Jump to content
SASS Wire Forum

Military Quotes and One-Liners


DocWard

Recommended Posts

"Run away! Save yourselves!"

 

Courtesy of an EOD guy as he crouched behind a ballistic shield laughing hysterically. There were grenades cooking off inside a burning vehicle.

On a t-shirt worn by the EOD team stationed at NAS Whidbey Island.

 

" I'm EOD If you see me running you better catch up"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 134
  • Created
  • Last Reply

"No matter how much you polish a turd it is still a turd"

 

"A chrome plated turd is still a turd at heart"

 

From the PMA-209 Quotable Quotes board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can't take no pictures lying down there on the ground sonny boy! Said to a war correspondent taking cover under fire during the battle of I-Drang valley Vietnam. They were soldiers once and young, God bless them all.

 

Mackenna

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Uttered by a sailor from Taffy 3, in the Battle off Samar, where a few destroyers and destroyer escorts engaged a fleet of Japanese battleships, including the Yamato and both heavy and light crusiers. When he saw the Japanese fleet turn to retire, he yelled, "Hey fellows, they're getting away."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"No matter how big the operation or how much planning went into it, when the first round is fired it all goes to hell."

 

William G. Martin, Master Sergeant, Infantry to a group of high school ROTC cadets. He retired the day I was commissioned, but he retired as a full Colonel.

 

I'm proud to say I considered him a friend and mentor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hung over the door at an SR -71 hanger

 

" you don't know what it's like to be lost , until you lost at Mach 3 "

 

" I fly through the valley of death and fear no evil , because I'm flying at Mach 3 at 70,000 feet"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A Ship without Marines is like a garment without buttons.
Adm. David Dixon Porter, USN in a letter to
Colonel Commandant John Harris, USMC, 1863

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This might be a little long, but here's something an army man told me about marines. They take some scrawny kid who goes out every weekend and gets his butt beat at the bars ... they put him through basic, train him to fight, teach him to be a soldier, turn him into a By-God Marine. That kid goes home for leave and he goes to those same bars and gets his butt beat by the same people. But the difference is, now he thinks he's winning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No combat ready unit has ever passed inspection.

 

If your attack is going really well, you're probably walking into an ambush.

 

 

and for all you Air Force types:

The 3 most useless things to a pilot - - altitude above you, runway behind you, and a half second ago.

 

Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing, any landing where you can still use the plane is a great landing!

 

 

 

and of course, any of the quotes from Thermopylae! There was another ancient Greek quote that might fit here too. Any nation that makes too great a distinction between scholars and warriors will have its fighting done by cowards and its thinking done by fools.

 

 

 

and finally, the most common quote ever from any enlisted man in any branch

That's the stupidest *@&%*#(@$*! thing I ever heard!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Words of wisdom by SSgt Buxton my first night at Ft. Riley.

 

 

 

" WHEN I YELL FALL OUT, I WANT TO SEE ONE A$$HOLE GOING THROUGH THAT DOOR. "

 

 

"YOU WILL BE IN PLATOON FORMATION WHEN I ARRIVE."

 

 

It seemed to work pretty well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From the Vietnam era

 

"We the unwilling

lead by the unknowing

for the ungrateful

have been doing so much for so long with so little

we are now qualified to anything with nothing"

 

"If we don't know what we are doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions!"

 

"One of the serious problems in planning against American doctrine is that the Americans do not read their manuals nor do they feel any obligation to follow their doctrine".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Son, did you ever spend a million dollars?"

"No, Sergeant, never did."

"Now's your chance. I want you to call in an air strike on that tree line."

 

In that same swampy part of the world, the column was under sound discipline.

Nothing rattled, nothing loose, nothing jingled, everyone was treading with stealth and silence, until point cut loose on something full-burp, dumped an entire mag full auto in one burst.

Killed that-there cobra snake graveyard dead.

The LT came screaming to the head of the column and started to rip him a new one until he interrupted with what he saw as solid logic.

"Dammit, LT, I didn't have time t'call in an air strike!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In boot camp our commander who was a major came into our barracks and the guard called the barracks to attention as he was supposed to and then the major put us at ease. A few minutes later a Lt came into the barracks and the guard called us all to attention....including the major. The Lt saw the major standing at attention and froze of course, our drill sgt saw this and ran over to the guard and yelled at him that he now had a major standing at attention for a leutenant and what was he going to do....the guard, in a loud confident voice yelled out "Major, at ease!"... Haha that went over well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"No matter how much you polish a turd it is still a turd"

 

"A chrome plated turd is still a turd at heart"

 

From the PMA-209 Quotable Quotes board.

Same concept: "Paint a turd white and what do you get? A white turd."
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In boot camp our commander who was a major came into our barracks and the guard called the barracks to attention as he was supposed to and then the major put us at ease. A few minutes later a Lt came into the barracks and the guard called us all to attention....including the major. The Lt saw the major standing at attention and froze of course, our drill sgt saw this and ran over to the guard and yelled at him that he now had a major standing at attention for a leutenant and what was he going to do....the guard, in a loud confident voice yelled out "Major, at ease!"... Haha that went over well.

 

A similar, actually almost opposite event, occurred when I was in basic training. Standing in line for chow and our CO walks in. The private nearest the door shouts "at ease" and everything is fine. He is sitting eating with a couple of drill sergeants when our XO walks in. When nothing happens, he lays into the closest soldiers, me included, for not calling at ease. About 10-15 seconds in (could have been a lot longer, it sure seemed like it), the CO pipes up and yells "What's the problem lieutenant?" Our XO looks, does a double take, looks at us and says "carry on." and walks off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Nothing more dangerous than a 2nd Lt with a map and a compass"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not being a military man, I don't understand the 'at ease' stories. But it sounds like you're only supposed to stand at attention for a new person entering the area if that person will be the highest ranking one? Not even the privates? Do I have that right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not being a military man, I don't understand the 'at ease' stories. But it sounds like you're only supposed to stand at attention for a new person entering the area if that person will be the highest ranking one? Not even the privates? Do I have that right?

You don't call a senior officer to attention for a lower-ranking officer, and you especially do not try to put an officer at ease. Not sure but I don't think even a very senior officer would or can put a junior officer at ease. Attention, yes, at ease, mm not so much.

 

EDIT

I don't recall the command, but in navy basic if an officer was already present and another junior officer entered, there was a command to announce his arrival without actually calling the room to attention.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"At ease" is the proper command when in a mess hall, any medical facility, or where men are working. You don't call a man to attention when he's moving heavy stuff around or eating. Too many mishaps can occur and it just isn't done.

 

I learned that from General Horner when I was a young Company Commander on Okinawa.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"At ease" is the proper command when in a mess hall, any medical facility, or where men are working. You don't call a man to attention when he's moving heavy stuff around or eating. Too many mishaps can occur and it just isn't done.

 

I learned that from General Horner when I was a young Company Commander on Okinawa.

More of something that happened to me than a quote…but when I was in advanced training after basic to be a lineman (yes the Air force had people that climbed wood poles and work on high voltage) I injured my ankle in a fall. I was exempt from marching to the school so I limped along on my crutches carrying my stupid little briefcase also. A young butter bar Lt walked past me and I said "good morning sir" as we passed by each other, of course I couldn't salute. He stopped, called me over to him and said "don't you salute officers, airman?" I moved my crutches and briefcase to my left hand, hopped on one foot and saluted him, then he walked on. Unbeknownst to us both but passing nearby was this blue sedan with a pecular blue flag on the fender with a gold star on it. The car stopped at the Lt, a formidable figure with the same gold star on his collar jumped out and railed on the LT for what he just saw him make me do, made him apologize to me then carry my briefcase for me to my training building, where I met him because the wing commander gave me a ride.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

During WW2, a young Ensign serving aboard ship in the Pacific whose wife was about to deliver their first child went to the ship's Captain to request leave so he could be home for the blessed event.

 

The Skipper turned him down saying, "Ensign, you are necessary only at the laying of the keel. At the launching, you are merely superfluous."

 

GIT

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.