I found it a funny coincidence that the current top two links (this and a comment on the Holman post[1]) take opposing viewpoints on programmers as soldiers: "Infantry are what most people are." and some are "Commandos" vs Tom's "Engineering teams are not infantry squads. They aren’t selected for their ability to perform under unnatural stress."
This is great! As a former commando turned programmer I've long been wondering how best to express the commando mindset in programmers terms. The 4 elements of the command spirit are
Courage
Determination
Unselfishness
Cheerfulness in the face of adversity
These sure come in handy in some programming environemnts :-)
[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=9159398