Audie Murphy was rejected by the Marines and paratroopers for being too small, but he ultimately joined the U.S. Army and became the most decorated American combat soldier of World War II. In January 1945, near Holtzwihr, France, Murphy climbed onto a burning tank destroyer and single-handedly fought off a German assault with a .50-caliber machine gun. Despite being wounded and exposed to enemy fire from three sides, he held his position for nearly an hour before returning to his men and leading a counterattack. His actions earned him the Medal of Honor before his 20th birthday.
Murphy’s courage did not end on the battlefield. After returning home, he became a successful Hollywood actor, but privately struggled with severe combat trauma and an addiction to sleeping pills. At a time when few public figures spoke openly about the psychological effects of war, Murphy shared his experiences and pushed for the government to take the suffering of returning veterans more seriously.
Ryan Holiday reflects on the different forms Murphy’s courage took throughout his life. He displayed physical courage in combat, moral courage by refusing lucrative cigarette and alcohol endorsements, and personal courage by admitting that he was struggling. Audie Murphy’s story is a powerful reminder that real toughness is not simply the ability to endure pain. It is having the discipline to do what is right, the humility to tell the truth, and the courage to ask for help.
This discussion centers on the life of Audie Murphy, the most decorated American soldier in history, to explore the true nature of toughness. It contrasts physical valor with moral courage and vulnerability, using Murphy's legacy to critique modern \"alpha male\" interpretations of Stoicism that ignore ethics and justice.
Audie Murphy tried to enlist in the Marines at 17.
They rejected him for being too small.
He came home, became a movie star, and was haunted by PTSD for the rest of his life.
He's got more guts and sense.
Murph, get out of there!
They told us quite a bit about Audie Murphy right there.
Just an incredible human being, an incredible American.
He did a lot of feats of discipline and a lot of feats of courage.
Saying no to money is a thing that a lot of brave and powerful people have found it hard to do.
One last thing, a hot question.
Audie Murphy tried to enlist in the Marines at 17.
They rejected him for being too small.
The paratroopers rejected him too.
He finally got into the Army by gaining weight before the physical 5'5", 112 pounds.
He went on to win every U.S. combat decoration for valor, including the Medal of Honor.
28 medals total.
The most decorated American soldier in history.
He came home, became a movie star, and was haunted by PTSD for the rest of his life.
Slept with a loaded pistol under his pillow, got addicted to sleeping pills,
locked himself in a hotel room, and kicked at cold turkey.
And then he did something nobody at his level was doing in the 1960s.
He went public, talked openly about combat trauma,
demanded the VA take it seriously, died in a plane crash at age 45.
Here's the question.
Tell me about Audie Murphy.
What does the smallest, quietest guy in the room,
becoming the most decorated soldier in American history,
tell us about what real toughness actually looks like?
Well, they told us quite a bit about Audie Murphy right there.
Just an incredible human being, an incredible American.
He has a memoir called The Hell and Back,
which I should have brought you because it's an amazing book.
One of the great memoirs of the 20th century.
I'll tell you one little story about Audie Murphy.
All those accomplishments are incredibly impressive.
One of the ones he doesn't get enough credit for that I think,
in a way, it's not harder, but it's rare.
So he becomes a movie star, country musician, right?
And he's asked to do a bunch of endorsements.
And he turns down all cigarette and alcohol endorsements
because he doesn't want to model that for kids.
And so I just think he did a lot of feats of discipline
and a lot of feats of courage.
Saying no to money is a thing that a lot of brave
and powerful people have found it hard to do.
In a way, there's physical courage,
and then there's moral courage.
And the moral courage to say,
hey, I'm not going to do that, this doesn't feel right to me,
is courage that we don't celebrate enough.
We don't give out medals for that kind of courage.
And then the courage to speak out and to speak honestly
about what you're struggling with, like vulnerability.
Like, hey, I'm not okay.
Hey, even though I'm capable of all these things,
this thing is kicking my ass.
I'm struggling with this thing.
Again, that's another form of courage
that we don't celebrate enough, and we don't hold up enough.
And we wonder why it's rare.
And it moves me just as much.
He's an incredible person.
And you read some of those Medal of Honor citations
for those guys, and it's just absolutely unreal, right?
Yeah, yeah.
There's a follow-up here.
Okay.
I think you're going to like this.
What does this story say to every influencer right now
selling alpha male stoicism?
Andrew Tate is a ******* abuser of women, a shitty person,
a sex trafficker.
And the idea that that's who you should be taking life advice
from is insane, right?
Like, stoicism is not a recipe for making you a better
sociopath.
It is not this pick-and-choose thing
where you take a couple motivational quotes,
and then you put it up next to an AI-generated picture
of Marcus Aurelius with a 12-pack,
and you're like, I get it, right?
It's a philosophy.
And it's a philosophy built around virtue.
And the four virtues of stoicism—courage, essential,
discipline, essential, wisdom, essential.
But the fourth is justice.
That's ethics.
That's the standards you hold yourself to.
That's your contribution to society, to the world.
And none of the other virtues are of any worth
if not balanced out by or, in fact, directed at justice, right?
Like, courage on the battlefield, sure, very impressive.
But what if you're fighting a horrible war?
I stayed in Franklin and walked past the Confederate statue,
and it says, there have never been braver men
or a cause more honorable.
It's like, I can think of quite a few causes more honorable.
Other than Nazism, it was literally the worst cause,
like, literally the worst cause to ever go to war for.
Now it's complicated, and a lot of the men were drafted,
most of them didn't own slaves,
they were told a bunch of lies by the slave powers.
But let's not lie to ourselves about what that heroism was used for
and what it would have looked like had it triumphed.
Like, the world would have been a worse place.
In fact, their virtue, that military valor was weaponized
and spent in the wrong way for the wrong cause, right?
And so that's ultimately what philosophy is designed to help us wrestle with.
It's like, what's right and wrong?
What do we owe other people?
Are we making the world a better or a worse place?
And look, if the ideas of masculinity and toughness and resilience,
if that's what initially attracts you to Stoicism, awesome, right?
You just can't stop there.
And I think probably you see this in your line of work,
like, the recruiting poster is what gets the people in the door, right?
But ultimately, you've got to buy into the values and the cause larger than yourself.
And if that's not you, that's actually the most dangerous person,
because like, the violence and the power and the strength, all that stuff is like,
it's dangerous if not moderated by and controlled by this ethical compass.
Pete It can become very addictive.
Nathan Yeah, yeah, that's a good question.
Everyone should read To Hell and Back by Audie Murphy, just like,
an incredible, an incredible book.
