I am very patriotic and i think it is hard to answer this question......what do you think it means to be an american?

Do you mean what an American is suppose to be, or what an American actually is?
I'd like to believe that Americans share the values of the founding fathers, of freedom and acceptance. I'm proud of the Bill of Rights, of the fact that we're a people descended from immigrants, of our long history of democracy.
However, this isn't the way the U.S. govt. and people always act. In class, we're reading The Poisionwood Bible, and it's horrible to learn what my country did to the Congo and Patrice Lumumba. Not to mention all of the civilians in Afghanastan we're murdering. And the illegal wiretapping, and the torture, and the fact tha Bush can lie about a war and somehow not get impeached. This is definitely not America's brightest moment, sadly.
When it comes down to it, I think the true Americans are ones who live by the values America was founded on, not hide behind a banner of patriotism. The most un-American thing you can do, I think, is to say America is always perfect and right.

I don't think I can answer this question without being to cliche', but for me as a Soldier being an American means I serve my country, I fight for my country, and if necessary I will die for my country so that others may sleep well, and laugh and joke with their families, and live normal lives.

Like I said cliche' but true.