Throwing himself on a hand grenade has many benefits for one he thinks he is saving his mate which leads to him dying happy thus a selfish act. Also, he knows he will get a purple heart he could even be going for that. There are many things happening here.

Another thing real quick. If you dive on a grenade to selfishly protect your mate and he actually wanted to die that adds to being selfish and even detrimental to his friends mental health which will now deteriorate even more and could even lead to him being brought back to the US and being so mentally unstable he could go on a killing spree at a local mall. Jumping on the grenade just killed hundreds.

@Malus kinda silly. semantics can justify anything. You can get a purple heart quite easily without putting yourself so close to death. If being selfless is impossible and everything is selfish, then what is wrong with being selfish?

I never said that there was anything wrong with it. Just so many people stupidly believe there is such thing as a selfless act when there is no such thing. It is a pet peeve of mine is all. Hearing all the selfless acts someone did, etc is just beyond annoying and shows the stupidity of humanity in all honesty.

@Malus Altruism is the survival mechanism that got us as far as we did as a species. It's a form of task sharing where the short term sacrifice of a few metes itself out as a benefit to all. I'm foggy on what metric your measuring selflessness exists, or doesn't but as an extreme I suggest reading the citations of any Victoria Cross recipient.

My views are no human can be truly selfless there is always a reason for them to do it at the very least. Kinda like taking no action is still taking action. It seems odd at first but in actuality it makes sense.