What It is Like to Go to War

by Karl Marlantes

“Don’t you see the other guy’s fate put him on the opposite side from you?” I nodded. “So there you are. Now, what you had to do was fill out your side of the bargain with a noble heart. It’s your intentions and your nobility in how you conduct yourself in this world of opposites that you’ve got to think about. Did you intend right?”

Krishna, you know that I am not a coward. This is not weakness. It is compassion for the enemy.” Arjuna sat silent, refusing to fight.

People can eventually judge rationally whether or not they’re on the wrong side of a political fight about human rights and values and it would just be better to quit fighting; people generally cannot judge rationally when it’s a religious fight.

Behavior sets standards, not ideals.

This nonsense went on in Vietnam for several reasons. Probably the most important was that the president and a group of advisers insisted on running things from Washington with no clear military objectives to pursue.

more than usual affection and harmony prevailed in a state which was at war.” This is certainly true.