Tag: Military

Quotes June 07, 2024

I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm’s way.
John Paul Jones

“We’re going to bomb them back into the Stone Age.”
Gen. Curtis E. LeMay

Quotes May 24, 2024

Don’t stop trying or fighting for what you believe in the first time someone tells you no.
General (Retired) Ann Dunwoody in her book, A Higher Standard: Leadership Strategies from America’s First Female Four-star General
 
 
 
 
Attract the right people. Let them know what they have to do. Give them the tools to do the job. And when they get it done, your job as a leader is to make sure they get the credit for it.
General (Retired) Rick Hillier, former Chief of Defence Staff for the Canadian Forces
 
 
 
 
The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave…
Patrick Henry
 
 
 
 
Army: A body of men assembled to rectify the mistakes of the diplomats.
Josephus Daniels
 
 
 
 

“With each sunrise, you embrace a new opportunity to make a difference in the world.”
Unknown
 
 

Quotes May 17, 2024

“The world is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. It’s the age-old struggle: the roar of the crowd on the one side, and the voice of your conscience on the other.”
Douglas Macarthur
 
 
 
 
“Somewhere inside, we hear a voice. It leads us in the direction of the person we wish to become. But it is up to us whether or not to follow.”
Pat Tillman
 
 
 
 
“In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten; then he who continues the attack wins.”
General Ulysses S. Grant
 
 
 
 
“The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. It is possible to impart instruction and give commands in such a manner and such a tone of voice as to inspire in the soldier no feeling but an intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey. The one mode or the other in dealing with subordinates springs from a corresponding spirit in the breast of the commander. He who feels the respect which is due to others cannot fail to inspire in them respect for himself; while he who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect toward others, especially his subordinates, cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself.”
LTG John M. Schofield, 1879
 
 
 
 
“Without a word this uniform also whispers of freezing troops, injured bodies, and Americans left forever in foreign fields. It documents every serviceman’s courage, who by accepting this uniform, promises the one gift he truly has to give: his life. I wear my uniform for the heritage of sacrifice it represents and more. I wear my uniform with pride, for it represents the greatest nation of free people in the world.”
Captain Karen Dorman Kimmel
 
 

Quotes May 10, 2024

“The power of excellence is overwhelming. It is always in demand and nobody cares about its color.”
General Daniel S. “Chappie” James, USAF
 
 
 
 
“A good plan executed now is better than a perfect plan next week.”
“If you can’t get them to salute when they should salute and wear the clothes you tell them to wear, how are you going to get them to die for their country?”
General George S. Patton Jr., USA
 
 
 
 
“Victory smiles upon those who anticipate the changes in the character of war, not upon those who wait to adapt themselves after the changes occur.”
Italian Air Marshall Giulio Douhet
 
 
 
 
“Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.”
President George Washington
 
 
 
 
“Duty, then, is the sublimest word in the English language. You should do your duty in all things. You can never do more. You should never wish to do less.”
Attributed to General Robert E. Lee
 
 
 
 
“An officer’s ultimate commanding loyalty at all times is to his country, and not to his service or to his superiors.”
General of the Army George C. Marshall
 
 
 
 
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty.”
President John F. Kennedy (Inaugural Address, 20 Jan 1961)
 
 
 
 
“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.”
John Stuart Mill
 
 

Quotes May 03, 2024

“Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.”
Colin Powell
 
 
 
 
Unselfishness, as far as you are concerned means simply this – you will put first the honour and interests of your country and your regiment; next you will put the safety, well-being and comfort of your men; and last – and last all the time – you will put your own interest, your own safety, your own comfort.
Field Marshal Sir Bill Slim, Courage and other Broadcasts,1957
 
 
 
 
No man is a leader until he is ratified in the minds and hearts of his men.
The Infantry Journal, 1948\ 
 
 
 
…leaders under pressure must keep themselves absolutely clean morally. The relativism of the social sciences will never do. They must lead by example, must be able to implant high-mindedness to their followers, and must have earned their followers’ respect by demonstrating integrity.
Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale, 1987
 
 
 
 
The good military leader will dominate the events which surround him; once he lets events get the better of him he will lose the confidence of his men, and when that happens he ceases to be of value as a leader.
Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, The Art of Leadership, 1958
 
 

Quotes April 26, 2024

Standing beside each one of our brave soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines is a loving, supportive, and dedicated family whose sacrifice is a true service to our great nation.
Elise Stefanik
 
 
 
 
How can faceless bureaucrats in an intelligence agency deny brave soldiers a chance to tell the truth?
Curt Weldon
 
 
 
 
During a trip to Iraq last fall, I visited our theater hospital at Balad Air Force Base and witnessed these skilled medical professionals in action and met the brave soldiers whose lives they saved.
Melissa Bean
 
 
 
 
God has given such brave soldiers to this Crown that, if they do not frighten our neighbours, at least they prevent us from being frightened by them.
Elizabeth I
 
 
 
 
I feel that our country’s real heroes are our brave soldiers who leave their families to protect our land.
Sonu Sood
 
 
 
 
I shot down some German planes and I got shot down myself, crashing in a burst of flames and crawling out, getting rescued by brave soldiers.
Roald Dahl
 
 
 
 
Our brave soldiers and support personnel are engaged in a battle as important as any the United States has ever before waged, for the success of democracy in Iraq is a crucial test of the ideals this Nation was founded upon.
Virginia Foxx
 
 
 
 

Quotes April 19, 2024

“You have no idea how much it contributes to the general politeness and pleasantness of diplomacy when you have a little quiet armed force in the background”
George F. Kennan
 
 
 
 
“Who supports the troops? The troops support the troops.”
Clint Van Winkle, Soft Spots: A Marine’s Memoir of Combat and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
 
 
 
 
“This country has not seen and probably will never know the true level of sacrifice of our veterans. As a civilian I owe an unpayable debt to all our military. Going forward let’s not send our servicemen and women off to war or conflict zones unless it is overwhelmingly justifiable and on moral high ground. The men of WWII were the greatest generation, perhaps Korea the forgotten, Vietnam the trampled, Cold War unsung and Iraqi Freedom and Afghanistan vets underestimated. Every generation has proved itself to be worthy to stand up to the precedent of the greatest generation. Going back to the Revolution American soldiers have been the best in the world. Let’s all take a remembrance for all veterans who served or are serving, peace time or wartime and gone or still with us. 11/11/16 May God Bless America and All Veterans.”
Thomas M Smith
 
 
 
 
“The recruiters came and talked with us in school, and I remember it like yesterday. I wasn’t interested. I told them I wanted to do something good. I told them I wanted to help people. I told them I couldn’t do it, told them I wasn’t interested.
But they told me that there was no better way to do good and help people. They told me they helped people all the time. Doing good was what they were about. Plus they were going to pay me. Where else could I get paid for helping people? Plus they would pay for my college. Plus, in addition to helping people, and paying me, and paying for my college, they would teach me a skill. I would be helping people, and seeing the world, and earning money, and having college paid for, and learning a skill that I could use later to earn money and help people.
In the end, it was a pretty easy decision.”
Stephen Dau, The Book of Jonas
 
 
 
 

Quotes March 22, 2024

“The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
Douglas MacArthur
 
 
 
 
“Although a soldier by profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it, except as a means of peace.”
Ulysses S. Grant
 
 
 
 
“The soldier’s heart, the soldier’s spirit, the soldier’s soul, are everything.”
George Marshall
 
 
 
 
“Soldiers, when committed to a task, can’t compromise. It’s unrelenting devotion to the standards of duty and courage, absolute loyalty to others, not letting the task go until it’s been done.”
John Keegan
 
 
 
 
“Soldiers have many faults, but they have one redeeming merit; they are never worshippers of force. Soldiers more than any other men are taught severely and systematically that might is not right.”
G. K. Chesterton
 
 

Quotes March 15, 2024

When you give your phone to a kid you’re not giving your kid access to the world, you’re giving the world access to your kid.
Shawn Ryan
Former Navy SEAL/CIA
 
 
 
 
I was a grunt, walking around in the jungle of Vietnam, trying not to find the enemy. Because I am so big, they were going to give me either a heavy radio or a huge machine gun to carry. I carried a radio.
Bob Gunton
 
 
 
 
You don’t attack the grunts of Vietnam; you blame the theory behind the war. Nobody who fought in that war was at fault. It was the war itself that was at fault. It’s the same thing with psychotherapy.
James Hillman
 
 
 
 
That’s what supporting the troops is really all about – making sure American grunts get the right stuff!
David Hackworth
 
 
 
 
“US General Mathew Ridgeway was speaking about “Operation Vulture”. He said, “When the day comes for me to meet my maker and account for my actions, the thing that I would be most proud of is the fact that I fought against and perhaps totally prevented the carrying out of one of the most hare-brained tactical schemes that would have cost the lives of thousands upon thousands of men!”
Michael G. Kramer
(A Gracious Enemy & After the War Volume Two)”
 
 

Quotes March 01, 2024

“Being brave isn’t the absence of fear. Being brave is having that fear but finding a way through it.”
Bear Grylls
 
 
 
 
Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.”
Sun Tzu
 
 
 
 
“Be an example to your men, in your duty and in private life. Never spare yourself and let your troops see that you don’t in your endurance of fatigue and privation. Always be tactful and well-mannered. Avoid excessive sharpness or harshness of voice, which usually indicates the man who has shortcomings of his own to hide.”
German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
 
 
 
 
“The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. It is possible to impart instruction and give commands in such a manner and such a tone of voice as to inspire in the soldier no feeling but an intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey. The one mode or the other in dealing with subordinates springs from a corresponding spirit in the breast of the commander. He who feels the respect which is due to others cannot fail to inspire in them respect for himself; while he who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect toward others, especially his subordinates, cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself.”
LTG John M. Schofield, 1879
 
 
 
 
The essential tasks of the military leader, summarized by Dick Winters (1/506 Airborne Infantry Regiment, WWII): “I may not have been the best combat commander, but I always strove to be. My men depended on me to carefully analyze every tactical situation, to maximize the resources that I had at my disposal, to think under pressure, and then to lead them by personal example.”

“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.”
John Stuart Mills