Quotes About Combat

An army ought to be ready every moment to offer all the resistance of which it is capable.

War is the business of barbarians.

The nature of strategy consists of always having, even with a weaker army, more forces at the point of attack or at the point where one is being attacked than the enemy.

This time, as with every time, when the fighting starts it will be more terrible than the fight that came before. Always it is the worst, the most violent, the least restrained, a steady escalation. The singular rule.

Strong combat leadership is never by committee. Platoon commanders must command, and command in battle isn't based on consensus. It's based on consent. Any leader wields only as much authority and influence as is conferred by the consent of those he leads. The Marines allowed me to be their commander, and they could revoke their permission at any time.

Worst of all were the accolades and thanks from people "for what you guys did over there." Thanks for what, I wanted to ask—shooting kids, cowering in terror behind a berm, dropping artillery on people's homes?

Marine training is essentially a psychological battle against the instinct for self-preservation.

Infantry Marines live only and forever in the real world.

Cao sent the battalions chasing long-gone foxes because he wanted to give the presidential palace the impression he was on the alert. Afterward he would order the battalion back to its base to "rest" instead of returning it to the training center. Training his men for combat was not one of Cao's priorities. He pretended they were already well trained.

This was an army that shared a confidence too in its weapons and in its combat skills. The world was a tactical map to these men. They were prepared to fight any enemy at any grid coordinate.

For Achilles, the death of Patroclus pushed him into a fury, but it was not only grief that drove him. It was also a sense of shame and guilt because he had not been there to protect his friend. Sometimes men in combat feel this sort of survivor's guilt even though, realistically, they could have done nothing to prevent their comrade's death.

A slogan is a vital link between the organization and the masses it seeks to lead. It should synthesize a particular grievance into a succinct and pithy phrase, while mobilizing the people to combat it.

carronade fired straight through the windows of the Bucentaure's upper cabin,

The first shots had been fired from the enemy line. The Battle of Trafalgar had begun.

Each gun fired in turn, straight into the unprotected stern of the Santa Ana,

It was a race to see which ship could fire

With almost fifty guns already loaded and still working on the starboard side, the Spanish won.

The crossfire was so heavy that French and Spanish cannon balls smacked into each other

90,000 artillery rounds, 32,000 reserve muskets

Captain Harvey held his fire until the Fougueux's yardarms were almost touching the Téméraire's

At his command, three decks of guns fired simultaneously into the Fougueux,

The enemy ships in her path included the Santissima Trinidad, the Redoutable and the Bucentaure,

The Victory was still about 1,000 yards from the enemy, not yet in proper range.

Then seven or eight French and Spanish ships opened up together