Otherwise, I do not think my military training has prepared me to overide the self-preservation instinct.
Definitely agree on this one.
All I've found is that military training can help people cope with the fear/stress of the life/death situations posed by combat, and allow them to continue doing their jobs instead of curling up in a ball on the floor.
When we're talking about people who are performing acts of valor, they're generally doing it for those previosly-stated reasons of protecting self, bros, and friendlies. I've never heard of anyone awarded a medal for valor who said they "did it for a medal". Usually they say they were "just doing their job" or "doing for thier buddies".