Quotes About Military

The definition of a calculated risk is a gamble which military men take when they can't figure out what else to do and which turns out to be right. When it turns out wrong, it wasn't a calculated risk at all. It was a piece of utter stupidity.

A brave captain is as a root, out of which, as branches, the courage of his soldiers doth spring. —Sir Philip Sidney

the Romans were one of the first to also place leaders behind their men in an open order of battle.

when soldiers were left to their own devices, the vast majority of them, on all sides, could not kill.

from the barracks burst bandsmen in their hundreds. Each was armed, as I had seen before, but now some were quite more armed than others.

These were the idiots shat out by West Point, turds in starched uniforms and glistening high-and-tight haircuts, shiny-foreheaded future corporate executives who used words like envisionment instead of vision.

you could hardly call them Fobbits. They were ghosts, gone outside the wire more often than not (and making damn sure everyone saw them depart, slurping loud from travel mugs of coffee, uniforms clinking and whickering, a patchwork of 550 cord and carabiners and duct tape).

I told you. Government." ?"But what part of it—CIA, military, who?" ?"Government within government within government. Like Matrioshka." ?"What's that?" ?"Dolls within dolls." ?"You mean Russian dolls?" ?"I mean, Matrioshka," the old woman snapped.

The military is a very cool world to write about. I went down to Ft. Benning, Ga., for military training, and I learned a lot about soldiers and officers and why they joined up and what their life has been like.

As he told Hill, he was simply following the "Eight 'P's," a mnemonic that had been drummed into them in the military: "Proper prior planning and preparation prevents piss-poor performance." The Real Heroes Are Dead Article from The New Yorker.

The world dominion of western thought, forms of organisation, technology and military force is not God-given, nor eternal, nor greatly appreciated by the rest of the world.

When asked to give his opinion as to why airpower was stillborn in the U.S., with little funding or interest coming from the navy or army, he replied: "Conservatism. . . . You see, the army and the navy are the oldest institutions we have. They place everything on precedent. You can't do that in the air business. You have got to look ahead.

Roughly fifty percent of procedure in a Marine basic-training program is about disconnecting the young American boy from his concept of himself as a unique individual, a lone operator.

The airmen were considered the most important passengers on the carriers.

He was a good kid and a good destroyerman for the same reason: he was always looking out for someone else. At one point LeClerq had had the presence of mind to train his forty-millimeter mount on a spread of torpedoes bubbling toward Sprague's carriers. Johnny LeClerq was the very picture of wholesome blond American innocence, considerate of the enlisted men, devoted to the Navy, and meticulous in his duties.

Part of the reason that Rome fell is simply that it had expanded beyond the scale at which the economies of violence could be maintained. The cost of garrisoning the empire's far-flung borders exceeded the economic advantages that an ancient agricultural economy could support. The burden of taxation and regulation required to finance the military effort rose to exceed the carrying capacity of the economy. Corruption became endemic.

Their reliability was such that they were used by the French Army as late as 1940

Would appreciate your convoying (sic) the following to Joe DiMaggio in the event the Yankees don't pay more than $37,000: 'We cordially invite you to try out with the 143rd Infantry, 36th Division. The pay is only $21 a month but that's better than nothing. Please advise. P.S. Why settle for yesterday's salary?

The novice in the military art flew from point to point, retarding his own preparations by the excess of his violent and somewhat distempered zeal; while the more practiced veteran made his arrangements with a deliberation that scorned every appearance of haste

they have about forty Dassault Rafale E's, the top-of-the-line export variant of the standard French tactical fighter. This is a very bad-ass aircraft indeed, boys and girls. Good range, good sensors, good ECM, day and night, all-weather capable, and it can deliver large amounts of all kinds of very nasty ordnance with unnerving accuracy." "Vive la France," somebody down the table muttered.

The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Government.

He lives like a fugitive to avoid becoming a hired killer in Uncle Sams Army.

General Lee said that the attack of his right was not made as early as expected,—which he should not have said. He knew that I did not believe that success was possible; that care and time should be taken to give the troops the benefit of positions and the grounds; and he should have put an officer in charge who had more confidence in his plan. Two-thirds of the troops were of other commands, and there was no reason for putting the assaulting forces under my charge.

The United States has usually prepared for its wars after getting into them. Never was this more true than in the Civil War.