Anyone with common sense would have put the father with the kid behind them. Nothing honorable or special about it, just the decent and human thing to do.
If the soldier is good or not, we dont know, we dont know his life story, or if he always will make the correct decisions in life, afterall hes only human.
That picture and statment is too simplified to get all aroused about. Saying things like "The best of the best keep getting better..." with regards to that picture is brainwash.