Warrior or Soldier

[Akidorina]

"A soldier follows others as a warrior fallows his/her own path.
A soldier does not take responsabilaty for his/her own actions "I was just following orders" a warrior takes full responsabillity by taking care of the family of the one he/her has killed even if it was an accident.

A warrior follows his/her own light if you will in the dark as a soldier follows the light of others "An army of one"

By the way I asked my teacher this and these are only some of her answers

"A warrior knows how and when to fight, but fighting is rarely at its
wisest when it using fists. A warrior defends life. A warrior works to
reduce the inequalities and fear that create violence. A strong warrior
will be able to take a beating if fighting back would cause more harm
than good. A warrior will use violence to defend life and limb, but a
skilled warrior will fight in the way that causes the least damage. To
fight back in defense and not cause harm to the attacker is the highest
level of fighting technique which we strive for. That is the result if
mastery in mind, body, and spirit. You will know the correct
strategies, understand the power and durability of your body, and have
control of your emotions so as not to be responding in fear or anger,
but in compassion".

 

[Tgace]

Warrior
Noun
S: (n) warrior (someone engaged in or experienced in warfare)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrior

A warrior is a person habitually engaged in combat. In tribal societies, warriors often form a caste or class of their own. In feudalism, the vassals essentially form a military or warrior class, even if in actual warfare, peasants may be called to fight as well. In some societies, warfare may be so central that the entire people (or, more often, the male population) may be considered warriors, for example the Maori or Germanic tribes.

Professional warriors are people who are paid money for engaging in military campaigns and fall into one of two catagories: Soldiers; when fighting on behalf of their own state, or Mercenaries; when offering their services commercially and unrelated to their own nationality. The classification of somebody who is involved in acts of violence may be a matter of perspective, and there may be disagreement whether a given person is a hooligan, a gangster, a terrorist, a rebel, a freedom fighter, a mercenary or a soldier.

A soldier is more a warrior than some kid/middle class guy who takes a few martial arts lessons, reads a few books, spouts some quotes and imagines himself a "warrior". Wanna be a warrior? Go out and "put it on the line" for something you believe in (in the military or not) or stand up for someone who cant stand up for themselves. The essence of real warriorship is "service". The idea that everywhere I go I hope to make the people around me safer. The whole "mystical warriorship" thing is a free ride. All the glory. None of the risk. The mystical mumbo jumbo is smoke and mirrors for selling books, seminars, workshops and hack philosophy.

 

[Matt Stone]

Not all soldiers are warriors. Not all warriors are soldiers.

Not all civilians are warriors. Not all warriors are civilians.

I'd concur that mindset has a lot to do with the difference, though I'd further that by saying mindset IS the difference.

Most soldiers I've served with are "soldarii," in it simply for the pay. Few that are "soldarius" are motivated enough to become warriors, as they have to transcend the daily mediocrity of typical garrison life and push themselves to a higher physical, mental, moral, ethical, and even spiritual level. Most Joes just want to get paid, buy new stereo equipment, a new car, take some college on W's dime, get out and get on with their lives...

Let's not forget that while the samurai, as a class, were designated as warriors, there were within their class the lesser warriors who were likely more soldier than warrior and carried swords because law required it... The conscripted troops, like ashigaru, were peasants with no armor, cheap weapons, and were brought to war with the clothes on their back (their helmets, when they had them, doubled for cooking utensils - an old tradition that helps identify a soldier from a warrior that honors his wargear...).

Just my 2 yen.

 

[Bod]

One of my grandfathers did not fight in the war. He wanted to, but he was an agriculturalist and they were not allowed to go. He says he is glad they didn't let him go now, which makes me believe he really did want to go.

Anyhow he worked long and hard without profit to supply England with food during the war. Although his sacrifice was less great, he was part of the war effort. In many ways it is hard to distinguish between warriors, soldiers and civilians in an age of total war.

Is a medic in a war zone a warrior? What about the concientious objectors who carried stretchers in WW1? What about Alan Turing, a gay academic who never went near the front lines but battled at home in order to become one of the greatest contributors to winning the war, before finally losing that battle and committing suicide?

In WW2, everyone took part in some way or another. The soldiers bore a heavy psychological burden, beyond the danger they faced. The civilians bore losses too. In the modern era the lines between a warrior, civilian and soldier are very blurred. One shouldn't be given credit over the other.

 

[Drifter]

A soldier is a career, and a warrior is a lifestyle, ethics, values, beliefs, and most importantly, standing up for them out of choice.

Thankfully, many soldiers are warriors nowadays.

 

[Akidorina]

Warrior
Noun
S: (n) warrior (someone engaged in or experienced in warfare)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrior
A soldier is more a warrior than some kid/middle class guy who takes a few martial arts lessons, reads a few books, spouts some quotes and imagines himself a "warrior". Wanna be a warrior? Go out and "put it on the line" for something you believe in (in the military or not) or stand up for someone who cant stand up for themselves. The essence of real warriorship is "service".

While I understand what you are saying there is NO NEED to be as harsh as you were!
Wait a minute sense when dose it matter the class you are in? middle class guy?
um...ok I hope you can understand that some people WERE NEVER EVEN MIDDLE CLASS!!!Some people LIKE ME understand like so many others what

its like to starve and know what it's like to watch people you love fade away!Understand that I KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO GIVE SERVICE!All that I have ever done is care for people!All I have ever done is watch my family fade away!SO PLEASE BE CARFUL OF THE THINGS YOU SAY BECAUSE SOME THINGS HURT OTHERS! I remember being so poor at one point I had to eat out of a trash can...I lived on the streets for three years when I was 8 years old with my DIEING mother and my two big sisters and are abusive stepfather.
I remember one day my mother had a stroke (I paniced) I started screaming "No one cares were going to starve to death here!WE WILL WATCH ARE MOTHER DIE AND THEN WE'LL STARVE TO DEATH!" I remember repeating "I can't take this any more" over and over again..Do you see that my life has been nothing but giving and caring for my mother and my big sisters.SO DON'T TELL ME THAT A SOLDIER IS MORE OF A WARRIOR THEN ONE WHO DEALS WITH POVERTY ALL OF THERE LIVES!I have nearly died of starvation because I would not give up on my mom!
PLEASE WATCH WHAT YOU SAY!

 

[TigerWoman]

Akidorina, it sounds like you have had a rough start in life. You have suffered alot. But many people suffer and are better because of it. My father too died at age 14. My mother was alive but we had no food either. I remember just bread and milk in the refrigerator at times. A nice woman gave us stew alot. I helped raise my brother and sister in that I worked and did whatever I could and tried to protect them. But I was not a warrior in the definition of that word. I am a survivor of what fate handed me.

World Book dictionary: 1. a fighting man: experienced soldier.
My Zeico dictionary: One engaged or experienced in battle.

You might say that you were or are?... battling for survival but I don't believe this makes you or me, a warrior. I'm sorry for the loss of your mother. She would be proud that you tried your best to help. In that you have the warrior code though, what warriors of old according to the wikipedia dictionary above stated and what warriors valued: loyalty, courage and honor. That is what we in martial arts value. Be strong,Akidorina and take one day at a time. God Bless You. TW

 

[Tgace]

"You will know the correct strategies, understand the power and durability of your body, and have control of your emotions so as not to be responding in fear or anger, but in compassion".

Easy to lead someone from the path is it not? As you will learn in life, its far easier to believe these type of things than to live them. While Im sorry for your loss, there are people around the world who have been exposed to horrors beyond what you could imagine. That doesnt make them all "warriors".

Warrior/Warriorship is a way overused and misunderstood term. Living your life like a warrior is possible, but far different from "being" a warrior. I can study all the military books, do all the SEAL workouts, buy all kinds of weapons and go to shooting schools and fancy myself a SEAL. But until I jump into enemy territory and put it on the line, Im just playing fantasy games.

When I was your age (this was the 80's keep in mind) , a few close friends and myself fancied ourselves "Ninjas"/Warriors. We had the tabi and black GI's. We climbed cliffs, snuck around the neighborhood at night, read all kinds of books, played "splatball" , did various things that Im suprised never landed us in trouble, went hunting with our dads because it was a "warrior" tradition to hunt, took MA classes, etc. When we all got older our lives took us in various directions. I went to college then the military then became a police officer. One friend is in Iraq now. Another was a Marine and now "serves" the community as a teacher. Some became firemen, paramedics and so on. We all tried to "walk the talk" in various ways, but none of us ever really tried to pass ourselves off as "warriors" in the later years. We are just people doing what we felt we were meant to do.

My point? Your quest to become a "warrior" is honorable and can take your life in exciting and interesting directions as long as you approach it in the right mind and with a perspective on "reality". You are in the "emulation" phase right now. Dont confuse practicing, copying and studying "warrior ways" with being a "warrior".

 

[Tgace]

http://www.usd.edu/nin/essay6.htm

Interesting read about training in the "warrior arts". Note the author states that this is about "living the life of a warrior" not about "being" a warrior.

 

[Akidorina]

So you'r saying I have no grip on reality?
Sir with all respect to you...I strongly disagree with you.
I am probably one of the only people my age that actually sees
the messed up truths of reality.
Yet I see you'r point about living the way of the warrior
and I respect the fact that you are willing to share you'r wisdom with me.
I wrote this a wihle ago when I still lived with my mother and I think you may find this interesting to read

Within The World We Dwell

Sadness lingers within the darkness
The walls are closing in and I can not see past this pain.
The more questions I ask the more I will find within.
Always have I seen my mother dieing, and always I have known of starvation.Why Must she never listen to us! We who are her children!
We that have always been there even when we felt as though there was no love at all.I can not deal with the fact that everyone else around me has a NORMAL family!
I am getting tired of trying to stand up from where I lay.
I wish they could just leave me here to die! I stand up again to
see nothing but suffering before my eyes!
I wish I could end the suffering of are dieing world I wish there was somthing I could do to help people like me!
Maybe there is a way to help those like me, and yet I know of no way I am able to do so,For now I sit beside you dear mother as the world is falling apart,I sit beside my only parent in the world and watch her fade away...I have not eaten for a week now and she seems to be getting worse..I can't miss anymore school this year but I can't just leave her in this house alone.What if I come home and she is dead!What if I come home and see her Dying of a stroke,or of cancer,or of Hep-si,or of HIV/AIDS! I can not leave her she is my resbonsability as I was hers!
AGE_9
Belive it or not I was nine when I wrote this..
I still have no idea what kept me alive in that old place...
But all of my suffering made me a strong willed and caring person.
I respect your wisdom and I hope you can see mine.:asian:

Always a humble student _Akidorina:asian:

 

[Tgace]

Early maturity and "wisdom" are two different things. There are many who possess one but not the other.

Wisdom is often meant as the ability and desire to make choices that can gain approval in a long-term examination by many people. In this sense, to label a choice "wise" implies that the action or inaction was strategically correct when judged by widely-held values.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom

 

[Wild Bill]

www.ultimatewarrior.com/Souldefine.htm

 

[Tgace]

http://www.armystudyguide.com/Warrior-Ethos/