In honor of the men and women of all military branches who proudly represent us overseas and at home, here is a list of the top 10 characters from the best war movies, who portray soldiers the way us clueless civilians see you: as bone-a-fide, ass-kickin’, superhuman, untouchable action heroes!

1) Col. John Matrix (Commando)
Branch: retired Special Operations Operator
Remember when we trusted our men and women in the armed services with the moral authority to protect those that deserved sanctuary and eliminate those who threatened it, no questions asked? That was Matrix.
Moment in Badassness: Refusing to be a pawn, he snapped his captors neck and left him on the plane like he was sleeping!

1) Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Top Gun)
Branch: Naval Aviator
Everybodies got an ego and Maverick’s could float the balloon boy across the world. Swagger is one of the key elements that makes any good soldiers and overcoming it is what makes any good hero.
Moment in Badassness: When Maverick buzzes the tower. Doesn’t everyone want to do that? It’s like dunking.

1) Lt. Jordan O’Neil (G.I. Jane)
Branch: U.S. Navy SEAL
If you are going to step up like a man, you should expect to be beaten down like a man. Well, O’Neil was. And she got right back up again.
Moment in Badassness: Kicking the ass of her superiors with her hands tied behind her back (and her belt buckle cut. I can’t even run like that, let alone fight).


1) Lt. Col. James Rhodes AKA War Machine (Iron Man)
Branch: US Air Force
Wouldn’t it be nice if our government and our tax paying citizens (that’s right, us) thought that each soldier’s life was worth a million dollars? I guess it’s a good thing that Rhodey pals around with billionaire industrialists.
Moment in Badassness: Keeping that suit gangsta in metallic gray. Who told Starks gold and fire-engine-red was cool for a superhero?

1) Hannibal Lee (The Tuskegee Airmen)
Branch: United States Army Air Force
Whatever women went through and homosexuals currently go through, black men did it first. And when Hannibal was thrown into a can’t-win situation, with a bunch of misguided delinquents, he turned everything around. And this was a real life story. That still happens everyday in the military.
Moment in Badassness: Flying with the First Lady in his cockpit.

1) Capt. Conrad “Duke” Hauser (G.I. Joe)
Branch: United States Army
Talk about the best of the best, geez. This is probably the only movie where the gadgets are as dope as the soldiers themselves. Duke saved the day, got the girl and even saved Paris, despite what they may say about us. That’s a soldier.
Moment in Badassness: Taking down Snake Eyes. He took down a f—in’ ninja! Who does that?

1) Marisa Benez (Trauma)
Branch: Iraq War Vet / Rescue Helicopter Pilot
I know, she’s not in the military on the show, but that doesn’t mean her soldier spirit retired with her. Don’t cross her, as her partner Rabbit quickly found out when he almost killed her mimicking Bullit.
Moment in Badassness: It has to be when she popped a guys eyes back into there sockets after a car wreck.

1) Casey Ryback (Under Seige)
Branch: Navy SEAL
Ryback is the Die Hard of military men, the monkey wrench in the plans of domestic terrorist. By land or by sea (by air, Under Siege III: Over Siege?) he’s the guy you want riding with you.
Moment in Badassness: He killed bad guys with a microwave time bomb. How cool is that? [Do not try at home]

1) John Rambo (Rambo)
Branch: Special Forces (Green Berets)
He’s f—in’ Rambo. Here we are 27 years after the first movie and still, if you act like you can go 1 against 2 (or more) people call you Rambo.
Moment in Badassness: He went up against tanks and helicopters with exploding arrows.

1) Captain Steven Hiler
Branch: Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornets Pilot
This dude took on aliens okay. He took on intergalactic terrorist and won. And just like US Soldiers, he didn’t do it with home field advantage, he took the fight to their house and blow it to holy hell!
Moment in Badassness: After outmaneuvering and outwitting those alien scum-suckers, he went mano-y-mano and knock it’s green teeth loose with one punch.
Now if you’re wondering why they are all ranked number one, well there are two reasons:
1) Every man and woman in uniform is equally valued whether you work logistics or the ground, whether you sign up in times of war or times of peace and whether you fly sick people to hospitals or destroy alien races.
And 2) because I dare you to go up to any member of the armed forces and tell them they are #2.
Happy Veterans Day to all the real, most badass heroes in the armed forces and all those who love them!
Everyone else can go to…whatever country has the audacity to hate us even though we have the coolest President ever.