Word to describe a person who volunteers often

I'm looking for a single noun word to describe a person who volunteers often! In the US military we often heap praise among servicemembers who volunteer for tasks often, as the willingness to help others is seen as an admirable trait.

Sample Sentence: That Marine is a gifted marksman, an able leader, and a reliable person who volunteers often.


Solution 1:

I'm relatively new here so forgive me if I'm wrong but there might not be a suitable term to describe what you are asking for. "Volunteer" is itself a noun and there seems to be no single noun word for someone who is an active volunteer. As for the word "combat fatality",I don't think any such word exists.

Solution 2:

Since you've used an adjective to qualify each of the other traits, I'd suggest just picking an adjective that indicates frequency/eagerness to complement "volunteer". E.g.

an able leader, and a willing volunteer.

Alternatives: eager volunteer, ready volunteer, enthusiastic volunteer, trusty volunteer, reliable volunteer.

Solution 3:

No one word denotes the frequency you seek in another word for 'volunteer', although some words suggest or connote it in the context you give with your example.

Among those words are

  • altruist
  • humanitarian
  • philanthropist

I'll rule out 'philanthropist' for your answer because overuse of 'philanthropist' in mass media has cheapened the word by associating it too closely with a 'giver of money' in stead of the truer 'supplier of resources'.

A "reliable altruist" is one who practices altruism frequently:

altruism
1. Disinterested or selfless concern for the well-being of others, esp. as a principle of action.

[Emphasis mine. "altruism, n.". OED Online. September 2015. Oxford University Press. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/5857 (accessed November 19, 2015).]

So also a "reliable humanitarian" is

  1. A person concerned with human welfare as a primary or pre-eminent good; esp. a person who seeks to promote human welfare and advocates action on this basis rather than for pragmatic or strategic reasons; a philanthropist.

[Emphasis mine. "humanitarian, n. and adj.". OED Online. September 2015. Oxford University Press. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/89276?redirectedFrom=humanitarian (accessed November 19, 2015).]