#soldiers

We came to realise - first with astonishment, then bitterness, and finally with indifference - that intellect apparently wasn't the most important thing...not ideas, but the system; not freedom, but drill. We had joined up with enthusiasm and with good will; but they did everything to knock that out of us. ↗

— Erich Maria Remarque

#soldiers #war #freedom

During the few months Troy had been back home, he’d told his friends about us, and so we quickly eased into the conversation as though we’d all known each other for many years. They embarrassed us with great thanks for having served overseas. They recounted combat events Troy had told them, and we realized by the context of their stories that Troy had made us heroes for his friends because we’d been heroes to him. At this point I was the saddest I’d yet been over Troy’s passing, because the true friend from war is the friend who obliterates his own story by telling the stories of others. ↗

— Anthony Swofford

#war #home

I've spent enough time with soldiers to know that once they get to know you and they loosen up and become themselves, they are some of the biggest hams and most charismatic, cocky, fun, humorous guys I've ever met. ↗

— Peter Berg

#biggest #charismatic #cocky #enough #ever

Ministers regularly meet soldiers that have returned from operational tours to hear about their experiences, including those who have recovered from their injuries. ↗

— Geoff Hoon

#experiences #hear #including #injuries #meet

Much as soldiers come back, they've been in combat or the edge of it and suddenly that adjustment back to civilian life is a real challenge. ↗

— Mark Dayton

#back #been #challenge #civilian #combat

The soldiers did go away and their towns were torn down; and in the Moon of Falling Leaves (November), they made a treaty with Red Cloud that said our country would be ours as long as grass should grow and water flow. ↗

— Black Elk

#cloud #country #did #down #falling

The Wedding March always reminds me of the music played when soldiers go into battle. ↗

— Heinrich Heine

#always #battle #go #into #march

A quick check on the platoon showed everyone more or less enjoying the flight. "Whatever it is you're eating, Ressk, swallow it before we land," [said Staff Sergeant Kerr]. "No problem, Staff." "More like whoever he's eating," Binti muttered beside him. "You ought to count your fingers," he suggested. "You're too serley stupid to notice one missing." "Maybe you ought to gren sa talamec to." "That's enough, people." When the Confederation first started integrating the di'Taykan and the Krai into what was predominantly a human military system, xenopsychologists among the elder races expected a number of problems. For the most part, those expectations fell short. After having dealt with the Mictok and the H'san, none of the younger races - all bipedal mammals - had any difficulty with each other's appearance. Cultural differences were absorbed into the prevailing military culture and the remaining problems were dealt with in the age-old military tradition of learning to say "up yours" in the other races' languages. The "us against them" mentality of war made for strange bedfellows. ↗

— Tanya Huff

#multiculturalism #soldiers #age

poor boy! I never knew you, Yet I think I could not refuse this moment to die for you, if that would save you ↗

— Walt Whitman

#civil-war #compassion #comrade #comradeship #death

My mother used to say that rain here pours like a blessing, like a thick veil that parts to reveal the bride's face. But nearly every day, when this rain parted, it revealed a long line of soldiers, like you, like death, marching toward us, and we would scatter with a practiced silence and hide. ↗

— Mia Kirshner

#death #rain #refugees #soldiers #war