A photograph at the top of page 4A of Wednesday’s USA Today should remind everyone of the basic ingredient for winning virtually any kind of war: the dedicated, gallant and courageous foot soldier.

This particular shot involves a combat Marine in Fallujah who has had enough of a break in the war on terror to relish a cigarette. To be sure, cigarettes can be injurious to one’s health, but that is not the first concern of this semi-bearded, mud-caked soldier with blood on his nose. Other aspects of his current situation are far more perilous and much more deserving of his focus.

But this is the kind of person who, from the beginning of our nation, has made freedom ring for the rest of us. The Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard can be vital in any armed conflict, but it is the “ground pounder” who has to finalize an engagement. Ships and airplanes cannot capture and secure territory. Only the infantry can move in, neutralize an opposing force and, in effect, stake claim to territory.

That has happened millions of times in our history, in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf War and now in Iraq. Had there been no “sloggers” to grind it out at Gettysburg, the Ardennes, Guadalcanal, Iowa Jima, D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge and in similar crucial encounters, America would not be the nation it is — one that continues to stand as a place to be destroyed by the jealous and hateful.

Many Americans have deserved and received medals for valor in combat and thousands more have been just as deserving though they performed in relative obscurity. But when all the heroes are tabulated and calculated, none have contributed more to our national well-being than the foot soldiers of our various battles and conflicts.

One of the country’s Medal of Honor recipients here in recent times put it this way: A hero is somebody who does the best he or she can in war and then does it perhaps five minutes longer than anyone else. Most of our heroes will be asked how they classify themselves and are likely to respond: “I’m no hero, but I served with thousands more who were.” The bulk of them were infantry.

That photograph in Wednesday’s USA Today serves to remind us how terribly much we owe to such people as our nation strives to protect itself and others and remain the gleaming tower of freedom and bravery it has been for so long.