"BRAVERY is not leaving your position when the enemy advances," the commander tells his troops. "What if a good strategy demands that you retreat?" says the young Captain who has just joined the regiment. "Tactical retreat is a different matter." "Sir, does it mean that bravery is making the right decision in the face of danger?" "Retreat is for cowards, the brave always advance. Dismiss," the commander yells out.

In the officers' mess, young officers and soldiers converse: "This new chap is yellow; coward." "He talks of retreat. Shameful." "He believes that we the officers, men of noble birth and riches, should treat ordinary soldiers with equal respect." "He does not have the becoming of a commander." "Such men are of low birth. Was his father in the Army?" "My father was a farmer… of modest income and rented house… a small one," the young Captain says for all to hear, "and I am proud of him." The silence that follows is broken by the sound of artillery shells falling near the garrison. The war has reached the city.

"Bring them down from hills, holding them by their ears." From the safety of his tent, the "brave" commander orders a daring assault on the enemy gun positions and watches exploding artillery shells shred his men. The young Captain is with men of a small detachment in a bunker with a General of noble birth. "Why are you leaving the bunker?" the Captain asks a corporal. "The General has asked for a whiskey. He is abusing the enemy like a drunken madman, talking of another assault on the guns, but too frozen to take a decision." The General asks the Captain, who's the next senior officer to him in the bunker, to take charge because he is not well.

The Captain orders a tactical retreat, to regroup and take back the lost position. During the retreat, a small detachment finds itself confronted by a wide and deep river. They discover a boat in which two children are rowing about. It is so small that it can only carry the two children or one grown person. "Shoot the children and take the boat," the General orders. "Sir, please let me handle this," says the Captain, who now has the problem of getting himself and his 357 soldiers, including the General, across the river and leaving the two children finally in joint possession of their boat. To top it all, the senile General wants to know how many times need the boat pass from shore to shore.

This is the strategy he adopts: The two children row to the opposite shore. One gets out and the other brings the boat back. A soldier rows across, soldier gets out and child returns with the boat. Thus, it takes four crossings to get one man across and the boat brought back. Hence, it takes four times 358, or 1432 journeys, to get the officer and his 357 men across the river and leave the children in joint possession of their boat.

Bravery is making right decision in the face of danger, not losing your composure under any situation, understanding your fear and, then, dealing with it, not hurting those who cannot defend themselves. Above all, bravery is not in the blood. It is more a matter of mind than muscle.