7 ITEM CHECKLIST

Here's a set of values you can use as a yardstick when going through the recruiting and selection process for your team; these values work the same whether in business or the security profession (which is, of course, a business):


Dependability


Character


Loyalty


Work Ethic


Finances


Personal Issues


Trust


Here's a useful mnenomic to remember this checklist:

“Don’t Consider Letting Worthless Flaky People Try out”

* * *

When I first got out of the service and started out in security-related business, I became very interested in the application of military leadership principles business applications. It occurred to me that business leadership training exists for the very upper levels of management - they have their MBAs, etcetera - but there is little or no training available for the first-line supervisors and mid-level managers. I wrote a few articles on the subject for trade magazines, and even gave a couple of seminar presentations.

Three years on I am disappointed to report that what I have encountered more often than not is that 'management' is actually 'leadership by committee' - in place of true leadership itself. This is the end result of a business climate where pro-active decision-making is often viewed as incurring risk, and risk-taking is discouraged.

A good article I found that explores the theme of Leader vs. Manager vs. Executive is found in Organizational Behavior & Leadership - an Ezine that covers Business Strategy, Leadership, Organizational Behavior & Organizational Development.

I consulted a family friend; Matt had a long and honorable career as a policeman in Calcutta, an officer with the Gurkhas in World War II, and as a mechanical engineer working on power plants in Bangladesh and Thailand. His advice: "When you first take charge of a new outfit, there will be one guy there who doesn't fit in, who you will have nothing but trouble with. My advice is to find out who that guy is, and get rid of him as soon as possible."

The Leader always sets the trail for others to follow.



CONTRAST AND COMPARE DEPARTMENT

Loyal Reader and Charter Member of Team STORMBRINGER (who wishes to remain un-named) brings this gem to our attention - re-posted from Ace of Spades HQ:


DECIDEDLY DIFFERENT WAYS TO USE "I" IN A SPEECH

President Bush's Speech Upon the Capture of Saddam Hussein

Commenter "Crusty" had a good idea. He went back and looked at George W. Bush's speech after the capture of Saddam Hussein in order to compare it with Obama's self-aggrandizing "I was practically there, man" speech last Sunday. You know, the one where he used the word "I" like a carpenter uses ten penny nails.
Victor Davis Hanson - whom we also follow here at Team STORMBRINGER.
pulled all the first person references:


Obama's speech:

“Tonight, I can report . . . And so shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta . . . I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden . . . I met repeatedly with my national security team . . . I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action. . . . Today, at my direction . . . I’ve made clear . . . Over the years, I’ve repeatedly made clear . . . Tonight, I called President Zardari . . . and my team has also spoken. . .These efforts weigh on me every time I, as Commander-in-Chief . . . Finally, let me say to the families . . . . I know that it has, at times, frayed. . . ..”


Compare that with the speech given by George W. Bush on December 14, 2003:


Good afternoon. Yesterday, December the 13th, at around 8:30 p.m. Baghdad time, United States military forces captured Saddam Hussein alive. He was found near a farmhouse outside the city of Tikrit, in a swift raid conducted without casualties. And now the former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions.

The capture of this man was crucial to the rise of a free Iraq. It marks the end of the road for him, and for all who bullied and killed in his name. For the Baathist holdouts largely responsible for the current violence, there will be no return to the corrupt power and privilege they once held. For the vast majority of Iraqi citizens who wish to live as free men and women, this event brings further assurance that the torture chambers and the secret police are gone forever.

And this afternoon, I have a message for the Iraqi people: You will not have to fear the rule of Saddam Hussein ever again. All Iraqis who take the side of freedom have taken the winning side. The goals of our coalition are the same as your goals -- sovereignty for your country, dignity for your great culture, and for every Iraqi citizen, the opportunity for a better life.

In the history of Iraq, a dark and painful era is over. A hopeful day has arrived. All Iraqis can now come together and reject violence and build a new Iraq.

The success of yesterday's mission is a tribute to our men and women now serving in Iraq. The operation was based on the superb work of intelligence analysts who found the dictator's footprints in a vast country. The operation was carried out with skill and precision by a brave fighting force. Our servicemen and women and our coalition allies have faced many dangers in the hunt for members of the fallen regime, and in their effort to bring hope and freedom to the Iraqi people. Their work continues, and so do the risks. Today, on behalf of the nation, I thank the members of our Armed Forces and I congratulate 'em.

I also have a message for all Americans: The capture of Saddam Hussein does not mean the end of violence in Iraq. We still face terrorists who would rather go on killing the innocent than accept the rise of liberty in the heart of the Middle East. Such men are a direct threat to the American people, and they will be defeated.

We've come to this moment through patience and resolve and focused action. And that is our strategy moving forward. The war on terror is a different kind of war, waged capture by capture, cell by cell, and victory by victory. Our security is assured by our perseverance and by our sure belief in the success of liberty. And the United States of America will not relent until this war is won.

May God bless the people of Iraq, and may God bless America.

Thank you.



ADMIN NOTE: Yesterday's Post A MODERN MERCENARY ARMY included a link to the New York Times article - 5 pages long - which included much more detail regarding the challenges Erik Prince has encountered in standing up a small army with Special Operations capabilities. A reader pointed out that I failed to include the link; then I was working all afternoon and all night and now I'm having the Devil of a time finding the original NYT article. I will continue working toward providing this information. - S.L.



Today's Bird HERE


.

THE LOMBARDI CREDO

". . . Leaders are made, they are not born; and they are made just like anything else has been made in this country - by hard effort. And that's the price we all have to pay to achieve that goal or any goal.

". . . And despite of what we say about being born equal, none of us really are born equal, but rather unequal. And yet the talented are no more responsible for their birthright than the underprivileged. And the measure of each should be what each does in a specific situation.

" . . . It is becoming increasingly difficult to be tolerant of a society who has sympathy only for the misfits, only for the maladjusted, only for the criminal, only for the loser. Have sympathy for them, help them, but I think it is also time for all of us to stand up for and to cheer for the doer, the achiever, one who recognizes a problem and does something about it, one who looks at something extra to do for hid country, the winner, the leader!"

ADMIN NOTES

I've been tooling around the Blogger service, trying to jazz up the STORMBRINGER Experience . . .


Are YOU "Experienced"?


OK so I've cracked the code of the links (to the right on your screen) . . . IF YOU ASKED TO BE LINKED AND I DIDN'T DO IT - I DIDN'T BLOW YOU OFF I was still learning and I know at least one guy fell off my radar . . .


I'm struggling with ad sense on getting some better ads, stuff that's military related . . . if you see an ad for something TOTALLY WEIRD be advised I have no control over some of that stuff that's coming across the screen . . .


The products and services I personally endorse are to the right there - my buddy Mike's Screamin' Eagle Softail Custom Harley:




I have seen this bike and featured it on Theo's LAST of the FEW and STORMBRINGER last summer - THIS BIKE HAS TO BE SEEN TO BE BELIEVED . . . like the ad says: "meticulously detailed, garage kept beauty" and I can attest it DOES have less than 1000 miles.


. . . and a new Friend of STORMBRINGER: Caspi Silver by Amnon Caspi:





He makes the Sterling Silver Joysticks from famous IDF combat airplanes including the Mirage, the F-4 Phantom and the F-16:





Amnon makes other cool things as well, like miniature Jerusalem Walled City Business Card holders - as soon as I rate a permanent office and a desk I'm getting one of those - and other Holy Land related items.


STORMBRINGER GOT SUCKED INTO POLITICS this past couple of weeks . . . I told you it generates Dark Energy within me . . .


Dark Energy


What can I say? There's been some big dealings going down in Dog City - all you suckers who think the Federal Government is going to take care of you - did you forget already all that hullabaloo last year over the deplorable state of affairs at the VA and Walter Reed? Well guess what? Walter Reed is the SHINING JEWEL of Government Healthcare - you ought to pay it a visit, see what you're in for. Bring some kind of kerchief for your nose, maybe some Vicks VapoRub to put under your nose there like they did in Silence of the Lambs - the place smells of urine.





This post signals a return to the original vision of Blog STORMBRINGER . . . to fight Evil wherever and whenever it manifests itself . . . to promote military themes . . . cool facts and anecdotes from history . . . international security . . . the Holy Land . . . guns . . . leadership . . . survival . . . honor . . .





. . . the Paratrooper Mystique . . .









. . . and the general kaleidoscope of WAR WEIRDNESS . . .



. . . that followers of Blog STORMBRINGER have come to love and expect . . .






"Read responsibly, my friends . . ."




.

DYNAMIC LEADERSHIP

NOT ! ! !





"A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution applied ten minutes later."


"Do everything you ask of those you command."


"Do not make excuses, whether it’s your fault or not."


"Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men."


"No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair."


"No one is thinking if everyone is thinking alike."


"Say what you mean and mean what you say."


"Take calculated risks."


"The more senior the officer, the more time he has to go to the front."


"The only tactical principle which is not subject to change; it is, “To use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wounds, death and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time."


"War is simple, direct and ruthless."









- General Patton's Maxims

TRUISMs

If it's stupid but it works, it isn't stupid.



"People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an
election." - Otto Von Bismarck



When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not your friend.

PHILOSOPHY OF STORMBRINGER

"Life is hard - it's harder if you're stupid!"


Famous Last Words:

Sure I can navigate! See my Ranger Tab?

By the looks of this training schedule, we're going to be pretty busy so you might as well leave your party money and civvies at home!

You don't need to pack your sleeping bag! A poncho liner and field jacket will do it!

THE SIX PHASES OF A PROJECT

1. Enthusiasm

2. Disillusionment

3. Panic

4. Search for the Guilty

5. Punishment of the Innocent

6. Praise and Honors for the Non-Participants

BREAD AND CIRCUSES

"When a nation is at war it is beyond folly, it is criminal to do anything other than to try to win it." - the Philosophy of STORMBRINGER

Obama's response to this ultimate leadership challenge? He has reportedly given over 65 interviews in 8 months, but has only spoken with General McChrystal once since he was appointed Commander, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) on June 15th.

This is a man with a plan.

General McChrystal recently requested between 30,000 and 40,000 more troops in Afghanistan. While McChrystal warns that the war may be lost if more troops are not sent, he remains cautiously optimistic: “While the situation is serious, success is still achievable."

This was the war that we had to win, remember? Versus Iraq, which was the "...wrong war, at the wrong time..." The enemy in the Afghanistan theater includes the people behind 9/11, al Qaeda, and their sponsors the Taliban.





Let there be no doubt about it: these people want nothing less than to kill each and every one of us.






Our enemies are emboldened, and our Commander-in-Chief is voting "Present".

Obama is now heading off to Copenhagen to try to . . . win the Olympics for Chicago in 2016!?!?! Somebody help me out here - isn't this the sort of thing we have state governors and city mayors for?

I seem to recall the 2002 Olympic Winter Games bid scandal: allegations of bribery to obtain the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. President Obama has already moved the entire Chicago Democrat Political Machine into the Whitehouse - that is who all these Czars you've heard about actually are. Can you imagine the pork and largess that's going to be thrown around trying to secure this vital National Security objective?



"Bread and circuses" (from the Latin: panem et circenses) became the method that the ruling class of Imperial Rome used to maintain their power and control of the people. The Emperor would distribute bread, to placate the mob, and sponsor games - at the Colosseum, and / or the Circus Maximus.

The Circus Maximus

Talk about fiddling while Rome burns - what we are witnessing here is the moral equivalent of dereliction of duty by our Commander-in-Chief.

MEDITATIONS ON THE ART OF DEFENSE . . .

"The unknowing try to defend everything at once, but the knowledgeable look at the main point only; they parry the worst blows and stand a little hurt if thereby they avoid a greater one. If you try to hold everything, you hold nothing." - Frederick the Great





The following is part of an ongoing series or articles & seminar presentations I do on Military Leadership Principles adapted for business owners and managers. The thoughts below were contributed by an old friend who has also been my mentor since the late 80's - S.L.

In business, as in war, the purpose of defensive operations is to buy time, hold terrain, facilitate other operations, preoccupy your adversary, and erode his resources. Your situation & circumstances will always differ; the principles always remain the same. Defending forces await the attacker's blow and defeat the attack by successfully deflecting it. Waiting for the attack is not a passive activity - leaders/managers should seek to strengthen their forces through training and provide no advantage to an adversary before hostile actions begin.


SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE:

o Is aggressive.

o Uses accurate / integrated direct fire - think "Counter-measures."

o Maximizes firepower, ability to maneuver, and leverage protection - think: "Keep your options open."

o Denies your adversary the ability to use leverage or to gain initiative.

o Contains the following characteristics:
- Preparation
- Effective monitoring and surveillance
- Flexible, adaptive, and exploit opportunities
- Fusion of command & control, technologies, and precision fire



To be ready, one MUST:

PREPARE:

o Study the surrounding terrain in great detail with complete understanding - Be knowledgable & totally aware of your operational environment.

o Continually rehearse (either mentally or physically) actions to be taken if an attack occurs whenever and wherever you are at any moment day or night. Have contingency plans, policies and written SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) in place, and make sure your management staff are aware of them.

o Preparations are continuous and in-depth (PACE - Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency).

o Ensure outer perimeter reconnaissance and both inner and outer surveillance are effective and continuous. Be aware of when you are being observed, and when your perimeter is being probed.

o Apply deception wherever feasible - Throw out red herrings; give your opposition false targets to go after.


TO WIN WITHOUT FIGHTING - this is the greatest victory - Sun Tzu


o Make yourself a 'Hard Target' - create the ability / appearance of being "too hard to do."

o Know your job and be prepared to perform it in every way - "Fate Favors the Prepared."

o Detect reconnaissance and surveillance - Know when you are being watched, when your organization is being probed.

o Give your adversary nothing of value that is within your sphere of influence.



- contributed by STORMRUNNER – the "Deacon of Doom", old friend and mentor of STORMBRINGER.

STORMBRINGER's BOOKSHELF

This is what I'm reading right now - or rather, this is what I'm RE-reading - I first read this EXCELLENT treatise on Leadership back in the early 90's. I still soldier by the tenets I gleaned from it then. - S.L.









ATTILA (406-53), King of the Huns (433-453 A.D.)
Attila (called Etzel by the Germans or Ethele in Hungarians, was a member of the ruling family of the Huns, a nomadic Asian people who spread from the Caspian steppes throughout the Roman Empire in search of global conquest. By AD 432, the Huns had gained so much power that they were receiving a large annual tribute from Rome.

By AD 451, Attila's army consisted of 700,000 warriors, and was intent on nothing less than ransacking Rome itself. They had earlier moved against the Chinese Empire but were turned away. The Huns had a reputation for cruelty and barbarism that was not undeserved. They ate their meat raw (often human flesh), had little use for virgins, and possessed a strong appetite for murder and mayhem. No one could look Attila in the eyes, not even any of his 400 wives.

(My kind of guy! - S.L.)

THE LESSONS OF ATTILA:

#1: YOU MUST WANT TO BE IN CHARGE - You've got to be ruthlessly ambitious. Never be bored, disinterested, or cowardly in any way about always strengthening your position. Good leaders are lustful leaders. Power is like sex, but don't appear overeager, just extremely determined to succeed under any circumstances, fair or unfair. (This will inspire confidence in those you lead).

#2: ALWAYS APPEAR AS THE ONE IN CHARGE - Dress appropriately for your high station in life. Own the biggest horse and sword. Be first in everything, but never appear pompous. (Be marked with armament that distinguishes you from the masses).

#3: MAKE OTHERS ADAPT TO YOUR "CUSTOMS" - Make people do things your way, not their way. Make them adjust or adapt to you. Express this as the way things are going to be from now on, or pretend it's the way things have always been. Refuse to acknowledge any other way of doing things other than the way you do things. (This will extract tribute and praise from those you lead).

#4: NEVER CONDONE A LACK OF MORALE OR DISCIPLINE - Terminate people at the first sign of disrespect for the common good, but by no means stifle individualism or punish the innocent who don't know the common good. Definitely, do not allow uncontrolled celebration. Pillaging and looting are only fun if done in the name of nationalism. (Discipline builds morale).

#5: NEVER TOLERATE ANYONE WITH THEIR OWN AMBITIONS - People who are "cunning" are dangerous, especially new people who have just joined the organization. Be vigilant about how people lose their ambition and become team players; that is the pattern you want everyone to follow. Never reward anyone for what is a common effort. (The spirit of unity must prevail).

#6: PERPETUATE A LEGEND OR REPUTATION FOR YOURSELF - Find out whatever it is that your worst enemy calls you, and try hard to live up to it, with a passion. This will have its advantages to you whenever you need to use your fury and power, and it will accumulate minor privileges to you along the way. (You are your reputation).

#7: PICK YOUR ENEMIES WISELY - Do not consider all opponents, or everyone you argue with, as enemies. These are accidental enemies. Choose your enemies with purpose. They may be people you have friendly relations with, and in fact, you should let them think of you as a friend, all the while never telling them anything, and lulling them into a state of complacence and acting prematurely. (Do not make enemies unless you mean it).

#8: EXPECT CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT - You must encourage learning and innovation among those you lead. This can be done in several ways, by creating competitions among the people. Never allow them to wander aimlessly. Regularly upgrade your standards of performance. (This fulfills most of a leader's duties).

#9: USE TIMING IN MAKING DECISIONS - Never rush a decision, although sometimes you have to because the moment is ripe or an omen exists. It's better to use timing, to find the obscure places and critical elements needed to ensure you always make the right decision. This way, you ensure that even a less-than-perfect decision is followed. (Time your decisions).

#10: EXPLOIT THE DESIRE TO ENJOY THE SPOILS OF WAR - Harness your peoples' desires for short-term gains. Grant small rewards for light tasks. Reserve heaps of booty for other times, and be generous with items that hold a value to yourself. (Never underestimate the ability to buy obedience).

#11: ONLY ENGAGE IN WARS YOU CAN WIN - Use diplomacy, negotiation, or other techniques of conflict in battles you cannot win. When in a political war, always keep an eye to your rear. When in an external war, go all out. (Waging war is a natural condition).



Attila, Scourge of God

GENERAL PATTON’s MAXIMS

General George S. Patton III "Old Blood and Guts" 1885–1945

These are the Leadership Maxims of General George S. Patton. They apply equally to all levels of Leadership, whether you are leading an army across Africa and Europe, running a Fortune-500 company, or managing an auto spare parts store on Mainstreet, USA.

A commander will command.

A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution applied ten minutes later.

A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood.

Be alert to the source of trouble.

By perseverance, study, and eternal desire, any man can become great.

Do everything you ask of those you command.

Do more than is required of you.

Do not fear failure.

Do not make excuses, whether it’s your fault or not.

Do not take counsel of your fears.

Do your duty as you see it and damn the consequences.

Fame never yet found a man who waited to be found.

Genius is an immense capacity for taking pains.

Give credit where it’s due.

Good tactics can save even the worst strategy. Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy.

Haste and speed are not synonymous.

I prefer a loyal staff officer to a brilliant one.

In case of doubt, attack.

It’s the unconquerable soul of man, not the nature of the weapon he uses, that insures victory.

Keep a quick line of communications.

Lack of orders is no excuse for inaction.

Make your plans to fit the circumstances.

Many soldiers are led to faulty ideas of war by knowing too much about too little.

Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men.

Never fight a battle when nothing is gained by winning.

Never let the enemy pick the battle site.

No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair.

No one is thinking if everyone is thinking alike.

Officers must assert themselves by example and by voice.

One must choose a system and stick to it.

Say what you mean and mean what you say.

Select leaders for accomplishment – not for affection.

Strategy and tactics do not change. Only the means of applying them are different.

Success is how you bounce on the bottom.

Take calculated risks.

The leader must be an actor.

The more senior the officer, the more time he has to go to the front.

The only thing to do when a son-of-a-bitch looks cross-eyed at you is to beat the hell out of him right then and there.

The soldier is the army.

The only tactical principle which is not subject to change; it is, “To use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wounds, death and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time.”

There is only one type of discipline, perfect discipline.

War is simple, direct and ruthless.

We can never get anything across unless we talk the language of the people we are trying to instruct.

You must be single minded. Drive for the one thing on which you have decided.

You’re never beaten until you admit it.

"We're not just going to shoot the bastards, we're going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks."

We could use more than a few leaders like Patton in this day and age - S.L.

SEAN LINNANE’s 3 RULES of LEADERSHIP

Over the years I developed this; twenty-five years of serving with some of the greatest soldiers ever walked the face of the Earth, refined, filtered and distilled down to three simple Rules. Meditate upon them.

RULE # 1: NEVER LIE TO THE TROOPS.
Joe Snuffy can smell a lie a mile off. Once you’ve lied to your men, you are no longer the leader; you’re just the guy standing out in front of the formation.

RULE# 2: NEVER TELL A MAN TO DO SOMETHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DO YOURSELF.
Show your team you are willing and able to do every job on the team, no matter how low-down, dirty or dangerous.

RULE# 3: NEVER GIVE AN ORDER YOU KNOW WILL NOT BE OBEYED.
Find logical, common-sense options out of by-the-book dilemmas; otherwise you will only set yourself up for ridicule and failure.


SEAN LINNANE SENDS
.

Murphy’s Law of Combat Operations

This post represents the beginning of a series on Leadership. I was first exposed to this brilliant piece of wisdom as a private, when I signed into A Company, 1st/325 Airborne Infantry Regiment (known throughout the 82nd Airborne as the infamous 'AlphaTraz'). There was a copy of these Murphy's Laws over the CQ Desk, decorated with a skull in a maroon beret over crossed M16's. Over the years I've seen a few different versions of this, but the core Laws remain the same - SEAN LINNANE

1. Friendly fire – isn’t.
2. Recoilless rifles – aren’t.
3. Suppressive fire – won’t.
4. You are not Superman.
5. A sucking chest wound is Nature’s way of telling you to slow down.
6. If it’s stupid but it works, it isn’t stupid.
7. Try to look unimportant; the enemy may be low on ammo.
8. If at first you don’t succeed, call in an airstrike.
9. If you are forward of your position, your artillery will fall short.
10. Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than yourself.
11. Never go to bed with anyone crazier than yourself.
12. Never forget that your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.
13. If your attack is going really well, you’re walking into an ambush.
14. The enemy diversion you’re ignoring is their main attack.
15. The enemy invariably attacks on two occasions: A) when they’re ready, B) when you’re not ready.
16. No OPLAN ever survives initial contact.
17. There is no such thing as a perfect plan.
18. Five-second fuzes always burn three seconds.
19. There is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole.
20. A retreating enemy is probably just falling back and regrouping.
21. The important things are always simple; the simple are always hard.
22. The easy way is always mined.
23. Teamwork is essential; it gives the enemy other people to shoot at.
24. Don’t look conspicuous; it draws fire. For this reason, it is not at all uncommon for aircraft carriers to be known as bomb magnets.
25. Never draw fire; it irritates everyone around you.
26. If you are short of everything but enemy, you are in the combat zone.
27. When you have secured the area, make sure to inform the enemy.
28. Incoming fire has the right of way.
29. No combat ready unit has ever passed inspection.
30. No inspection ready unit has ever passed combat.
31. If the enemy is within range, so are you.
32. The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.
33. Things which must be shipped together as a set, aren’t.
34. Things that must work together, can’t be carried to the field that way.
35. Radios will fail as soon as you need fire support.
36. Radar tends to fail at night and in bad weather, and especially during both.
37. Anything you do can get you killed, including nothing.
38. Make it too tough for the enemy to get in, and you won’t be able to get out.
39. Tracers work both ways.
40. If you take more than your fair share of objectives, you will get more than your fair share of objectives to take.
41. When both sides are convinced they’re about to lose, they’re both right.
42. Professional soldiers are predictable, but the world is full of dangerous amateurs.
43. Military Intelligence is a contradiction of terms.
44. Fortify your front; you’ll get your rear shot up.
45. Weather ain’t neutral.
46. If you can’t remember, the Claymore is pointed towards you.
47. Air defense motto: shoot ‘em down; sort ‘em out on the ground.
48. Flies high, it dies; low and slow, it’ll go.
49. The Cavalry doesn’t always come to the rescue.
50. Napalm is an area support weapon.
51. Mines are equal opportunity weapons.
52. B-52s are the ultimate close support weapon.
53. Sniper’s motto: reach out and touch someone.
54. Killing for peace is like screwing for virginity.
55. The one item you need is always in short supply.
56. Interchangeable parts aren’t.
57. It’s not the one with your name on it; it’s the one addressed “to whom it may concern” you’ve got to think about.
58. When in doubt, empty your magazine.
59. The side with the simplest uniforms wins.
60. Combat will occur on the ground between two adjoining maps.
61. If the Platoon Sergeant can see you, so can the enemy.
62. Never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down, never stay awake when you can sleep.
63. The most dangerous thing in the world is a Second Lieutenant with a map and a compass.
64. Exceptions prove the rule, and destroy the battle plan.
65. Everything always works in your HQ, everything always fails in the Colonel’s HQ.
66. The enemy never watches until you make a mistake.
67. One enemy soldier is never enough, but two is entirely too many.
68. A clean (and dry) set of BDU’s is a magnet for mud and rain.
69. The worse the weather, the more you are required to be out in it.
70. Whenever you have plenty of ammo, you never miss. Whenever you are low on ammo, you can’t hit the broad side of a barn.
71. The more a weapon costs, the farther you will have to send it away to be repaired.
72. The complexity of a weapon is inversely proportional to the IQ of the weapon’s operator.
73. Field experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.
74. No matter which way you have to march, it’s always uphill.
75. If enough data is collected, a board of inquiry can prove anything.
76. For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism (in boot camp).
77. Airstrikes always overshoot the target, artillery always falls short.
78. When reviewing the radio frequencies that you just wrote down, the most important ones are always illegible.
79. The tough part about being in charge is that the troops don’t know what they want, but they know for certain what they don’t want.