The bloke is a genuine hero, it'd be an honour to buy the bloke a beer. Anyone I've ever met that was or is a member of the armed services, I thank them for their service. If anyone frequents social media they may have seen a meme:
"Your day on the beach, brought to you by their day on the beach"
If you haven't seen it, track it down. Then have a think about the people we daily call hero's, a lot of whom couldn't give a **** so long as their pay is in the bank account every second Thursday.