Quotes from Mike Jackson

The Russians are a very sentimental people.

We told them this morning and I think they (reacted) like you would expect. It was a surprise and the reality of this is very sobering for everybody. I don't take this lightly at all not at all.

It is absolutely bedrock to the British Army's philosophy that a commanding officer is responsible for what goes on within his command.

A lot of networks don't want to touch controversial subjects, and especially stuff that deals with race and history.

Soldiering is a very important profession, is it not?

Intervention continues to be a prominent dimension of the post-cold war world.

Technology's become the great prism for what's going on in the world.

Military operations cannot be tidy or free of friction - particularly in a coalition whose contributing nations see the campaign through national prisms.

Look, we're living in a crazy time right now. There's a lot of craziness going on in the world and in the United States in particular.

If you move between battalions, you are still within the same tribe.

Good hiring practices are the backbone of strong company performance.

Postponing taking action on difficult decisions that you've already made will only make the problem worse. Strong

Discipline is the bridge between goals and achievement." The

In Iraq, the Americans had the naïve idea that people would be so happy to be liberated that nothing else mattered; and democracy would flourish overnight. It's a very ideological approach, and one which is intellectually bankrupt.

Military force should never be used for its own sake, but always to achieve a political objective.

Leadership is an action, not a position.

Not much over £1,000 a month for the private soldier on operations is hardly an impressive figure.

You cannot expect soldiers to change people's minds. That has to be done in other ways.

I understand all the problems for the Ministry of Defence, of course I do; working within a budget and trying to do so many things is not easy.

Missing your lunch is not exactly the end of the world.

Nations, not least America, retain full command of their national forces.

Everything starts and finishes with the soldier.

The system is broken, and we can fix it. It's not hard. We just have to do the work.