Quotes from Dick Couch

The Orphan Master's Son

When it comes to a fight, you need all your skill and professionalism, but if you want to win that fight, you have to bring a controlled rage as well. We're training to be warriors.

Real bullets are for keeps, and concealment is not necessarily good cover.

Know where your barrel is at all times, and know the condition of your weapon—loaded or unloaded, bolt forward or to the rear, round in the chamber or not, safety on or off. Keep your finger off the trigger unless you're going to kill something. This is basic; you have to do the basics right—we won't move to the next block of training until you get this one right.

I am a member of my Nation's Chosen Soldiery. I serve quietly, not seeking recognition or accolades. My goal is to succeed in my mission—and live to succeed again.

Often, only the confidence instilled by repetition and drill can get them moving. Often, there is a fine line between preparation and bravery.

We have to work extra hard, because we in America are very ethnocentric--we think our culture is superior. Why's that? It's because we've got moon rocks, and nobody else has moon rocks.

If you don't know or didn't understand, ASK! It's your responsibility to find out. Research; demonstrate an unquenchable desire to know everything about your job. If something is broken or not right, take the initiative to fix it or make

Out of every one-hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior and he will bring the others back. HERACLITUS

Muzzle control has to be a religion. You cannot point that weapon at one of your brothers-or yourself. Know where you barrel is at all times, and know the condition of your weapon-loaded or unloaded, bolt forward or to the rear, round in the chamber or not, safety on or off. Keep your finger off the trigger unless you're going to kill something.

It's easy to be disciplined when you have no freedoms.

Set the highest example. Remember, no one ever did anything absolutely right. Perfection is impossible, but striving for perfection is not. You have the power to do that.

We are an impatient culture and an impatient electorate.

Patriotism is the primary moral armor of our ground combatants.

Interestingly, when they are on our side, we usually refer to them as guerrillas or partisans or freedom fighters. When they, the men in the hills, oppose a government we support, we call them insurgents.

What Mr. Friedman is suggesting is that if we don't drain the swamp where the rats are breeding, it won't really matter how many of these rats we kill; they will continue to leave the swamp and migrate to our cities in numbers that are legion.

To be a leader, you must first be a team player, and you must care for the men you lead.

We have to work extra hard, because we in America are very ethnocentric--we think our culture is superior. Why's that? It's because we've got moon rocks, and nobody else has moon rocks.

You may need help or information from some nongovernmental organization, and the local person heading that NGO may be some West Coast, liberal-educated, no-leg-shaving, Birkenstock-wearing female uniform-hater. And you gotta deal with her.

When everybody comes back and the task is accomplished, it is a success by every measure of the word.

The day after that, the task unit and their single Bandito Platoon squad mustered at the North Island Naval Air Station for the flight that would take them west, halfway around the world. Actually

Never make the same mistake twice. You are your best critic!

Master the basics and you will be a good operator.

You can get into trouble really fast because it's often not what you say or mean, it's what they hear and understand. And be careful not to take offense when they mean no offense.