Favorate Quotes . . .What Say You ?

[BravoCompanyUSA]

It Has Always Been The Soldier

It is the soldier,
not the President,
who gives us democracy.

It is the soldier,
not the Congress,
who takes care of us.

It is the soldier,
not the reporter,
who has given us Freedom of Press.

It is the soldier,
not the poet,
who has given us Freedom of Speech.

It is the soldier,
not the campus organizer,
who has given us the Freedom to Demonstrate.

It is the soldier,
who salutes the flag,
who serves beneath the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag
that allows the protester to burn the flag.

By Father Dennis O'Brien
Chaplain
United States Marines

[BravoCompanyUSA]

All great change in America begins at the dinner table.

Ronald Reagan

[BravoCompanyUSA]

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

Ronald Reagan

[BravoCompanyUSA]

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man 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

[BravoCompanyUSA]

The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.

Albert Einstein

[BravoCompanyUSA]

Socialism: You have 2 cows; give one to your neighbor.
Communism: You have 2 cows; government takes both and gives you the milk.
Fascism: You have 2 cows; government takes both and sells you the milk.
Nazism: You have 2 cows; the government takes both and shoots you.
Bureaucracy: You have 2 cows; the government takes both then shoots one, milks the other and throws away the milk.
Capitalism: You have 2 cows; you sell one and buy a bull.

[SIMPLYDYNAMIC]

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson

[SIMPLYDYNAMIC]

We stalk through the valleys of the shadows of death and we shall fear no evil,
because we have contained the evil,
mastered the shadows,
and have already seen darker valleys.
C.M. Cox/USMC Force Recon Scout Sniper

[gotm4]

"Of every one hundred men, Ten shouldn't even be there, Eighty are nothing but targets, Nine are real fighters...We are lucky to have them...They make the battle. Ah, but the ONE, ONE of them is a WARRIOR...and HE will bring the others back."--Hericletus (circa 500 BC)

[-Wes-]

Yeah, it's from the end credits of Hamburger HIll, but I've always loved this speech.

"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you, and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go. Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying, and keep it with your own. And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind."
-Major Michael O'Donnell, January 1, 1970, Dak To, Vietnam.
O'Donnell, a helicopter pilot, was declared Missing In Action on March 24, 1970, during a rescue attempt. His remains were returned in 1995, and identified in 2001.

[SinnFéinM1911]

“It is not the critic who counts...
not the man who points out where the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Teddy Roosevelt, 1910

[BravoCompanyUSA]

Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.

Thomas Jefferson

[Griz]

Guns aren't toys. They're for family protection, hunting dangerous or delicious animals, and keeping the King of England out of your face.

[BravoCompanyUSA]

Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because, deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

Colonel Nathan R. Jessup (Jack Nicholson) in "A Few Good Men"

[BravoCompanyUSA]

Never Forget Those who died
Never forgive those who killed them

Pat Rogers

[Rmplstlskn]

Then Y'shua said to them, "When I sent you out without a wallet, traveling bag, or sandals, you didn't lack anything, did you?" "Not a thing!" they answered. Then he said to them, "But now, the person who has a wallet and a traveling bag should take them along. The person who doesn't have a sword (a weapon of personal defense) should sell his coat and buy one.
(Luk 22:35-36)

Rmpl

[K.L. Davis]

If you build a man a fire, he will be warm for a day... If you set a man on fire, he will be warm for the rest of his life.

[gotm4]

"Speed is not part of the true Way of strategy. Speed implies that things seem fast or slow, according to whether or not they are in rhythm. Whatever the Way, the master of strategy does not appear fast."
--Miyamoto Musashi

If you ever see a GrandMaster USPSA(IPSC) shooter like Todd Jarrett, Rob Leatham, Matt Burkett, Phil Strader shoot and this is easy to understand. They move so efficiently through a stage and don't have unnecessary movements during the draw, reload and movement. It gives them more time for the shooting and makes them appear slow (but the timer says otherwise).

[Voodoochild]

"Your going to look awful funny walking around here with that knife sticking out your ass" Clint Eastwood Movie (Cant remember which one).

[kaiheitai17]

What we have here, is a failure...to communicate.

[Long Rifle Tactical]

The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.

Sun Tzu

Art of War

[Pinnacle]

"Of every one hundred men, Ten shouldn't even be there, Eighty are nothing but targets, Nine are real fighters...We are lucky to have them...They make the battle. Ah, but the ONE, ONE of them is a WARRIOR...and HE will bring the others back."--Hericletus (circa 500 BC)


This now goes out on most of my personal emails as a signature line. Great quote!

[nickdrak]

"One is no more armed because he has possession of a firearm than he is a musician because he owns a piano. There is no point in having a gun if you are not capable of using it skillfully." (LtCOL. Jeff Cooper U.S.M.C.)

[BravoCompanyUSA]

"War is an art and as such is not susceptible of explanation by fixed formula"
- General George Patton Jr

[BravoCompanyUSA]

Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things than any that can ever happen in war.
Ernest Hemmingway

[BravoCompanyUSA]

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
George Orwell

[BravoCompanyUSA]

"Hence that general is skilful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skilful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.”
Sun Tzu

[deadwood83]

George Bernard Shaw
You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?"

Theodore Roosevelt
Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Dwight D. Eisenhower
There is no victory at bargain basement prices.

Dwight D. Eisenhower
A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

Douglas McArthur
A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent. -Anyone ever see an anti-gunner stand alone?:p

Voltaire
God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.

Orson Welles
In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, what did they produce? The cuckoo clock.

Winston Churchill
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

[BravoCompanyUSA]

The only condition that I have for building you a rifle, is that when you pick it up, you must be willing to drop it on the ground and kick it to your truck.
K.L. Davis

[Wayne Dobbs]

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." -- Samuel Adams


A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear." Marcus Tullius Cicero 42 B.C.

[Submariner]

“War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.

I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”

Smedley D. Butler, Maj. Gen, USMC (ret.)

Gen. Butler was twice awarded the Medal of Honor.

[Alpha Sierra]

Qui desiderat pacem, preparet bellum

Vegetius
De Rei Militari III

[DPB]

“If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.”
-Thomas Sowell

“There are no substitutes for violence of action and volume of fire. Move forward and shoot, always forward and shooting. The enemy will choose to fight and die or live and run either way move forward and shoot and he will fear you absolutely.”
-Otto Skoernzy

"Sooner or later in life, we all sit down to a banquet of consequences."
-Robert Louis Stevenson

"Never start a fight that you can't win with everything you have right now."
-SSG Joe "Gladiator" Walker, 1-0, RT California

Some of my personal favorites.

DPB

[Alpha Sierra]

"Fight back! Whenever you are offered violence, fight back! The aggressor does not fear the law, so he must be taught to fear you. Whatever the risk, and at whatever the cost, fight back!"
- Col. Jeff Cooper

[BravoCompanyUSA]

"Everybody wants to get big, but nobody wants to lift no heavy ass weight."
Ronnie Coleman (Mr Olympia)

[BBossman]

My sig line -

[dimmak]

"Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. If you put water in a cup it becomes the cup, if you put into a bottle it becomes the bottle. You put water into a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."
-Bruce Lee

[ArCane]

"Anything that is complex is not useful and anything that is useful is simple. This has been my whole life's motto."
- Mikhail T. Kalashnikov


"....but if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant; an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. " ---Romans 13:4

Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness - GT Member

You can mock the truth that threatens your need to believe that people everywhere act the same, until it's running down your street with a firebomb - GT Member


"Let he who hath no sword sell his cloak and buy one" Luke 22:36

"Blessed be the Lord, which teaches my fingers to fight and my hands to war." Psalm 144

Psalms 23:4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.


Matthew 10:34
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.


And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.

[Striker5]

Mr. Dobbs,

I love the Cicero quote.

The Smedley Butler quote irks me every time I read it. It is not totally off base, but if he felt strongly about it, he should have gotten out. As such I view this quotation as the precursor to the whiny "I was a tool of the imperialist state, formed into a killing machine against my will!" BS I hear today. Cry me a friggin' river, Major sir.

Speaking of Jack Slade, gunfighter and stagecoach station master:

"A high and efficient servant of the Overland, an outlaw among outlaws and yet their relentless scourge, Slade was at once the most bloody, the most dangerous, and the most valuable citizen that inhabited the savage fastness of the mountains."

"The outlaws soon found that the new agent was a man who did not fear anything that breathed the breath of life. He made short work of all offenders. The result was that delays ceased, the company's property was let alone, and no matter what happened or who suffered, Slade's coaches went through every time!"

-Mark Twain, "Roughing It"

The opposite of fear is not anger. The opposite of fear is courage.

-my wife

[Cato]

"The man whose profession is arms should calm his mind and look into the depths of others. Doing so is likely the best of the martial arts."
feudal lord Shiba Yoshimasa (1350-1410 AD), "The Chikubasho"

on the funny side, some eloquent insults:

"He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others."
-- Samuel Johnson

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know."
-- Abraham Lincoln

"A modest little person, with much to be modest about."
-- Winston Churchill

[Chris_C]

My Dad:

"Never write when you can speak, never speak when you can nod your head"

[BravoCompanyUSA]

Admittedly there is a risk in any course we follow other than this, but every lesson in history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face--that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight and surrender. If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand--the ultimatum. And what then? When Nikita Khrushchev has told his people he knows what our answer will be? He has told them that we are retreating under the pressure of the Cold War, and someday when the time comes to deliver the ultimatum, our surrender will be voluntary because by that time we will have weakened from within spiritually, morally, and economically. He believes this because from our side he has heard voices pleading for "peace at any price" or "better Red than dead," or as one commentator put it, he would rather "live on his knees than die on his feet." And therein lies the road to war, because those voices don't speak for the rest of us. You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin--just in the face of this enemy? Or should Moses have told the children of Israel to live in slavery under the pharaohs? Should Christ have refused the cross? Should the patriots at Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard 'round the world? The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn't die in vain. Where, then, is the road to peace? Well, it's a simple answer after all.

Ronald Reagan
Oct 27th, 1964

[FlyAndFight]

"Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay;

and claims a halo for his dishonesty."

-Robert A. Heinlein

[FlyAndFight]

"'Stand your ground, sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship but it is not this day. An hour of wolfs and shattered shields when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day. This day WE FIGHT!!! And for all that is dear to you in this world, stand your ground men of the West and FIGHT!" -Aragorn, son of Arathorn

[f.2]

"To escape criticism --
do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."
-- Elbert Hubbard

[f.2]

Lots to choose from at the Naval Historical Center (http://www.history.navy.mil/trivia/trivia02.htm) site, and I choose this one:

"I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the United States Navy.'"

President John F. Kennedy, 1 August 1963, in Bancroft Hall at the U. S. Naval Academy.

[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President, January 1 to November 22, 1963 (Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1964), 620]

[Razoreye]

What we have here, is a failure...to communicate.

What we've got here is... failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week. Which is the way he wants it, well he gets it. I don't like it anymore than you do. - Warden in Cool Hand Luke

[Razoreye]

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke

[Razoreye]

Surprised no one said Μολὼν Λαβέ unless I'm just blind.

[Low Drag]

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and thus clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
-- H.L. Mencken

If guns cause crime, then all of mine are defective.

Goebbels was convinced that people would believe the lies if only they were repeated often enough, and the bigger the lie, the better chance it had of being believed.


“Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

"A mind that is all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that wields it."

"The fanatical Muslims despise America because it's all lap dancing and gay porn; the secular Europeans despise America because it's all born-again Christians hung up on abortion; the anti-Semites despise America because it's controlled by Jews. Too Jewish, too Christian, too Godless, America is also too isolationist, except when it's too imperialist." -- Mark Steyn, on the pro-Saddam, anti-Bush demonstrators in London


The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
Herbert Spencer (1891)

[R Moran]

"I'm all about solving problems, with gunfire."
Paul Howe

High speed isn't about gun, gear or tactics, high speed, is executing the basics, perfectly no matter what, cold, wet, day, night, tired. Thats high speed"
Paul Howe

"Sooner or later, your going to have to move to contact"
can't remember his name, but an old VN vet, evaluating a gov't facility pro-force.

[LOKNLOD]

Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.
- Thomas Sowell

When men are pure, laws are useless; when men are corrupt, laws are broken.
- Benjamin Disraeli

Remember this one next time you hear - or convey - 2nd or 3rd hand information:

A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.
- Bertrand Russell

[R Moran]

Seen on a bumper sticker:

"Give war a chance" next to a Ranger scroll sticker

On another vehicle:

"We gave peace a chance........we got 9/11"

Bob

[Vinnie]

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.


Napoleon Bonaparte

[Bushi]

"Only the dead have seen the end of war" Plato

"No one loves a worrior untill the enemy is at the front gate"

[Seth Harness]

Whoever appeals to the law aginst his fellow man is either a fool or a coward, whoever cannot take care of himself without that law is both. For a wounded man shall say to his assailant "if I live I will kill you, if I die you are forgiven". Such is the rule of honor.

[mike240]

Negotiations defined: The art of saying >I sympathize with your situation= till you can get your sniper deployed

[f.2]

Well I'm a mushroom-cloud-layin' motherfucker, motherfucker! Every time my fingers touch brain I'm SUPERFLY T.N.T, I'm the GUNS OF THE NAVARONE.

Samuel L. Mutherfucker Jackson

[rgrprib]

.....remember men, shoot low, they're riding Shetlands!

1LT Richardson, XO, Co C 2nd BN (Ranger) 75th INF 78 - 79

Sua Sponte,

Prib

[Grin Reaper]

“The fear of death is the beginning of slavery.” Hagbard Celine, from The Eye in the Pyramid.

“A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie.” Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

“Don’t come to this country and act like you just moved here from Disneyland.” Adam Carolla

"Being adored is a nuisance. Women treat us just as humanity treats its gods. They worship us, and are always bothering us to do something for them." Lord Henry, from The Picture of Dorian Gray.

[Nathan_Bell]

This one has always got me.


The Commando's Prayer

Give me, my God, what you still have;
give me what no one asks for.
I do not ask for wealth, nor success,
nor even health.

People ask you so often, God, for all that,
that you cannot have any left.

Give me, my God, what you still have.
Give me what people refuse to accept from you.
I want insecurity and disquietude;
I want turmoil and brawl.

And if you should give them to me,
my God, once and for all,
let me be sure to have them always,
for I will not always
have the courage to ask for them.

Corporal Zirnheld, Special Air Service 1942




and on a lighter note

"Over? Did you say 'over'? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!" Bluto _Animal House

[Army Chief]

"In the final analysis, a soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner's chains."
Dwight D. Eisenhower

[gotm4]

"The only difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits." ---Albert Einstien

"We live in a Glock world, everything else fills the periphery. If you get a 1911 treat it like a woman. Find out what she likes to make her work and then give it to her."---Larry Vickers

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."—Bruce Lee

"Your focus in a fight must be on taking out the threat, not worrying about how not to get shot. You must work from the assumption that in a gun fight, you will get shot but must fight on anyway."--Ernest Langdon

"The best cover is rapid accurate fire directed at your enemy."--Ernest Langdon

"When you need to be shooting, you need to be shooting. Anything that takes time and effort away from that is a drain on precious resources."--Ernest Langdon

Those are my 6 favorites.

[Army Chief]

Not a simple "quotation," per se, but I've always found this piece significant from Rudyard Kipling -- the master of manly poetry. :)

HYMN BEFORE ACTION

The Earth is full of anger,
The seas are dark with wrath,
The Nations in their harness
Go up against our path:
Ere yet we loose the legions—
Ere yet we draw the blade,
Jehovah of the Thunders,
Lord God of Battles, aid!

High lust and froward bearing,
Proud heart, rebellious brow—
Deaf ear and soul uncaring,
We seek Thy mercy now!
The sinner that forswore Thee,
The fool that passed Thee by,
Our times are known before Thee—
Lord, grant us strength to die!

For those who kneel beside us
At altars not Thine own,
Who lack the lights that guide us,
Lord, let their faith atone.
If wrong we did to call them,
By honour bound they came;
Let not Thy Wrath befall them,
But deal to us the blame.

From panic, pride, and terror,
Revenge that knows no rein,
Light haste and lawless error,
Protect us yet again.
Cloak Thou our undeserving,
Make firm the shuddering breath,
In silence and unswerving
To taste Thy lesser death!

Ah, Mary pierced with sorrow,
Remember, reach and save
The soul that comes to-morrow
Before the God that gave!
Since each was born of woman,
For each at utter need—
True comrade and true foeman—
Madonna, intercede!

E’en now their vanguard gathers,
E’en now we face the fray—
As Thou didst help our fathers,
Help Thou our host to-day!
Fulfilled of signs and wonders,
In life, in death made clear—
Jehovah of the Thunders,
Lord God of Battles, hear!



Chief

[Erick Gelhaus]

Chief-
If one is in our career field - the profession of Arms - and they are not acquainted with Kipling, then they are not prepared for the reality of what we do. Kipling's words are lubricant for our joints.

He lost on the fields that which was most dear to him, we need to remember the world he came from.

Erick

[Army Chief]

Chief-
If one is in our career field - the profession of Arms - and they are not acquainted with Kipling, then they are not prepared for the reality of what we do. Kipling's words are lubricant for our joints.

He lost on the fields that which was most dear to him, we need to remember the world he came from.

Erick

Amen, brother.

Chief

[abnk]

"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those, who in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." - Dante

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin, 1759

"Where is the prince who can afford so to cover his country with troops for its defense, as that ten thousand men descending from the clouds, might not, in many places, do an infinite deal of mischief before a force could be brought together to repel them?" - Benjamin Franklin (1784) (a favorite of mine)

"There can be no fifty-fifty Americanism in this country. There is room here for only 100 % Americanism, only for those who are Americans and nothing else." - Theodore Roosevelt

"Why, it appears that we appointed all of our worst generals to command the armies and we appointed all of our best generals to edit the newspapers. I mean, I found by reading a newspaper that these editor generals saw all of the defects plainly from the start but didn't tell me until it was too late. I'm willing to yield my place to these best generals and I'll do my best for the cause by editing a newspaper." - Robert E. Lee

"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government." - George Washington

“No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.” -General of the Army Douglas MacArthur

[Striker5]

That's awesome chief.

Mark Twain on jury selection:
"A noted desperado killed Mr. B, a good citizen, in the most wanton and cold-blooded way. Of course the papers were full of it, and all men capable reading read about it. And of course all men not deaf and dumb and idiotic talked about it.

When the peremptory challenges were all exhausted, a jury of twelve men was empaneled - a jury who swore they had neither heard, read or talked about, nor expressed an opinion concerning a murder which the very cattle in the corrals, the Indians in the sagebrush, and the stones in the street were cognizant of! It was a jury composed of two desperadoes, two low beerhouse politicians, three barkeepers, two ranchmen who could not read, and three dull, stupid, human donkeys! It actually came out afterward that one of thse latter thought incest and arson were the same thing.
The verdict rendered by the jury was, Not Guilty. What else could one expect?"

[Nathan_Bell]

Found this one today when digging for a different one entirely.

"Now both advantage and danger are inherent in manuver" Sun Tzu

[Pinnacle]

I hope this isn't a dupe. Never read any of his stuff but I thought this was good enough to change my sig line.


A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

-Robert A. Heinlein

[Striker5]

"You must, therefore, know that there are two means of fighting: one according to laws, the other with force; the first way is proper to man, the second to beasts; but because the first in many cases is not sufficient, it becomes necassary to have recourse to the second."

"And the principal foundations of all states, the new as well as the old or mixed, are good laws and good armies. And since there cannot exist good laws where there are no good armies, and where there are good armies there must be good laws, I shall leave aside the treatment of laws and discuss the armed forces."

-Niccolo Machiavelli.

[R Moran]

" I don't need riflemen, I need Infantrymen".......some 1sgt.

Bob

[Cato]

my enmity is only against Tyranny, where ever I find it, wheter in Emperour, King, Prince, Parliament, Presbyters, or People.

I picked Richard Overton's words as my signature as it showed brilliant foresight in a time (1646) everybody thought that only the king could be the tyrann. The parliament's horrible rule in England and the terror of the masses in the French Revolution should show how right he was. According to some historians Overton's work was well known to the Founding Fathers.

[DocHolliday01]

"What goes on around you... compares little with what goes on inside you."

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The American G. I.
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom. ~Semper Fi~

Si vis pacem, para bellum

[Striker5]

one more passage from Machiavelli:

"And anyone who becomes lord of a city used to living in libertyand does not destroy it may expect to be destroyed by it, because such a city always has a refuge, in any rebellion, the spirit of liberty and its ancient institutions, neither of which is ever forgotten, either because of the passing of time or because of the bestowal of benefits."

and continuing...

"they (those living under autocracy), being on one hand used to obedience and on the other, not having their old prince and not being able to agree on choosing another from amongst themselves, yet not knowing how to live as free men, are as a result hesitant in taking up arms, and a prince can win them over with ease. But in republics there is greater vitality, greater hatred, greater desire for revenge; the memory of ancient liberty does not and can not allow them to submit, so that the most secure course is either to destroy them or go there to live."

(bold mine) Things haven't changed much from the 1400's, evidently.

[edwin907]

"Some day this war's gonna end." Lt. Col William Kilgore

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/ApocalypseKilgoreX.jpg

[fred]

"You are
What you do
When it counts..."
the Masao, from John Steakley's book, Armor.

"Firepower is bullets hitting people." Melvin Johnson.

[Pinnacle]

I just read a post by Pat Rogers and borrowed this as my new signature.



Originally Posted by Pat_Rogers
"We need to get over the romance of aligning sights and get to the business of shooting smelly bearded men in the face more efficiently."

[mike240]

Negotiations defined: The Art of saying "I sympathize with your situation" till your snipers are deployed.

[mike240]

Not really a quote....(the end comments are my morals to the story)

Sun Tzu was summoned by Ho-lu, the King of Wu. Ho-lu said that he had read all thirteen chapters of Sun Tzu’s writings and asked that he conduct a minor experiment in the control and movement of troops. He asked if Sun Tzu could conduct the experiment using women. Sun Tzu said that he could.
The King called one hundred and eighty of the most beautiful of his concubines to the field. They were divided into two companies placing two of the King’s favorite concubines in the positions of company officers in command. Sun Tzu instructed them all how to hold the halberds (a long shafted weapon with an axe like blade with a long spike at its end). He taught them facing commands and asked if they understood. The women agreed that they understood.
Sun Tzu then gave the orders three times and explained them five times, after which he beat the drum to signal a ‘Right Face’. The women all roared with laughter.
Sun Tzu explained to the King that if regulations are not clear and orders not thoroughly explained it is the commander’s fault.
Sun Tzu then repeated the orders three times and explained them five times. He beat the drum to signal a facing command and the women again laughed.
Sun Tzu again stated that if the orders are clear and commands not explicit, it is the commander’s fault. But when they have been made clear, and are not carried out in accordance with the military law, it is a crime on the part of the officers. He then ordered that the ‘officers’ of the right and left ranks be beheaded.
The King was watching the proceedings and was shocked upon seeing the beheading of his two favorite concubines and sent an aid with this message: “I already know the Commander (Sun Tzu) is able to employ troops. Without these concubines my food will not taste sweet. It is my desire that they not be executed.”
Sun Tzu replied that “Your servant has already received your appointment as Commander and once the commander is at the head of the army he need not accept all the King’s orders.”
Sun Tzu then ordered two more concubines to assume the leadership roles of the newly formed companies. The signal drums were used and the concubine ‘companies’ executed the orders without a noise and in strict accordance with the drill.
Sun Tzu then sent a messenger to the King and informed him “The troops are now in good order. The King may descend to review and inspect them. They may be employed as the King desires, even to the extent of going through fire and water.”
The King advised that he did not wish to inspect them. To which Sun Tzu said that the King likes only ‘empty words’. He is not capable of putting them into practice.
The King then realized Sun Tzu’s abilities as a commander and made him a general.

· Be attentive and serious in training. You may be asked or need to assume a leadership role at anytime.
· When orders are given and planning is being conducted; that is the time to ask questions to ensure understanding.
· After orders and SOPs are understood the commander should expect obedience and subordinates should expect discipline if orders are violated.
· The ‘King’ may set the objectives but the commander should be left to decide how the objective is met.

[Dick Manley]

Some people see the glass as half full. Others see it as half empty. Jack Bauer see the glass as a deadly weapon.


On a high school math test, Jack Bauer put down "Violence" as every one of the answers. He got an A+ on the test because Jack Bauer solves all his problems with Violence.


Jack Bauer is the leading cause of death in Middle Eastern men.

[Striker5]

As a people, Americans have a heritage to be proud of and one that is worth defending with their children's lives. It is not, however, a heritage whose experiences, heroes, wars, scandals, sacrifices, victories, mistakes, and villians can be condensed, loaded on a CD-ROM, and given to non-Americans with an expectation that they will quickly, and at little expense, become just like us. This is a debilitating fantasy of how the rest of the world and its peoples live and work. Far worse, it shows a profound ignorance of America, one that mocks those who fought and died resisting tyrranical monarchies and churches, secession, foreign rule, slavery, segregation, discrimination, the union of church and state, and a thousand other issues for which blood was shed to fuel the incremental but still incomplete perfecting of American democracy.
-Imperial Hubris

[taliv]

Never moon a werewolf.

[Batt 57]

Lieutenant, you don't know whether you've been shot, fucked, powder-burned or snake-bit.

General Taylor (Noble Willingham), Good Morning Vietnam.

[Batt 57]

and one my son gave me on a plaque.... He is a 13fox,

FISTERS CREED:

"First and Foremost, I am the Greatest killer on the Battle field. Without me the King of Battle ceases to exist, The Queen of Battle cannot survive! Ask anyone on the battle field who is their savior, They will send you to ME.

Who am I? Those I consider friends call me "FISTER". Those who fear me call me a high payoff target. As I hunt my Enemy, My Enemy hunts me, as my Enemy attempts to kill me; I Wipe him OFF the face of the Earth. For I determine the outcome of War, but if I am not there, The War has no direction.

You See, I have the power to call upon the Demons of war, The Mortars, Artillery, MLRS, Naval gunfire, Attack Aviation, and the Fast Movers. These are My "TOOLS", My Instruments of Death. My Greatest tool however, is my Radio! Whether it is on my Back or on a Platform, I possess the gift of Gab with a touch of finesse. And as I Employ These tools, my power Grows.

Power corrupts, and Absolute power corrupts Absolutely. But in my worldly endeavors, the Spoils of War have yet to diminish my Quest for Peace.

As I do my job, I help write the history of wars past and of those yet to come. But in the Pages that I Turn, I have yet to read the words "FORWARD OBSERVER, FIRE SUPPORTER, F.O. or FISTER".

I am All of these! So it is Vital that you learn my name, Vital that you learn to use my Talents, Vital that you learn to Trust Me, Be glad that I am at your side and that I am On your Side.

EYES OF DEATH- KING OF THE BATTLE"

[TheGhostRider]

"War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means."

Clausewitz

[Seth Harness]

"Who are you calling crazy? You wouldnt know what crazy was if Charles Manson was eating fruit loops on your front porch!" -Mike Muir- S.T.

"The greatest weapon of all fascists is the tolerance of the pacifist." -Mike Muir- S.T.

[BravoCompanyUSA]

Those who hammer their guns into plowshares will plow for those who do not

TJ

[markm]

In response to my aggravation with "dirt shooters"..

Originally Posted By gordonm1:
markm

how many retarded monkies does it take to go through a case of xm193?

It depends on whether you give them straight 20's or 30 rd bananas.



Originally Posted By Garryowen:
Drinking beer and bump firing into the side of a hill is NOT being “well regulated” and is NOT what the Second Amendment was written into our Bill of Rights for.


And last.... in response to the perennial question of "how do you mark your mags?"


Originally Posted By druid223:
I throw mine in the bath tub and piss all over them. Then they are easily recognised by my scent.

[KintlaLake]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/kintlalake/2007-InspirationalPoster-Remember04.jpg

(words by Jean Jaurès, photo by KintlaLake)

[scoutout86]

Not really a quote but oh well. being a scout they made us memorize this.

Fiddlers' Green.

Halfway down the trail to hell
In a shady meadow green,
Are the souls of all dead troopers camped
Near a good old-time canteen
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddler's Green.

Marching past, straight through to hell,
The infantry are seen,
Accompanied by the Engineers,
Artillery and Marine,
For none but the shades of Cavalrymen
Dismount at Fiddlers' Green.

Though some go curving down the trail
To seek a warmer scene,
No trooper ever gets to Hell
Ere he's emptied his canteen,
And so rides back to drink again
With friends at Fiddlers' Green.

And so when man and horse go down
Beneath a saber keen,
Or in a roaring charge or fierce melee
You stop a bullet clean,
And the hostiles come to get your scalp,
Just empty your canteen,
And put your pistol to your head
And go to Fiddlers' Green.

[Striker5]

"For the Roman people conferred the consulship and other great offices of their State on none save those who sought them; which was a good institution at first, because then none sought these offices save those who thought themselves worthy of them, and to be rejected was held disgraceful; so that, to be deemed worthy, all were on their best behavior. But in a corrupted city this institution grew to be most mischievous. For it was no longer those of greatest worth, but those who had the most influence who sought the magistracies; while all who were without influence, however deserving, refrained through fear. This untoward result was not reached all at once, but like other similar results, by gradual steps. For after subduing Africa and Asia and reducing nearly the whole of Greece to submission, the Romans became perfectly assured of their freedom, and seemed to themselves no longer to have any enemy whom they had cause to fear. But this security and the weakness of their adversaries led them in conferring the consulship, no longer to look to merit, but only to favor, selecting for the office those who knew best how to pay court to them, not those who who knew best how to vanquish their enemies. And afterwards, instead of selecting those who were best liked, they came to select those who had most influence; and in this way, from the imperfection of their institutions, good men came to be wholly excluded."

"Discourses on Livy" Niccolo Machiavelli, c. 1519

[MaceWindu]

"For my money, there are two kinds of men that walk the earth: #1. Men of action and #2: All others..."

- LTC Randolph C. White Jr.


Mace

[Spade]

Pain don't hurt. Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse. Cheesy I know but funny

Listen up, maggots. You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. Tyler Durden in Fight Club

Retreat! Hell, we're just attacking in a different direction.
"Chesty" Puller

[they]

When thy anger moves, still thy hand...When thy hand moves, still thy anger.

[sjc3081]

"If you must fuck somebody ,it might as well be someone who deserves it".
Me

[f.2]

This was already posted in March, but it needs a repeat.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing."

Edmund Burke 1729 – 1797

[rharris2163]

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
George Orwell


Not to be a pee pee head but the actual quote is:

"We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those that would do us harm". ;)

[Striker5]

Whoever makes war, whether from from policy or ambition, means to acquire and to hold what he acquires, and to carry on the war he has undertaken in such a manner that it shall enrich and not impoverish his native country and State. It is necessary, therefore, whether for acquiring or holding, to condsider how cost may be avoided, and everything be done most advantageously for the public welfare. But whoever would effect all this, must take the course and follow the method of the Romans, which consisted, first of all, in making their wars, as the French say "great and short". For entering the field with strong armies, they brought to a speedy conclusion whatever wars they had with the Latins, the Samnites, or the Etruscans.
And if we take note of all the wars in which they were engaged, from the foundation of their city down to the seige of Veii, all will be seen to have been quickly ended some in twenty, some in ten and some in no more than six days. And this was their wont - so soon as war was declared they would go forth with their armies to meet the enemy and at once deliver battle.

If any man obtain it (military command) by other means, he will soon discover that advancement due to chance or intrigue rather takes away than brings reputation, since it is men who give lustre to titles and not titles to men.

-Machiavelli

[TraderJack]

"America is not at war. The U.S. Military is at war.
America is at the mall." - Anonymous

[Matt Edwards]

You can purchase a cheap AR if you want to. However, when you are stacked up and after the flash bang goes off, you may wish you had something a little more...expensive.
A Rifle Company 1SG

[KintlaLake]

"Now decide if you want to be the chef or the entree, because the Hell Restaurant is open for business, and only the man with the carving knife and the full belly is walking out alive."

-- Louis Awerbuck, "Welcome to the Jungle" (S.W.A.T., June '08)

[sewvacman]

Trust few...and row your own canoe.
R. Shurtleff

Stupid should hurt
Someones running around here with this tag.

[mario]

We're all gonna die, just a question of when.

[MaceWindu]

"People think that being a world class shooter is so fucking hard. Its not. Its just that 99.9% of people who own guns can't fucking shoot...."

"I'm digressing here, but shooting is easy, once you know WTF you should be doing..."

-Basicload-


"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will takes it's place. If you quit,

however, it lasts forever.

-Lance Armstrong-


"The muzzle end of a .45, pretty much says "Go away", in any language."

-Clint Smith-

[rat31465]

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

The United States Constituition. Second Amendment