c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
I will never quit. My nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down i will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my enemies and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of the fight.
— Marcus Luttrell, Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10
I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the United States Navy.
— John F. Kennedy
This "sir, yes sir" business, which would probably sound like horseshit to any civilian in his right mind, makes sense to Shaftoe and to the officers in a deep and important way. Like a lot of others, Shaftoe had trouble with military etiquette at first. He soaked up quite a bit of it growing up in a military family, but living the life was a different matter. Having now experienced all the phases of military existence except for the terminal ones (violent death, court-martial, retirement), he has come to understand the culture for what it is: a system of etiquette within which it becomes possible for groups of men to live together for years, travel to the ends of the earth, and do all kinds of incredibly weird shit without killing each other or completely losing their minds in the process. The extreme formality with which he addresses these officers carries an important subtext: your problem, sir, is deciding what you want me to do, and my problem, sir, is doing it. My gung-ho posture says that once you give the order I'm not going to bother you with any of the details--and your half of the bargain is you had better stay on your side of the line, sir, and not bother me with any of the chickenshit politics that you have to deal with for a living. The implied responsibility placed upon the officer's shoulders by the subordinate's unhesitating willingness to follow orders is a withering burden to any officer with half a brain, and Shaftoe has more than once seen seasoned noncoms reduce green lieutenants to quivering blobs simply by standing before them and agreeing, cheerfully, to carry out their orders.
— Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any treat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.
— Douglas MacArthur
He who whets his steel, whets his courage
— Steven Pressfield, Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae
It is not everyday that one learns an entire militia has sworn unbeknownest to obey you
— Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Chosen
Maxim 18: If the officers are leading from in front, watch out for an attack from the rear.-The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries
— Howard Tayler
Colon has always thought that heroes had some special kind of clockwork that made them go out and die famously for god, country and apple pie, or whatever particular delicacy their mother made. It had never occurred to him that they might do it because they'd get yelled at if they didn't.
— Terry Pratchett
I suddenly felt like the Grinch feels when he discovers what Chrismas is all about. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I had a purpose being in the Navy. It wasn't about money and rank or prestige. It was about raising the flag. We do what we do because no one else can or will do it. We fight so others can sleep at night. And I had forgotten that.
— Timothy Ciciora, The Right Words at the Right Time Volume 2: Your Turn!
There were many, many times thereafter that Don regretted having enlisted - but so has every man who ever volunteered for military service.
— Robert A. Heinlein, Between Planets
Soon I was weeping---for the reservists who put their entire lives on hold when called to duty, for the military mothers who had to keep their families together all alone, for the parents, spouses, sons, and daughters who were beset with worry, for Mike, and for the soldiers who would never come home. I only meant to buy a shower curtain, and now, quite unexpectedly, right when I least wanted it, months of pent-up loneliness, fear, and frustration were pouring out in an endless churn of hot, silent tears.
— Lily Burana, I Love a Man in Uniform: A Memoir of Love, War, and Other Battles
We had it drilled into us time and time again: 'If someone above you falls, grip tightly to the vertical rope and cradle that person in your arms until help can get to you.'...If someone fell down on me I swear I would have bitten him on the ass and would keep on biting until he got off onhis own.
— C.S. Crawford, The Four Deuces: A Korean War Story
Soldiers can sometimes make decisions that are smarter than the orders they've been given.
— Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game
America without her Soldiers would be like God without His angels.
— Claudia Pemberton
America's finest - our men and women in uniform, are a force for good throughout the world, and that is nothing to apologize for.
— Sarah Palin
Nothing so comforts the military mind as the maxim of a great but dead general.
— Barbara W. Tuchman, The Guns of August
Were the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial establishment would have to go on, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented. Anything else would be an unacceptable shock to the American economy.
— George F. Kennan
O it's Tommy this, and Tommy that, and Tommy 'ow's your soul/But it's thin red line of heroes when the drums begin to roll.
— Rudyard Kipling, The Barrack-Room Ballads and Other Verses
The army is the only order of men sufficiently united to concur in the same sentiments, and powerful enough to impose them on the rest of their fellow-citizens; but the temper of soldiers, habituated at once to violence and to slavery, renders them very unfit guardians of a legal, or even a civil constitution.
— Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Civilians are like beans
—  you buy 'em as needed for any job which merely requires skill and savvy.But you can't buy fighting spirit.
We had been hopelessly labouring to plough waste lands; to make nationality grow in a place full of the certainty of God… Among the tribes our creed could be only like the desert grass – a beautiful swift seeming of spring; which, after a day’s heat, fell dusty.
— T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph
Mine was still the stronger side. I was beloved by the soldiery, who generally care very little what god they serve so long as they are caressed by their king. (“The Story of Prince Alasi and the Princess Firouzkah”)
— William Beckford, The Episodes of Vathek
The recruiters came and talked with us in school, and I remember it like yesterday. I wasn't interested. I told them I wanted to do something good. I told them I wanted to help people. I told them I couldn't do it, told them I wasn't interested. But they told me that there was no better way to do good and help people. They told me they helped people all the time. Doing good was what they were about. Plus they were going to pay me. Where else could I get paid for helping people? Plus they would pay for my college. Plus, in addition to helping people, and paying me, and paying for my college, they would teach me a skill. I would be helping people, and seeing the world, and earning money, and having college paid for, and learning a skill that I could use later to earn money and help people. In the end, it was a pretty easy decision.
— Stephen Dau, The Book of Jonas
Get a load of this, Frank.” Gerald Peyton’s pause set off his pronouncement. “She is expecting to get a wedding ring.”“That’s understandable,” I said, unsure how he could afford a ring on what our firm cleared. Diamond rings—more sold in December than in any other month of the year—went for a cool grand per karat. Weeks ago, I’d priced them—again—for my domestic situation. “What seems to be the problem?”“That’s a big leap for me to make.”“I expect you’ll make it with room to spare.
— Ed Lynskey, After the Big Noise
Maxim 2: A sergeant in motion outranks a lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on.-The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries
— Howard Tayler
Do me a favor, okay? Tell my parents that I fought well today. And tell them that I... that I... that I fought hard.
— Mark Bowden, Black Hawk Down
Maxim 15: Only you can prevent friendly fire.-The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries
— Howard Tayler
Only a foolish woman would allow her man to earn his living as a moving target.
— David H. Hackworth
Maxim 5: Close air support and friendly fire should be easier to tell apart.-The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries
— Howard Tayler
In each succeeding war there is a tendency to proclaim as something new the principles under which it is conducted. Not only those who have never studied or experienced the realities of war, but also professional soldiers frequently fall into the error. But the principles of warfare as I learned them at West Point remain unchanged.
— John J. Pershing, My Experiences in the World War
Excited. In a good way. I've been training my whole life for this.
— Mark Bowden, Black Hawk Down
The one ring road around the airfield is paved, but heavily rutted and potholed. Every few days a street-sweeper makes its way around, polishing the rutted surface with brushes and water.
— Glenn  Dean, Soldier / Geek: An Army Science Advisor's Journal of the War in Afghanistan
My father says there are more than twenty thousand turned out for the king. It seems that most men think that we will win, that York will be captured and killed, though the king in his tender heart has said he will forgive them all if they will surrender.~Will there be another battle?~Unless York decides he cannot face the king in person. It is one sort of sin to kill your friends and cousins, quite another to order your bowmen to fire at the king's banner and him beneath it. What if the king is killed in battle? What if York brings his broadsword down on the king's sanctified head?
— Philippa Gregory, The Red Queen
Military men are the scourges of the world.
— Guy de Maupassant, Sur l'eau
I was still a newlywed and certainly wasn't to the point where I felt comfortable yelling, "I'm going to shit my pants any second!"But the sweating had started, which was followed by the tears. "I'm not feeling well, and need to get home," I told him."Ok, but I have to obey the speed limit because of all the kids in the neighborhood," he replied.I was pleading with him to hurry up when he came to a complete stop.I screamed at him, "Why are we stopping?"He rolled down the window. "Retreat."I could see the flag lowering in the distance, the beautiful orange sun setting behind it.In the opposite direction I could see the roof line of our home - so close, yet so far away.As Retreat played, I surrendered. I pooped my pants. I took one for the flag.Now that's patriotism.
— Mollie Gross, Confessions of a Military Wife
They kill hundreds of people, those pilots. I would have loved to have flown the plane that dropped the bomb on Japan. A couple of dudes killed hundreds of thousands. That f****** rules! Yeah!
— Evan Wright, Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the New Face of American War
...the church lives in a regime of ecclesial authoritarian security and the military elites live in a regime of national authoritarian security. These structures produce the same kind of authoritarian people, with a super defensive stance in their strategies and argumentation. This is why they understand each other! (Leonardo Boff, p. 178)
— Mev Puleo, The Struggle Is One: Voices and Visions of Liberation
Loving a warrior is not easy. I pray our Lord Jesus will strengthen you for the journey.
— Ronie Kendig, Crown of Souls
What is at a peak is certain to decline. He who shows his hand will certainly be defeated. He who can prevail in battle by taking advantage of his enemy's doubts is invincible.
— Cao Cao
Battle is an orgy of disorder.
— George S. Patton
For a guy who wore layers upon layers of armor, his give-a-shit was showing.
— Kelly Moran, Redemption
Jesse and Frank James were the most well-known military-trained gang members
— Carter F. Smith, Gangs and the Military: Gangsters, Bikers, and Terrorists with Military Training
Congress has mandated an annual report on street gang, outlaw biker, and domestic extremist activity in the military since 2008.
— Carter F. Smith, Gangs and the Military: Gangsters, Bikers, and Terrorists with Military Training
Members of every major street gang, outlaw biker, and domestic extremist group have been found in a number of military branches.
— Carter F. Smith, Gangs and the Military: Gangsters, Bikers, and Terrorists with Military Training
Gang members have joined the military since the mid-1800s.
— Carter F. Smith, Gangs and the Military: Gangsters, Bikers, and Terrorists with Military Training
Then there is the group that many people don’t hear about. This group is the men and women of the various contractors that have decided to help support the military efforts. Many contractors have also perished in this struggle. It is this group that I am a part of.
— Carl Busby Sr, Poems from the Sand II
He is no ordinary man. He surpasses any man I have met. His heart is so genuine and caring. He has guided, and assisted me through some of my most challenging issues while being here in the desert. His heart is as huge as the universe. He has the ability to make things happen when others has given up on a solution. He is blessed beyond measure with the gift of writing. I am truly honored to be his best friend.
— Carl Busby Sr, Poems from the Sand II
I first saw you as you crossed the street. It was then that my heart began a brand new beat. As I continued to drive, I felt a deep inside yearn, I immediately looked for an opportunity to make a U-turn.
— Carl Busby Sr, Poems from the Sand II
Gangs have had connections to the U.S. Military in every period since the founding of the country.
— Carter F. Smith, Gangs and the Military: Gangsters, Bikers, and Terrorists with Military Training
Military Veterans have become gang members since the late 1700s.
— Carter F. Smith, Gangs and the Military: Gangsters, Bikers, and Terrorists with Military Training
All right. They’re on our left. They’re on our right. They’re in front of us, they’re behind us. They can’t get away this time’.
— Jeff Shaara quoting Colonel "Chesty" Puller
Splash or crash? Do you want special ops messing about in boats? Or special ops messing in aeroplanes?
— Robert Radcliffe, Airborne
A protect-yourself-first-and-foremost idea has subverted the mission of law-enforcement officers, just as it may have degraded the military's.
— Ann Medlock
Six guns rattling rattling boom boom boomWords and flags folding, folding, foldedThe knell tolls ding ding ding ding ....
— Richard L.  Ratliff
I leave marks on you, not the other way around.
— Renee Rose, Owned by the Marine
Many at the State Department think its their job, not the Army's, to develop cultural and regional expertise and relationships. In such quarters, the RAF concept looks less like an innovative approach to global risk management than yet another military effort to replace diplomats with soldiers.
— Rosa Brooks, How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything: Tales from the Pentagon
It was an article of faith with NCOs [noncommissioned officers] that they were better than their officers. And they were usually right. Certainly I had been happy with mine. They had done plenty of good work for me.
— Lee Child, Gone Tomorrow
As budget cuts cripple civilian agencies and programs, they lose their ability to perform ad they once did, so we look to the military to pick up the slack. . . . This requires still higher military budgets, which continues the devastating cycle.
— Rosa Brooks
Where military service begins, logic ends.
— Turkish Proverb
When our objectives become purely military, we've already lost the larger fight.
— Alexander Freed, Twilight Company
Do not disagree with each other, enrich the soldiers, despise everyone else.
— Lucius Septimus Severus
We decided to read our emails out loud to the group in order to share the warmth and optimism the messages contained. One of the most heartwarming was from the father of Petty Officer Rodney "RaRa" Young of Katy, Texas. His dad got right to the point: "You'd better come home because you promised to help me put up a fence, and I could really use that help." Everyone laughed because the words took us back to the normal world and out of the anxious monotony of our detention.
— Shane Osborn, Born to Fly
Everything happens for a reason. Everything. The good, the bad, the indifferent. They all have a purpose. Never forget who you are. Never forget what you serve. And no matter what happens, keep your face turned to the light.
— Karen Miller, Siege
That’s because it is cruel, Obi-Wan,” Anakin snapped. “Cruel and unfeeling and unworthy of the Jedi Order.” He was so like Qui-Gon. This was like arguing with a ghost.
— Karen Miller, Stealth
Today we say goodbye to a proud warrior. As we leave, each of us will take our members of [USS} Midway with us...you guys were the 'Magic.' It was a privilege to sail with you.
— XO John Schork quoted in Midway Magic, An Oral History of America's Legendary Aircraft Carrier
Maintenance and resupply are the backbone of any military.
— Robert Ferrigno, Sins of the Assassin
I fought to stay awake and keep the car on the road. And I thought back to texts I had read from the British Army in India, during the Raj, at the height of their empire. Young subalterns trapped in junior ranks had their own mess. They would dine together in splendid dress uniforms and talk about their chances of promotion. But they had none, unless a superior officer died. Dead men's shoes was the rule. So they would raise their crystal glasses of fine French wine and toast "bloody wars and dread diseases" because a casualty further up the chain of command was their only way to get ahead. Brutal, but that's how it's always been, in the military.
— Lee Child, Persuader
Somebody's got to win this war, right?
— Greg Rucka, Lazarus, Vol. 4: Poison
The plane was on descent. Reacher could feel it in his ears. And he could feel abrupt turns. The pilot was military, so he was using the rudder. Civilian pilots avoid using the rudder. Using the rudder makes the plane slew, like a car skids. Passengers don't like the feeling. So civilian pilots turn by juicing the engines on one side and backing off on the others. Then the plane comes around smoothly. But military pilots don't care about their passengers' comfort. It's not like they've bought tickets.
— Lee Child, Running Blind
Never say "I thought,so", after doing a blunder, always think, ask and do.
— Group Captain Laksiri Gunawardena  (Retd) SLAF
Like I said earlier, it sounds like I’ll need a plan B, said Porter. Because I can’t see them going for any of that bollocks. They’ve had more peace plans than I’ve had bottles of vodka, and if they wanted money, they would have asked for it by now.
— Chris Ryan, Strike Back
But people misunderstand warfare and think it is an end unto itself. But on the international stage, war is nothing more than another tool of diplomacy. If your country doesn’t have a credible, powerful military force capable of bringing pain, death, and destruction to an enemy, then your diplomats can’t get much done, because you simply aren’t powerful—there’s no threat of pain they can wield. That’s why the western Pacific island nation of Nauru doesn’t have a seat on the UN Security Council. Not recognizing this principle is shortsighted (no disrespect intended to the fine people of Nauru).
— Jamie Smith
Much, much later. when I am back home and being treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I will be enabled to see what was going on in my mind immediately after 11 August.I am still capable of operating mechanically as a soldier in these following days. But operating mechanically as a soldier is now all I am capable of.Martin says he is worried about me. He says I have the thousand-yard stare'.Of course, I cannot see this stare. But by now we both have more than an idea what it means.So, among all the soldiers here, this is nothing to be ashamed of. But as it really does just go with the territory we find ourselves in. it is just as equally not a badge of h
— Jake Wood, Among You: The Extraordinary True Story of a Soldier Broken By War
When a man that attractive licks his lips, a girl's got to look. And imagine...
— Cat Johnson, One Night with a Cowboy
Becca watched Tucker bend at the waist. Mmm, mmm. He was sure built nice. From the top of his felt hat to the tips of his worn leather boots. Those leather chaps he'd just slung around his hips weren't too bad, either.	He reached back to buckle the chap straps first around one jean-clad thigh, and then the other. And she'd thought the rodeo would be boring. Ha! She could watch Tucker do this all day. Buckle and unbuckle. Bend and stand.	She let out a sign filled with pure contentment. "All right, Em. I'll admit it. Cowboys are hot."	Next to her, Emma laughed. "Oh, yeah.
— Cat Johnson, One Night with a Cowboy
War is a soul-shattering experience for the innocent.
— Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
The lessons learned, then, in Robinson's case: "Additional training is required to inform soldiers of the dangers of self-medicating along with the associated risk of overdosing" is the first. "Encourage the use of a battle buddy among warriors" is the second. "Increase suicide prevention classes" is the third. "Increase communication to twice a day with high-risk soldiers" is the fourth. "Continue improvements in leader communication" is the fifth. And that's that. Eight months. Five minutes. The army moves on to the next suicide. Case forever closed.
— David Finkel, Thank You for Your Service
Back on the block they probably call Big Al "Fat Albert" but here in the Nam we don't insult our friends.
— Derrick Wolf
To where? We don't know. To do what? We don't know either. No one tells us anything. We just follow orders.
— Derrick Wolf, Boys for Men
Because the American people have traditionally taken a warlike, but not military, attitude to battle, and because they have always coupled a certain belligerence - no American likes being pushed around - with a complete unwillingness to prepare for combat, the Korean War was difficult, perhaps the most difficult in their history.
— T.R. Fehrenbach
The young girl giggled again and Jake shook his head in amazement. Not only was the U.S. dark operative cooking pancakes, but it seemed he'd won over the timid teenager in no time flat."I've been entertaining this pretty girl with my vast repertoire of daring and heroic adventures from around the globe."Jake snorted as he opened the refrigerator and pulled out the container of orange juice. "You sound like Blackbeard the pirate. Don't believe a word he says, Alyssa. He's actually Insurance salesman and lies like a rug.""An Insurance salesman?" She narrowed her eyes at Carter as he flipped three pancackes off the electric griddle sitting on the island and onto a plate for her. "I knew you were conning me," she chastised, then rolled her eyes toward Jake. "He said he was a government spy, like James Bond."After filling a glass, Jake smirked at his friend who shrugged his shoulders and gave the girl a sad puppy-dog expression. "Who are you going to believe, me or Jake from State Farm?
— Samantha A. Cole, Topping the Alpha
One difficulty that someone who has been in military/government service during war has, is reconciling his/her pride with their horror.
— Kari Martindale
Very few USA citizens realize that the USA corporate military is regarded by many to be both a domestic and international terrorist organization.
— Steven Magee, Health Forensics
I'm always under surveillance from both the NSA, the Russian KGB, and the Bulgarian Army, so I'm the most invisible.
— Stefan D
We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf"--Opening to "My Father's Son," attributed to George Orwell
— George Orwell
A diamond wedding ring, you say?”I studied his face. Was he putting me on? He looked earnest. “As any guy would expect, a diamond is what she’s after,” I said. “Did you hold out hope you’d get by for anything less?
— Ed Lynskey, After the Big Noise
I want to know what it feels like to kiss a guy. And you've had a lot of practice, so I know you're a good kisser.Are you simultaneously complimenting me and calling me a whore?
— Abigail Roux, Shock & Awe
Adams had gone to Harvard, Jefferson to William and Mary. Washington had gone to war.
— Joseph J. Ellis, The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789
I became a marine mom with the signing of a paper, but it would take a phone call, late one night, for me to fully absorb the impact this new title would have on my life.
— Diana Mankin Phelps, A Mother's Side of War
Aw, you goddammed bastards! They're shootin' him while he's down! Son of a bitch!"The ship stopped moving, and Alex said in a quiet voice, "Suck on this, asshole."The ship vibrated for half a second, then paused before continuing toward the lock."Point defense cannons?" Holden asked."Summary roadside justice," Alex grunted back.
— James S.A. Corey, Leviathan Wakes
Man with a crossbow in the proper position at the proper time’s worth a corps of heavy artillery half an hour late and ten miles down the road from where it should be.
— Gordon R. Dickson
A properly educated leader, especially when harassed and under pressure, will know from his study of history and the classics that circumstances very much like those he is encountering have occurred from time to time on this earth since the beginning of history. He will avoid the self-indulgent error of seeing himself in a predicament so unprecedented, so unique, as to justify his making an exception to law, custom or morality in favor of himself. The making of such exceptions has been the theme of public life throughout much of our lifetimes. For twenty years, we've been surrounded by gamesmen unable to cope with the wisdom of the ages. They make exceptions to law and custom in favor of themselves because they choose to view ordinary dilemmas as unprecedented crises.
— James B. Stockdale
We were sent to Afghanistan to carry out hugely dangerous missions. But we were also told that we could not shoot that camel drover before he blew up all of us, because he might be an unarmed civilian just taking his dynamite for a walk.
— Marcus Luttrell
I fell in love with a sniper - a man whose basic training instills psychopathic tendencies. I loved a professional dehumanizer. I loved a man who lived in a world where empathy was suicide. I loved a man who had to be ready to put a bullet through a toddler’s skull if necessary. I loved a man highly skilled in burying his emotions, resurrecting them if and when he chose. I loved a man who saw me as his enemy. I loved a man I was disposable to.
— Maggie Georgiana Young, Just Another Number
Mounting tensions in Eastern Europe send shivers down the spine. Barely a quarter of a century after the end of the Cold War we seem to be sliding inexorably towards another.
— Alex Morritt, Impromptu Scribe
Two guys jumped us on the way to get food," Cameron answered. "Ty is like... a ninja on crack. He beat them up pretty spectacularly. Then we stole with their car.
— Abigail Roux, Armed & Dangerous
Congratulations for conquering PTSD. And now you're fucked.
— David Finkel
They did what soldiers always do. They improvised.
— Geoffrey  Norman
You should have long since gotten rid of military-industrial complexes.
— Arkady Strugatsky
Suddenly, the brave warriors parading to combat with bugles and bayonets were replaced by the push of a button.
— Maggie Georgiana Young, Just Another Number
We were sexual targets, marked as eternal sluts for exploring the desires only acceptable in men.
— Maggie Georgiana Young, Just Another Number
War is a need by a country that wants power, but the USA is already great
— Tim Clisch
Turns out I’m not so easily broken.
— Melissa Cutler, Undefeated
Nothing could be more important than that the work of a soldier is well done. No tools will make a man a skilled workmen, or master of defense, or be of any use to him who has not learned how to handle them and has never bestowed any attention on them.
— Plato
My mouth only does one thing well, and talking’s not it.
— Melissa Cutler, Undefeated
Cope? Adapt? Uh, no. These are military kids. They roll with it. I once asked a new student, 'See any familiar faces?' She pointed out various kids and replied, 'Seattle, Tampa, Okinawa, New Jersey.' For military dependents school is literally a non-stop revolving door of old and new friends.
— Tucker Elliot, The Rainy Season
The nations, of course, that are most at risk of a destructive digital attack are the ones with the greatest connectivity. Marcus Ranum, one of the early innovators of the computer firewall, called Stuxnet 'a stone thrown by people who live in a glass house'.
— Kim Zetter, Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon
It’s you and me, and all you have to do is breathe. I’m going to take care of everything else.
— Melissa Cutler, Undefeated
I’m sorry he won’t talk to you. And I’m sorry that he keeps hurting you. I really am. I don’t know how to fix things between you two, but I think a place to start would be for you to stop pointing out how flawed he is and start looking for the good in him.
— Melissa Cutler, Undefeated
Sami and I had exactly one day together in the old world. On Tuesday the jihadists came to our front door and knocked down our buildings. Our new world was hijacked planes, anthrax, and Afghanistan. Then we had snipers inside the Beltway. Then came Iraq. With every military action we were told reprisals were not just probable, but a foregone conclusion. An intelligence officer with a fancy PowerPoint briefed teachers on ‘our new reality.’ He called us ‘targets.’ He said ‘get used to it.’ He told our Webmaster ‘get off your ass’ and remove bus routes/stops from the school’s website. Johnny Jihad would find that information especially helpful if he decided to plow through our kids one morning as they stood half-asleep waiting for the school bus.
— Tucker Elliot, The Rainy Season
What is your job?” “Now that’s classified information, ma’am. If I tell you, I may have to kiss you.” “Shouldn’t that be, ‘I’d have to kill you?’”“No, it’s definitely kiss you,” he says seriously. “I think I would know.” And by the look on his face, I know he really does want to kiss me.
— J.B.  Morgan, Holly Lane
With books, you can have as many boyfriends as you want, and no one gets upset, jealous or calls you out for cheating. It’s a win-win.
— J.B.  Morgan, Holly Lane
After the 'war to end war' they seem to have been pretty successful in Paris at making a 'Peace to end Peace.
— Archibald Wavell
The strategic center of the rebellion was not a place – not New York, Philadelphia, not the Hudson corridor – but the Continental Army itself.
— Joseph J. Ellis, Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence
For the first time in a decade I felt a voice rising from deep inside my soul. It cried out ‘what will you be today?’ and I heard ‘relentless’ booming from the rafters inside an old gym as Sami and a group of young men chased dreams and trophies while their fathers went to war.
— Tucker Elliot, The Rainy Season
It feels like last week, but in fact we’re now closing in on five thousand days at war. I always picture Sami as a nine-year-old soccer stud ... and yet there are soldiers in Afghanistan today who were in fourth grade on 9/11.
— Tucker Elliot, The Rainy Season
Extravagant sartorial display had a purpose. It created the impression of wealth and power on the opponent and pride in the wearer which has been lost sight of in our nervously egalitarian times.
— Barbara W. Tuchman, The First Salute
Your eyes having a nervous breakdown? Do you not know what to do? Well-guess what!” He stomps to the left of the recruit, pushing the recruit’s head into his until their cheeks meld together. He points out in front of them both. “I don’t care if some monkey is rippin’ your eyeballs out with rusty nails! YOU STARE UP FRONT AT ATTENTION! RIGHT THERE! IS THAT CLEAR!
— J.K. Brown, The All Powerful
Who supports the troops? The troops support the troops.
— Clint Van Winkle, Soft Spots: A Marine's Memoir of Combat and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
He remembered the old-timers from his navy days. Grizzled lifers who could soundly sleep while two meters away their shipmates played a raucous game of poker or watched the vids with the volume all the way up. Back then he'd assumed it was just learned behavior, the body adapting so it could get enough rest in an environment that never really had downtime. Now he wondered if those vets found the constant noise preferable. A way to keep their lost shipmates away. They probably went home after their twenty and never slept again.
— James S.A. Corey, Leviathan Wakes
I guess I was always looking for something. What it was, I didn’t know. I wanted help from the VA, but didn’t want to go back, didn’t want to be subjected to that second-rate treatment any longer. I wanted to find peace within myself, but didn’t know how or where to locate it. I wanted to be a sergeant again, a writer, less angry, a better husband, and to ward off the constant bombardment of war-related thoughts. Most of all, I didn’t want any more Americans coming home from Iraq in boxes or with jingle-jangled minds.
— Clint Van Winkle, Soft Spots: A Marine's Memoir of Combat and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
I missed the war and the freedom that came with it. When you are that close to death, you feel free. Every breath you take could be your last. So you inhale and savor each breath, try not to think about your death even though signs of it are all around you. The freedom comes from knowing that if anybody gives you crap, you can eliminate them and the situation. Just shoot and get it over with.
— Clint Van Winkle, Soft Spots: A Marine's Memoir of Combat and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
I wanted people to know that we fired rounds into moving trucks and open windows to survive, not for anyone else’s freedom. Not for the Democrats. Not for Republicans. Just to survive.
— Clint Van Winkle, Soft Spots: A Marine's Memoir of Combat and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
The other day, we went somewhere, and did something.
— Colby Buzzell, My War: Killing Time in Iraq
Fuck it,” said Private First Class Chris Barnes, raising his hand. “Let’s do it. This sounds like a great fucking idea. Who wants to get blown up?” They started laughing. Watt, Barker, Cortez, and Private First Class Shane Hoeck all raised their hands. They did not give a damn anymore. It was all so absurd to them, that they were going to drive up and down a road for the next eight hours as bomb magnets. The only thing that they could do was laugh. “Hooray! We’re going out to get blown up!” they sang. “Who’s on board? Hey, who wants to come get blown up? Woohoo! Yeah, dude, I am ready to go fucking die! We are all going to fucking die!
— Jim Frederick, Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent Into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death
Our culture has become so obsessed with celebrity that it’s easy to confuse fame with success. They are not the same thing.
— Daniel Rodriguez, Rise: A Soldier, a Dream, and a Promise Kept
Appearances can be misleading. You just never know what’s inside someone until he’s tested.
— Daniel Rodriguez, Rise: A Soldier, a Dream, and a Promise Kept
When you’re as small as I am, people don’t expect you to be much of an athlete. You either wilt under the weight of low expectations, or you rise above them.
— Daniel Rodriguez, Rise: A Soldier, a Dream, and a Promise Kept
Everyone acted like they knew so much about the war. But none of them really knew anything besides what they had learned through Internet searches or shady half-truths political pundits spouted from the comfort of their news desks. Nothing could ever be flushed out because nobody bothered to ask the troops or look at both sides of the story.
— Clint Van Winkle, Soft Spots: A Marine's Memoir of Combat and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Memories are nice, but dreams are better.
— John Anthony  Miller
Are you okay, man?""Yeah, I'm good."It's a lie. I wonder if I will ever be good again.
— David Bellavia, House to House: An Epic Memoir of War
A good sign that an army has been around too long is that it starts getting top-heavy with officers.
— Joe Haldeman
There are two things a combat deployment offers which all of us strongly desire. The first, being purpose. Every morning we woke up and knew why we were there. It is immediate and unavoidable. Although, it is extreme and unpleasant, there is a comfort in that purpose. The second, is simplicity. We have one goal. There are relatively simple rules on how to accomplish it, and we understand that just about everything will go wrong. Pretty simple.
— Adam Fenner, Post-Deployment Wisdom For Those Expecting A Returning Service Member
I’m sure the driver was a great guy and all he wanted was to drive me to my hotel—but he was a complete stranger to me and the truth is that being vigilant isn’t a part-time job, it’s not about being nice to people, it’s about reality. I made a terrible mistake once, believing the monsters that want to hurt us are easily labeled and identified, rather than walking and hiding amongst us. That’s my reality.
— Tucker Elliot, The Rainy Season
When we deployed, in our heads, the towel we left hanging next to the shower to dry, would still be hanging there when we got back. Well, it won’t be. If it is, some important questions need to be asked.
— Adam Fenner, Post-Deployment Wisdom For The Returning Service Member
If everyone loves you, maybe you don't need so many tanks.
— Craig Nelson
An infantryman’s job is to deliver his enemies into the waiting hands of Death. It is Doc’s job to protect his brothers from Death, to knock him aside and say, “Not today.
— Adam Fenner
while you play bowling with one ball you will be late because untill come in that ball it's need time so you need more than one ball in order to defeat the whole army .
— Ragir saeed
I’ll give you one chance to run,but may your shoulder always whisper in your ear…“It’s best to watch out for men, like me.
— Ryan Goodrich, Starved for Bullets: A Collection of Scars
Tom's Navy SEAL team nicknamed him 'Tailspin', especially after sustaining his knee injury, but Joe likes to call him his 'Lucky Charm' -- saved his tail too many times to count.
— L.A. Kragie, Vampire Chimeras
A soldier is not always just a soldier.
— M.F. Moonzajer, LOVE, HATRED AND MADNESS
Foreshadowing: Was my challenging Allah to unleash the full weight of his fury upon us, with dark clouds looming in the distance.
— Adam Fenner, On Two Fronts
As sometimes happens with men who wish to fight but do not or cannot, Reagan developed a romantic image of the military.
— Scott Farris, Kennedy and Reagan: Why Their Legacies Endure
The only easy day was yesterday!
— D.J. Molles, The Remaining
The fact is that every war suffers a kind of progressive degradation with every month that it continues, because such things as individual liberty and a truthful press are simply not compatible with military efficiency.
— George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia
My squad is my family, my gun is my provider, and protector, and my rule is to kill or be killed.
— Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
The essence of the Marine Corps experience, I decided, was pain.
— Philip Caputo, A Rumor Of War
Complex operations, in which agencies assume complementary roles and operate in close proximity-often with similar missions but conflicting mandates-accentuate these tensions. The tensions are evident in the processes of analyzing complex environments, planning for complex interventions, and implementing complex operations. Many reports and analyses forecast that these complex operations are precisely those that will demand our attention most in the indefinite future.As essayist Barton and O'Connell note, our intelligence and understanding of the root cause of conflict, multiplicity of motivations and grievances, and disposition of actors is often inadequate. Moreover, the problems that complex operations are intended and implemented to address are convoluted, and often inscrutable. They exhibit many if not all the characteristics of "wicked problems," as enumerated by Rittel and Webber in 1973: they defy definitive formulations; any proposed solution or intervention causes the problem to mutate, so there is no second chance at a solution; every situation is unique; each wicked problem can be considered a symptom of another problem. As a result, policy objectives are often compound and ambiguous. The requirements of stability, for example, in Afghanistan today, may conflict with the requirements for democratic governance. Efforts to establish an equitable social contract may well exacerbate inter-communal tensions that can lead to violence. The rule of law, as we understand it, may displace indigenous conflict management and stabilization systems. The law of unintended consequences may indeed be the only law of the land. The complexity of the challenges we face in the current global environment would suggest the obvious benefit of joint analysis - bringing to bear on any given problem the analytic tools of military, diplomatic and development analysts. Instead, efforts to analyze jointly are most often an afterthought, initiated long after a problem has escalated to a level of urgency that negates much of the utility of deliberate planning.
— Michael Miklaucic, Commanding Heights: Strategic Lessons from Complex Operations
They bright whiten all this sepulchre with powdered chloride of lime. It's a perfectly sanitary war.
— David Jones, In Parenthesis
But as much as this is a soldier's reason d'etre, it is not often that you hear a soldier explicitly talk about 'killing'. The k-word as a verb is instead often disguised and supplanted by any number of other euphemisms. In precise and technical military parlance, reflecting the ever more precise and technically removed means of killing, the 'enemy' becomes the 'target'. But for the soldiers who personally 'engage' these 'targets', these objects are colloquially 'slotted', 'dropped', 'hit', 'fragged', 'sawn in half', 'smashed' or just plain 'shot'.Then the soldier will have achieved the noun of a 'kill'. The author's supposition is that such words are used by the soldier in combat as an attempt to mentally dissociate himself from the reality of his actions, so he can continue to operate as a soldier - and perhaps, when all is finally said and done, as a human being back home.
— Jake Wood, Among You: The Extraordinary True Story of a Soldier Broken By War
The contention that a standing army and navy is the best security of peace is about as logical as the claim that the most peaceful citizen is he who goes about heavily armed. The experience of every-day life fully proves that the armed individual is invariably anxious to try his strength. The same is historically true of governments. Really peaceful countries do not waste life and energy in war preparations, with the result that peace is maintained.
— Emma Goldman
...and how is a man to know the habits of their God, whether He smites suddenly or withholds, if you mishandle the things set apart, the objects of His people He is jealous of.
— David Jones, In Parenthesis
For they were unseasoned, nor inured, not knowing this to be much less than the beginning of sorrow.
— David Jones, In Parenthesis
He thought it disproportionate in its violence considering the fragility of us.
— David Jones, In Parenthesis
This is our foxhole, and in foxholes, sometimes faith is all you've got.
— James R. Hannibal, Shadow Catcher
Federal Officer: "The arms piled on the ground were not worth 10 cents a ton.
— Clint Johnson, Touring Virginia's and West Virginia's Civil War Sites
I'll have you understand the United States has got the best navy in the world.""Well, . . . why, then, do we need a bigger navy?""We've got to have a still bigger navy because we're the richest nation on earth.
— Clyde Brion Davis, The Great American Novel
This discussion of war then lays the foundation for an understanding of change as a process and as an essential component of military affairs. Militaries must change to cope with the changing environment in which they function. The U.S. Army has a robust process to guide change in its combat developments community. Change is also present in the business world, as industry seeks a competitive advantage in order to survive and prosper. The present transformation initiatives in the U.S. Department of Defense seek to maintain the U.S. dominance in military capability in the world and to exploit the opportunities afforded by new technologies and concepts of organization and warfare that use those technologies.The future of military requirements remain a challenge to define. The transformation process tries to define that future and the capabilities needed in order to maintain the security of the United States. Yet enemies of the United States and its allies also seek to predict and mold this future to their advantage. The rise of Islamic fundamentalists or radicalism has changed the global security environment. Western nations must prepare to defeat this threat that is not really new but has risen to new levels of ferocity and lethality.Regardless of the changes in technology, organizational and operational concepts, and external or internal threats, people remain a constant as the crucial element in war. People make decisions to use military and other elements of national power to impose the will of a nation on another group or nations. People also comprise the military services and man the component systems within the services. Any study of war and warfare must address the impact that people make on the conduct of war and the effects of war on people. The political process always includes people. To paraphrase Carl von Clausewitz, war is a continuation of that political process. Leaders who make a decision to fight and those who lead those soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines into battle must not forget that people implement those decisions and are the object of any offense or defense. Protecting the citizens of the United States is why the nation maintains military forces.
— John M. House, Why War? Why an Army?
As suddenly the whole world would slip back into a mollifying, untormented dark; their aching bodies knew its calm.
— David Jones, In Parenthesis
But how intolerable bright the morning is where we who are alive and remain, walk lifted up, carried forward by an effective word.
— David Jones, In Parenthesis
As a ground-combat force approaches the deadly zone and moves within range of the enemy’s rifles, mortars, and machine guns, the dynamics of war become more art than science. Intangibles such as training, confidence, leadership, and cohesion provide more secure mantle of protection than the possession of superior equipment.”There is as much folklore as science in the accounts of maneuver units that do exceptionally well in close combat. Empirical and anecdotal evidence gathered from combat studies of the Second World War, Korea, and Vietnam has shown conclusively that elite maneuver units, carefully selected and trained, not only perform better in combat but do so with many fewer casualties from all sources of combat incapacitation (for example, from disease and combat fatigue). Such units fight so effectively because they are composed of soldiers of exceptionally quality – better trained and better led as well as coalesced through long-term association that builds familiarity and mutual trust. The difference between carefully trained and led units and those of lesser quality is dramatic.
— Robert H. Scales Jr.
In my experience, the ex-military guys came in two types. The first grew long hair, sprouted beards, and indulged in all the things they hadn't been able do while they'd been in the armed forces. The second did their best to pretend they never got out.
— Ilona Andrews, Clean Sweep
Theirs not to make reply,Theirs not to reason why,Theirs but to do and die.Into the valley of DeathRode the six hundred.
— Alfred Tennyson, The Charge of the Light Brigade