Joker One Quotes

“I became amazed at how much my men would tolerate if someone just took the time to explain the why of it all to them.”
― Donovan Campbell, Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood

“You can only pretend that you're already dead and thus free yourself up to focus on three things: 1) finding and killing the enemy, 2) communicating the situation and resulting actions to adjacent units and higher headquarters, and 3) triaging and treating your wounded. If you love your men, you naturally think about number three first, but if you do you're wrong. The grim logic of combat dictates that numbers one and two take precedence.”
― Donovan Campbell, Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood

“. Our platoon, along with third and fourth, launched out of the Combat Outpost on foot, with two Humvees mounting medium machine guns in support. After fighting our way west through the city for an hour or so, Joker One received orders to hit a building “just north of the Saddam mosque minaret, at the very middle of the city.” Immediately, the Ox’s voice crackled over the radio. “Roger, Bastard Five, will do. Be advised, what’s a minaret? Over.” A long silence followed, then the radio barked back: “Joker Five, the minaret is the large tower that every single mosque in the city has next to it. Looks like a big dick. Over.”
― Donovan Campbell, Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood

“Once all the little questions have been answered, those answers must be practiced again and again until they become muscle memory.”
― Donovan Campbell, Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood

“And the Corps as a whole focuses on its heroes and on its magnificent battle history, partly to instill a strong service culture in its new recruits, partly to instill the values necessary to do the job, and partly to teach all Marines that they have the potential to achieve something beyond themselves. After all, young Marines can understand and aspire to valor and greatness; death and defeat they cannot.”
― Donovan Campbell, Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood

“became amazed at how much my men would tolerate if someone just took the time to explain the why of it all to them.”
― Donovan Campbell, Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood

“every time we did something tedious and painful, we tried to lay out the reason behind the drills to everyone.”
― Donovan Campbell, Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood

“In our world, basic tasks have to be repeatedly rehearsed in conditions mimicking predicted combat scenarios as faithfully as possible.”
― Donovan Campbell, Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood