Military Identity Quotes

Men," he began his address to the officers, measuring his pauses carefully. "You're American officers. The officers of no other army in the world can make that statement. Think about it.

Every Marine is, first and foremost, a rifleman. All other conditions are secondary.

I'm a soldier and I'm positive no one thinks of me as a politician.

When I went to West Point, I was there with cadets from 50 other states and territories. Cadets from other countries, and you learn all of these things about our country, about our culture, our heritage, our ethnicity. At the end of the day, you come back, we all wear green, and we all consider ourselves an Army.

My experience in uniform has shaped my life and informed who I am like no other, and it's difficult for me to wrap my mind around the idea that I will no longer be a soldier.

In my proper character, I am an officer of the United States Army.

I am a soldier. That is who I am. That is what I do.

Vets are different than other people. Frontline or support, they carry themselves differently than the rest of us. It is as if they entered the service as one person and came out another, and that is the person who they are the rest of their lives.

I've been a Danish prince, a Texas slave-dealer, an Arab sheik, a Cheyenne Dog Soldier, and a Yankee navy lieutenant in my time, among other things, and none of 'em was as hard to sustain as my lifetime's impersonation of a British officer and gentleman.

If you put on the military uniform, you're a prima facie hero. Generals are the epitome of that. They're the ones who have been most successful at the soldier's trade.

There is only one Army in which you serve. When that identity is gone, it is gone forever.

Were there no uniforms, there would probably be no armies.

I was born as a soldier and will die as one.

The professional soldier in a Muslim army, pursuing the goals of a Muslim state, CANNOT become 'professional' if in all his activities he does not take on 'the color of Allah'. The non-military citizen of a Muslim state must, likewise, be aware of the kind of soldier that his country must produce…

I'm a military guy. I'm not a political character.

A warrior lives on his wars, whether offensive or defensive. And he suffers a collapse if he finds that his warring capacity is unwanted.

The troops aren't red and blue. They're not black and white. They're not male and female. They are Americans! When they put their uniforms on, they are Americans. And that's a fact.

Every battalion has its marching songs.

We have a responsibility as ex-soldiers to realise we're no longer in the military. All this 'once a soldier, always a soldier', that's all well and good, but that attitude doesn't work in society.

I have a lot of friends who served in the regular army for a long time. Quite a few of my friends from that time went on to become full-time soldiers. But you live in a world that is entirely army. Your whole world is pretty much that military service, and it's very hard to do other things and to break out of that environment.

Old breed? New breed? There's not a damn bit of difference so long as it's the Marine breed.