Romans completely. Gothic warriors, aided by Huns, attacked the Roman army who became so tightened and compact in their formations they couldn’t even run away.
So Which Should You Be?
In our modern world, we have to be both warrior and soldier. Just as importantly, we need the wisdom to know when we should wear the horned warrior helmet or the drab soldier uniform.
Competence at an in-demand skill will grant you the freedom all men desire. Competence allows you confidence and independence. When you read about being location dependent you’re reading about becoming so competent at something (copywriting, for example) that you can live wherever you want and continue to do it. Or if you don’t want to work for yourself (running a business is not for everyone) you still need the skills and confidence to decide your place of employment. Don’t let desperation decide for you.
But you also need to be ready to be a soldier. Most great things are too great for one man alone. Even the greatest men in history couldn’t do it alone. How would we remember Genghis Khan if his generals Subotai and Jebe weren’t willing to work for him? Teamwork is necessary to accomplish so many great things and make no mistake, great men will seek to accomplish great things. The more freedoms you’re willing to sacrifice the greater the deeds you will accomplish. That’s true as a warrior but it attains a bigger scale as a soldier.
If you have a family you’re going to think of yourself more as the soldier than the warrior because you become a willing servant to your family and sacrifice freedoms to ensure its safety and success. That’s not to say you are a servant to your wife, nor is she a servant to you. You are all soldiers in the army that is your family unit. You as the man lead that unit.
Know when to be the warrior and when to be the soldier and you can accomplish what you want to accomplish and be as free as you want to be.
For more from Jared on the masculine wisdom found in literature and film check out Legends of Men at legendsofmen.com
