Great Military Statements

[bmwgs]

Found this posted on another forum I frequent.  I though some of them were pretty funny.

Fred

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"If the enemy is in range, so are you."

Infantry Journal


   

"It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed."

      U.S. Air Force Manual 

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"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons."

- General MacArthur 

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  "You, you, and you .... Panic. The rest of you, come with me."

  - U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt.

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  "Tracers work both ways."

  -  U.S.    Army Ordnance

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  "Five second fuses only last three seconds."

  - Infantry Journal

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  "Any ship can be a minesweeper....Once."

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  "Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do."

  - Unknown Marine Recruit

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  Clean it, if it's Dirty.

  Oil it, if it Squeaks.

  But:  Don't Screw with it if it Works!

  USAF Electronic Technician

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  "If you see a bomb technician running, keep up with him."

     USAF  - Ammo Troop

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  "Yea, Though I Fly Through the  Valley    of  Death    ,

  I Shall Fear No Evil.

  For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing."

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 "You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3."

  - Paul F. Crickmore ( test pilot, SR-71 )

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  A Navigator's Definition of Latitude & Longitude:

  Latitude is Where We are Lost,

  &

  Longitude is How Long We've been Lost There!

  USAF Navi-guesser

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  "The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire."

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  "If the wings are travelling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter -- however, it's probably unsafe in any case "

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  "When one engine fails on a twin-engine air plane, you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash."

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  "What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots?

  If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies;

  If ATC screws up, .... The pilot dies."

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  The three most common expressions (or famous last words), in aviation are: 

  "Why is it doing that?"

  "Where are we?"

> and

  "Oh Sh..t!"

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"Airspeed, altitude and brains.

  Two out of three are needed to successfully complete the flight."

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 "Mankind has a perfect record in aviation.

  We never left one up there!"

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"Flying the air plane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground who is incapable of understanding or doing anything about it."

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"The Piper Cub is the safest air plane in the world; it can just barely kill you."

  - Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot)

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"There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime."

  - Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970

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"If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to."

Heard muttered by Dale Woods! 

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"You know that your landing gear is up and locked

  when it takes FULL power to taxi to the terminal."

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As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives; the rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks, "What happened?"  The pilot's reply: "Beats the toejam outta me,  I just got here myself."

[EskimoJoe]

 

Very nice, I like some of those versions more so than previous ones I've heard/read. 

[MachFly]

'Flashlights are tubular metal containers kept in a flight bag to store dead batteries.'

Basic Flying Rules: 'Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there.'

'Don't draw fire; it irritates the people around you.'

'They say that everything that goes up must come down, our CO says everything that went up and came down has better be able to go back up again'

'Try to look unimportant; they may be low on ammo.'- Infantry Journal

'When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend.'
- U.S. Marine Corps

'Aim towards the Enemy'
- Instructions printed on U.S. Rocket Launcher

[WyoKId]

"Shut up and die like an aviator"


- An Unknown Jarhead

[DREDIOCK]

One of the serious problems in planning the fight against American doctrine, is that the Americans do not read their manuals, nor do they feel any obligation to follow their doctrine...
- From a Soviet Junior Lt's Notebook

No combat ready unit has ever passed inspection

Never trust a private with a loaded weapon, or an officer with a map

Don't draw fire, it irritates the people around you.

A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade launcher fire when you least expect it. That would make you quite unpopular in what's left of your unit.

"We have women in the military, but they don't put us in the front lines. They don't know if we can fight, if we can kill. I think we can. All the general has to do is walk over to the women and say, 'You see the enemy over there? They say you look fat in those uniforms.'"— Elayne Boosler

[4deck]

I alwas enjoyed some of Pattons quotes.


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Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
War As I Knew It (1947) by George S. Patton, "Reflections and Suggestions"

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Have taken Trier with two divisions. What do you want me to do? Give it back?
Reply to a message from General Dwight Eisenhower to bypass the German city of Trier because it would take four divisions to capture it (2 March 1945)

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Some whoopee fool once said that flanks have got to be secure. Since then sonofasqueakes all over the globe have been guarding their flanks. I don't agree with that. My flanks are something for the enemy to worry about, not me. Before he finds out where my flanks are, I'll be cutting the bastard's throat.
Conference with his officers (1 August 1944), as quoted in General Patton : A Soldiers Life (2002) by Stanley P. Hirshon, p. 502


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We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.
As quoted in Pocket Patriot :

[Imowface]

"It takes a brave man not to be a hero in the Red Army" - Joseph Stalin

[007Rusty]

                 "NUTS"   

[Pigslilspaz]

too many to count. but here is skippy's list

[Changeup]

"When you men get home and face an anti-war protester, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend, because she knows she's dating a p-u-s-s-y."
Gen Tommy Franks

“Victory is reserved for those who are willing to pay its price.”       
Sun Tzu

"When we do our jobs, people shoot at us....how was your day at the office?"
Col David Hackworth USA ret.

"Initial Success or Total Failure"
EOD Motto

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

"Somewhere a True Believer is training to kill you. He is training with minimum food or water, in austere conditions, day and night. The only thing clean on him is his weapon. He doesn't worry about what workout to do---his rucksack weighs what it weighs, and he runs until the enemy stops chasing him. The True Believer doesn't care 'how hard  it is'; he knows he either wins or he dies. He doesn't go home at 1700; he is home. He knows only the 'Cause.'  Now, who wants to quit?"
NCOIC of the Special Forces Assessment and Selection Course in a welcome speech to new SF candidates

“…an imperfect plan implemented immediately and violently will always succeed better than a perfect plan.”                        
General George S. Patton

[Dichotomy]

Listed in no particular order
The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave...
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From time to time, the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots.
--Thomas Jefferson--

We have met the enemy and they are ours!
--Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, 1813--

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 Stewart Mill--

War is cruelty. There's no use trying to reform it, the crueler it is the sooner it will be over.
--William Tecumseh Sherman--

If it moves, salute it; if it doesn't move, pick it up; and if you can't pick it up, paint it.
--Anonymous (1940's saying)--

Army: A body of men assembled to rectify the mistakes of the diplomats.
--Josephus Daniels--

Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world, but the Marines don't have that problem.
--Ronald Reagan--

A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living.
--John F. Kennedy--

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
--George Patton--

Diplomats are just as essential in starting a war as soldiers are in finishing it.
--Will Rogers--

We make war that we may live in peace.
--Aristotle--

In war there is no substitute for victory.
--General Douglas MacArthur--

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 Miller Hemmingway--

Always forgive your enemies--nothing annoys them so much.
--Oscar Wilde--

Being in the army is like being in the Boy Scouts, except that the Boy Scouts have adult supervision.
--Blake Clark--

Discipline is simply the art of making the soldiers fear their officers more than the enemy.
--Helvetius--

Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier.
--Samuel Johnson--

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

Now I recall the Recon Marines ragged, filthy cammie shirted young men in green paint who move silent like the fog with deadly purpose in their eyes. Swift, Silent, Deadly. I smile. -
--GYSGT Correll, USMC, Retired-- Recon Marine

Hard pressed on my right. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I am attacking.
--Ferdinand Foch-- at the Battle of the Marne

[expat]

where the hell did those indians come from ........
custer

[R 105]

The difference between the Army and the Marine corp.

If the Marines want to know who is hiding in a building, they send in a squad of Marines to search
it from room to room.

If the Army wants to know who is hiding in a building we set it on fire and see who runs out.


( US Army Infantry training center Ft. Polk LA)

[branch37]

"In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it." - Erwin Rommel

[Bino]

The main endeavor should be to concentrate one's own forces in space and time
in order to split the enemy forces spatially and destroy them at different times.  - Rommel