Leon Askin Quotes

I always wanted to go into the military or something like that - my whole family, all my friends are either Air Force, Navy, or Marines.

I joined the air force. I took to it immediately when I arrived there. I did three years, eight months, and ten days in all, but it took me a year and a half to get disabused of my romantic notions about it.

My four years in the Marine Corps left me with an indelible understanding of the value of leadership skills.

As a former Airman First Class in the United States Air Force, like many veterans in America, my military experience played an important part in instilling in me a sense of character and discipline that has served me throughout my life.

To expect ... the same service from raw and undisciplined recruits, as from veteran soldiers, is to expect what never did and perhaps never will happen. Men, who are familiarized to danger, meet it without shrinking; whereas troops unused to service often apprehend danger where no danger is.

What you experience in the army, aged 18 to 21, is what you take through all your life. You cross invisible lines: you shoot someone, get shot, break into people's houses. It's naive to think you won't carry anything into your life.

I went to a military school between the ages of six and 12 and later into the air force. You learn discipline and strength of character.

I've always been fascinated by the military, the discipline they have and the sacrifices they make to defend the country. It's something I've always been interested in.

I've been as a pilot involved in the Gulf War. And then, in the No-Fly Zone.

Anyone who says they don't enjoy the Army is mad - you can spend a week hating it and the next week it could be the best thing in the world and the best job you could ever, ever wish for. It has got so much to offer.

A military career offers the stability many South Korean women crave.

The thing about the Air Force or any branch of the military is that all of us were plucked away from our homes and our comfort zones and our families. So there was a solidarity in the military, a brotherhood.

In 1967, I signed up for the Army, where I earned an equivalency diploma, then went on to join the Special Forces. That was really was the turning point in my life. I became more disciplined and focused. I went overseas and was in combat, got wounded a couple of times, lost a lot of good friends but matured a great deal.

I have no personal experience in the military. All I know about it is what I've seen in movies and read in books and watched on television. My knowledge is probably no more or no less than the average person's. 'A Brief Encounter with the Enemy' was created by taking bits and pieces from here and there, and then putting my own spin on them.

I loved the bootcamp and the training. It was the actual Navy and the structure after it that I realized wasn't for me because they're building soldiers. It's a system, and you can't really stick out; you can't be the oddball out in the military.

In the Marines, I was stunned, absolutely stunned, at everything around me, at what the world looked like.

I spent one semester in Air Force ROTC, as I wanted to be a pilot.

Now, when I was in the Army, writing was my hobby.

A President who has served in the military is better able to serve as Commander in Chief …. I was a better President for having served …

My stepfather was a military man: he was in the Air Force. Reserve. You thought he'd seen front-line action, but he was stationed in Cleveland.

Leading the coalition military effort during the surge in Iraq in 2007 and 2008 was the most important endeavor - and greatest challenge - of my 37 years in uniform.

My dad has been in the military for 35 years. My brother's in the Air Force. I'm familiar with what it's like being in a military family - the unusual traumas you carry around with you.

I joined the Marines, passed Special Forces selection, and became a young leader in the military.

Everything I do in my political life is colored by my military service. It was the defining moment in my life and helped me develop the leadership skills that I still utilize.

For Dad, service took him many unexpected places. It summoned him and his crew mates to the skies over the Pacific Ocean in World War II. It took him to Capitol Hill, Beijing and eventually the Oval Office.