Ben

“Ronald Reagan has a stack of three-by-five cards in his lap. He skids up a new one: "What advice do you, as the youngest American fighting man ever to win both the Navy Cross and the Silver Star, have for any young marines on their way to Guadalcanal?"

Shaftoe doesn't have to think very long. The memories are still as fresh as last night's eleventh nighmare: ten plucky Nips in Suicide Charge!

"Just kill the one with the sword first."

"Ah," Reagan says, raising his waxed and penciled eyebrows, and cocking his pompadour in Shaftoe's direction. "Smarrrt--you target them because they're the officers, right?"

"No, fuckhead!" Shaftoe yells. "You kill 'em because they've got fucking swords! You ever had anyone running at you waving a fucking sword?”
― Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon

“No soldier likes the thought of losing his best friend and favorite toy.”
― Glen Cook, Soldiers Live

“Maxim 6:
If violence wasn't your last resort, you failed to resort to enough of it.

-The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries”
― Howard Tayler

“Only time can heal your broken heart. Just as only time can heal his broken arms and legs.”
― Miss Piggy