Quotes from Mark Bowden

I pride myself on not making people's experience shittier.

Marines do not hesitate in combat. If the Corps has a defining philosophy, that's it. In war, when the enemy is foolish enough to show himself, marines go right at him and kill him, risks be damned.

To me the way they were used, particularly the way their idealism and loyalty were exploited by leaders who themselves had lost faith in the effort, is a stunning betrayal. It is a lasting American tragedy and disgrace.

The Viet Cong were not the idealistic warriors of American antiwar propaganda; they were vicious. They relied on terror.

At the very least, Vietnam should stand as a permanent caution against going to war for any but the most immediate, direct, and vital national interest, or to prevent genocide or wider conflict, and then only in concert with other countries.

When asked what he did for a living, Dave would answer, "I work for local government," because if he said he was a cop, the mood instantly stiffened.

For a country to have a great writer is like having another government

They were called Ontos, after the Greek word for thing, in part because they were ugly.

Criminals saw the man, not the badge, and they liked him, sometimes enough to tell him surprising and damaging things.

Just take your flak jackets and some gear because we'll be back for dinner.

Mohr quoted Westmoreland, after the general had toured the bullet-riddled embassy grounds in Saigon, saying the enemy's efforts had failed, and that they had sought "to cause maximum consternation in South Vietnam." "It was clear that consternation had been achieved," Mohr wrote.19

History is not easy," Hue told me. "People are still confused why a huge force like the United States was defeated. But if you don't know your enemy, you will lose every time.

When he got back to Phu Bai, one of the walking wounded, he was ordered to look through nearly a hundred body bags and identify those he recognized. It took him two days to complete the job, unzipping the bags and looking at the pale, lifeless faces.

He was convinced that men lost their nerve in combat when they allowed themselves to think too much. The part movies never got right about war was all the waiting, and all the effort it took not to think.

We do not doubt the outcome," he said. "The duty of peace is burdensome. It is a duty many generations of Americans have chosen as their own. It is a duty many other young men have borne as you bear it now. In the discharge of that duty, none have honored themselves—none have honored their nation—so nobly, or so bravely, as the United States Marines.

There were splits within families over the present war, where one son had sided with Saigon and the other with Hanoi. The "liberation" of Hue suspended law and order and upended basic decency, giving retribution an official stamp of approval. It tapped a deep vein of savagery. In

Today police have new tools for old crimes. DNA testing offers seemingly magic solutions to decades-old mysteries as long as physical evidence has been preserved.

Anything was better than waiting in that hole trying to figure out what to think about in his last moments on earth, waiting to be plumed or slaughtered. He'd rather die trying to live.

Mileski had once been caught in a home burglary and had been shot in the leg by police. Afterward, he limped.

the AirCav now rode to battle on helicopters, usually Hueys,85 which could carry a full squad; or on the newer, giant twin-engine Chinooks

He had spent his first day in Hue as scared as he had ever been. The fear had started when they were shot at on the chopper coming in, and had then just stayed at full throttle. He realized he had adapted to it. It surprised him. Fear, because it was everywhere and everyone felt it, receded in importance. It was still there, but when you realized there was nothing you could do about it, it ceased to matter. It just became your new reality.

Thomas Paine's The Crisis—"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country . . .

The pace and urgency of war have always accelerated the development of technology and encouraged novel uses of devices that already exist.

when we were all boarding his helicopter for a trip to Atlantic City, the airlift facility refused to fuel the helicopter. One of the guys took out his own Mobil card and charged $2000 worth of gas." Donald has said, "Once you have enough to eat and live, money is about ego." To survive, he had to let others manage his affairs, which was humbling enough. Harder still was giving up the fantasy