Medal of Honor

The Medal of Honor is supposed to be difficult to receive, thus a person must demonstrate bravery "conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his [or her] life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States." However, since the Vietnam War, apparently another requisite for receiving the medal is that you be dead. For military actions that have occurred since United States forces withdrew from Vietnam in 1973, the Medal of Honor has been awarded eight times, all of them posthumously. If you perform an act of extraordinary bravery and live, you are awarded a lesser medal.