Soldiers

"Previous studies have shown that exposure to traumatic events that put one’s life at risk may affect processing of facial expressions. Thus, for example, individuals suffering from PTSD have difficulties in differentiating between fearful and neutral faces (e.g., Felmingham, Bryant, & Gordon, 2003). Developmental studies have found that neglected or maltreated children demonstrate heightened sensitivity to anger and fearful expressions, while displaying difficulties in perceiving other expressions such as sadness and disgust (Masten et al., 2008; Pollak, Cicchetti, Hornung, & Reed, 2000; Pollak & Tolley-Schell, 2003). A recent study, which assessed the long-lasting impact of a terrorist attack, found that children who were held as hostages at the Russian town of Beslan on September 2004 by Chechen rebels were more accurate than nonexposed children in detecting threat related information such as anger in faces, which were morphed from two prototypical emotions (Scrimin, Moscardino, Capello, Altoe, & Axia, 2009; Scrimin, Moscardino, Capello, & Axia, 2008). In military veterans, however, the long-term consequences of life threatening experience on the perception of facial expressions have not been explored before, to the best of our knowledge."

"Where is Christ, the King? In heaven, to be sure. Thither it behooves you, soldier of Christ, to direct your course. Forget all earthly delights. A soldier does not build a house; he does not aspire to possession of lands; he does not concern himself with devious, coin-purveying trade. … The soldier enjoys a sustenance provided by the king; he need not furnish his own, nor vex himself in this regard."

"Summer grasses— all that remains of great soldiers’ imperial dreams"

"Pitifully—under a great soldier’s helmet, a cricket sings"

"It is a hard trade, and one that does things to you as a man; that changes you from one sort of man into another. It is not easy to be a good soldier, and for a middle-class intellectual who had spent most of his conscious life in the sedentary pursuit of finding words for things he believed he felt, it was an almost impossible life. For years I had not awaked in the morning before ten, and loved to lie abed; now I was up daily before dawn. I had always avoided walking when I could ride; and now spent hours every day marching all over the landscape. And the intellectual is likely to find his likely to find his greatest satisfaction (perverted as it is) in long periods of solitude when he can justify his loneliness by looking down upon his fellow man. "You're in the ar-my now," the boys would sing, "you're not be-hind the plow. You'll never get rich, you son of a bitch..." You're in the army now, and when you're in the army you learn to keep a large part of your precious individualism to yourself. An army of individualists cannot function in the field, and this the Spanish people had learned to their sorrow earlier in the war, when individualized units recruited independently by dozens of political parties and trade unions had done a beautiful job of failing to cooperate with each other- while demonstrating determination and heroism that will be remembered so long as there are men to whom the defense of democracy is more than a hackneyed phrase."

"Every soldier in every army is taught first off to be neat and clean, to keep his clothes in good repair, his buttons sewed on and his shoes polished, his face and hands and body washed, his beard shaved. He is respectful to his officers and stands at attention when he is addressed; he moves with precision about his business, walking as a soldier should, head up, chin in, arms at his sides."

"The sun beat upon our heads and we lay there wondering what was going on in our particular sector, what was the significance of the intermittent firing, whether we were advancing or holding our own. For to the average soldier battle always remains a chaos and an impression of immense confusion; he has only a worm's-eye view of the affair; he has no way of knowing what it's all about. One minute he is advancing under fire; the next he is lying low; the next withdrawing. He receives definite orders and they are immediately countermanded; he rarely sees the enemy and the fire that is directed at him assumes astonishing impersonality, as though it were independent of any human agency."

"Ay me! what perils do environ The man that meddles with cold iron!"

"Earth! render back from out thy breast A remnant of our Spartan dead! Of the three hundred grant but three, To make a new Thermopylæ!"

"His breast with wounds unnumber'd riven, His back to earth, his face to heaven."

"When the final taps is sounded and we lay aside life's cares, And we do the last and glories parade, on Heaven's shining stairs, And the angels bid us welcome and the harps begin to play, We can draw a million canteen checks and spend them in a day, It is then we'll hear St. Peter tell us loudly with a yell, "Take a front seat you soldier men, you've done your hitch in Hell.""

"For the army is a school in which the miser becomes generous, and the generous prodigal; miserly soldiers are like monsters, but very rarely seen."

"Wolverine: I'm the best there is at what I do. But what I do best isn't very nice."

"You cannot make soldiers of slaves, or slaves of soldiers, the day you make a soldier of them, is the beginning of the end of the revolution. And if slaves seem good soldiers, than our whole theory of slavery is wrong."

"They're saps! because they risk their lives for strangers."

"For the helmsman is recognized in the tempest; in the warfare the soldier is proved."

"Make every private Sentinel, every Musquetier, both Judge, Jury, and Executioner."

"We see human heroism broken into units and say, this unit did little – might as well not have been. But in this way we might break up a great army into units; in this way we might break the sunlight into fragments, and think that this and the other might be cheaply parted with. Let us rather raise a monument to the soldiers whose brave hearts only kept the ranks unbroken and met death – a monument to the faithful who were not famous, and who are precious as the continuity of the sunbeams is precious, though some of them fall unseen and on barrenness."

"The primary intent of physical standards in the military has always been to select soldiers best suited to the physical demands of military service. This standard has usually meant the selection of soldiers who at least looked as though they could carry loads and fight well."

"Some physical standards have changed easily with the need for soldiers, which suggests that what may be portrayed as a soldierly characteristic may not be solidly rooted in combat necessity. Height is an example. European monarchs prided themselves on their tall soldiers; it was also convenient to have men of about the same height for drill and ceremony. Some eugenicists claimed that criminals tended to be shorter than the rest of the population (Baxter, 1875), and a retired military surgeon proposed that physical characteristics could identify future heroes (Foster et al., 1967)."

"In the frontispiece to their book on human physique, Sheldon et al. (1940) showed photographs of three extremes of somatotype: an endomorph, who was characterized by pendulous fat deposits; a mesomorph, who looked well proportioned and muscular; and an ectomorph, who looked like a victim of anorexia nervosa. There can be little argument about which of these three types would make a suitable soldier. Without question, the massively obese endomorph would be unable to perform physically, would fail even the most subjectively lenient standards of military appearance, would likely encounter acute as well as long-term health problems as a direct consequence of excess fat, and would suffer miserably with work in even a moderately hot environment. At the other extreme of size, the ectomorph would be unable to carry a normal load on a standard road march task, would likely suffer health problems from extreme deficiency of muscle mass, and would be unable to effectively thermoregulate in a cold environment. The current Army body composition standards ignore the ectomorph, because this soldier is undetected by the height-weight screening tables, even when the soldier is so deficient in fat-free mass that relative body fat is high. This omission is a change from the earlier standards, which emphasized the exclusion of physically weak individuals who would have difficultly with basic soldier tasks. At the upper end, the endomorph is clearly excluded by current Army standards, as are many individuals who may even approach the mesomorph in appearance and physical capabilities. Thus, the second change from previous standards is that current body fat standards draw a precise line, without confidence intervals, for acceptable fatness; these standards take into account neither the strength of the association between body fat and military performance nor the reliability of the method of estimation. Previously, a physician made the final subjective determination that a soldier was unsuited to the Army because of his or her obesity, but this was subjective and had little impact on offenders of military appearance. Without this buffer, the arbitrary standards have had a major impact. Thus, it becomes more important to test and carefully adjust body composition standards to performance end points to ensure that good soldiers are not eliminated."

"With a soldier the flag is paramount."

"Inquiry shall likewise be made about the professions and trades of those who are brought to be admitted to the [Christian] faith. ... A soldier of the civil authority must be taught not to kill men and to refuse to do so if he is commanded, and to refuse to take an oath; if he is unwilling to comply, he must be rejected. ... If a catechumen or a believer seeks to become a soldier, they must be rejected, for they have despised God."

"And though ten out of twelve had fallen, still the last two, sure as death, were to be bound on the first evening of rest over the bottle, drinking a silent health to their death companions, talking and laughing over all they had been through. For dangers past - an old soldier laughs. For those to come - a full glass, though death and the devil grinn there, as long as the wine was good. Such has ever been the custom of war."

"When primitives fight, two little bands of men shoot arrows or swing war-clubs at one another because they want to fight; or because they are defending themselves, their families, or their territory. In the modern world, soldiers fight because they have been brainwashed into believing in some kook ideology such as that of Nazism, socialism, or what American politicians choose to call "freedom". In any case the modern soldier is merely a pawn, a dupe who dies not for his family or his tribe but for the politicians who exploit him. If he's unlucky, maybe he does not die but comes home horribly crippled in a way that would never result from an arrow- or a spear-wound. Meanwhile, thousands of non-combatants are killed or mutilated. The environment is ravaged, not only in the war zone, but also back home, due to the accelerated consumption of natural resources needed to feed the war machine. In comparison, the violence of primitive man is relatively innocuous."

"The use of children as soldiers in armed conflict is among the most morally repugnant practices in the world, as illustrated by this Los Angeles Times photo essay. Children are combatants in nearly three-quarters of the world’s conflicts and have posed difficult dilemmas for the professional armies they confront, including the United States’."

"Approximately 300,000 children are believed to be combatants in some thirty conflicts worldwide. Nearly half a million additional children serve in armies not currently at war, such that 40 percent of the world’s armed organizations have children in their ranks."

"Soldiers are not as other men – that is the lesson that I have learned from a life cast among warriors. The lesson has taught me to view with extreme suspicion all theories and representations of war that equate it with any other activity in human affairs. War undoubtedly connects, as the theorists demonstrate, with economics and diplomacy and politics. Connection does not amount to identity or even similarity. War is wholly unlike diplomacy or politics because it must be fought by men whose values and skills are not those of politicians and diplomats. They are those of a world apart, a very ancient world, which exists in parallel with the everyday world but does not belong to it. Both worlds change over time, and the warrior world adapts in step to the civilian. It follows it, however, at a distance. The distance can never be closed, for the culture of the warrior can never be that of civilization itself. All civilisations owe their origins to the warrior; their cultures nurture the warriors who defend them, and the differences between them will make those of one very different in externals from those of another. It is, indeed, a theme of this book that in externals there are three distinct warrior traditions. Ultimately, however, there is only one warrior culture. Its evolution and transformation over time and place, from man’s beginnings to his arrival in the contemporary world, is the history of warfare."

"Since as a rule only the king could afford to hire mercenaries in bulk they strengthened both King and nobles against the people with whom they had no ties or sympathy. While much more expensive than native troops, they left no troublesome widows and orphans; and at the end of the campaign they could be sent away unlike a country's own men coming home from the wars."

"The development of an international legal framework to control the use of mercenaries started in the 1960's. At that time, the United Nations became concerned that the use of foreign mercenary forces could prevent and hinder the right to self-determination of peoples under colonial domination. What developed at the international level was a recognition that mercenary activities were an affront to the principles of sovereign equality, political independence and territorial integrity of states."

"I'm supposed to be a soldier who never blows his composure, even though I hold the weight of the whole world on my shoulders."

"A dead soldier ties down no personnel behind the lines. A maimed soldier requires on average 40 personnel in the medevac chain."

"Step by step. Heart to heart. Left, right, left. We all fall down, like toy soldiers. Bit by bit torn apart, we never win, but the battle wages on for toy soldiers."

"I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in."

"Most of the people who get sent to die in wars are young men who've got a lot of energy and would probably rather, in a better world, be putting that energy into copulation rather than going over there and blowing some other young man's guts out."

"[R]esearch has provided evidence that combat exposure is associated with aggression and violent behavior, with various studies finding that violent combat experience predicts risk-taking behaviors, criminal behavior, and physical aggression with a significant other (MacManus et al., 2015)."

"It is vital... to establish facilities for providing sexual comfort [to the soldiers] as soon as possible."

"Most who join the military and go to war are young—18, 19 years old—and many have never been away from home. They have little experience of the world, let alone war, death, and killing. For them, and for all soldiers, combat is a complex mix of emotions that define the experience of war and shape the experience of coming home."

"Soldiers, you brave guys, who are your fathers? Our fathers are Russian commanders, that's what our fathers are. Soldiers, you brave guys, who are your mothers? Our mothers are white tents, that's what our mothers are. Soldiers, you brave guys, who are your sisters? Our sisters are our sharp sabres and pikes, that's what our sisters are. Soldiers, you brave guys, who are your wives? Our wives are our loaded guns, that's what our wives are. Soldiers, you brave guys, who are your children? Our children are our well-aimed bullets, that's what our children are. Soldiers, you brave guys, who are your aunts? Our aunts are our ripped soles, that's what our aunts are. Soldiers, you brave guys, who are your grandfathers? Our grandfathers are glorious victories, that's what our grandfathers are. Soldiers, you brave guys, what is your glory? Our glory is Russian state, that's what our glory is."

"Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth."

"Arm'd at point exactly, cap-à-pie."

"I thought upon one pair of English legs Did march three Frenchmen."

"Give them great meals of beef and iron and steel, they will eat like wolves and fight like devils."

"I am a soldier and unapt to weep Or to exclaim on fortune's fickleness."

"I said an elder soldier, not a better. Did I say, better?"

"Fie, my Lord, fie! a soldier, and afear'd?"

"Blow, wind! come, wrack! At least we'll die with harness on our back."

"God's soldier be he! Had I as many sons as I have hairs, I would not wish them to a fairer death: And so his knell is knoll'd."

"He is a soldier fit to stand by Cæsar And give direction."

"Sometime she driveth o’er a soldier’s neck, And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats, Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades, Of healths five fathom deep, and then anon Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes."

"The General: "Speaking of saints it puzzles me how so many soldiers could find a place on the same plane as monks and see their profession preferred to all peaceful, civilian professions if at all times war had been considered a necessary evil such as the liquor trade or perhaps something even worse. Evidently those Christian nations who recognize saints (not only the Russian ones but approximately also the others) have not only honored the military career but honored it in a very special manner; and of all professions it was the one which alone had the reputation of instructing its best representatives in the practice of sanctity. Such an opinion is contrary to the present movement against wars."

"First, it's important to note that rape and war didn't always go together. For instance, European colonists wrote astonished letters home about how "even these savages" -- by which they meant the residents of this continent they were invading -- didn't rape, not even their women prisoners. But those were wars of self-defense."

"If you're going to get groups of men to risk their humanity, health, and lives in wars of offense, the traditional way is not to pay them a lot, but to addict them to the "cult of masculinity." You have to convince them they're not "real men" unless they kill and conquer."

"Living the grueling life of a warrior seemed, and still does seem, a very simple and uninteresting occupation, especially for someone of my unusually capable intellect, and I was very much opposed to having my life controlled by the crude brutality of the society into which I was thrust."

"When you talk about the mental health problems, when people come back from war and combat and they see things that maybe a lot of folks in this room have seen many times over and you're strong and you can handle it but a lot of people can't handle it. They see horror stories, they see events you couldn't see in a movie, nobody would believe it."

"Children are increasingly vulnerable as conflicts around the world become more brutal, intense and widespread. It is estimated that 300,000 children are today fighting as child soldiers in over 20 countries worldwide. Up to 40 per cent of them are girls."

"Of boasting more than of a bomb afraid, A soldier should be modest as a maid."

"Some for hard masters, broken under arms, In battle lopt away, with half their limbs, Beg bitter bread thro' realms their valour saved."

"There’s an old Chinese saying that a soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier. Any time, just give me the chance. I’m prepared all the time."

"O Dormer, how can I behold thy fate, And not the wonders of thy youth relate; How can I see the gay, the brave, the young, Fall in the cloud of war, and lie unsung! In joys of conquest he resigns his breath, And, filled with England's glory, smiles in death."

"God and a soldier all people adore In time of war, but not before; And when war is over and all things are righted, God is neglected and an old soldier slighted."

"O little Force that in your agony Stood fast while England girt her armour on, Held high our honour in your wounded hands, Carried our honour safe with bleeding feet— We have no glory great enough for you, The very soul of Britain keeps your day."

"An Austrian army awfully arrayed. Siege of Belgrade."

"See! There is Jackson standing like a stone wall."

"Each year his mighty armies marched forth in gallant show, Their enemies were targets, their bullets they were tow."

"The king of France with twenty thousand men Went up the hill, and then came down again: The king of Spain with twenty thousand more Climbed the same hill the French had climbed before."

"L'infanterie anglaise est la plus redoubtable de l'Europe; heureusement, il n'y en a pas beaucoup."

"You led our sons across the haunted flood, Into the Canaan of their high desire— No milk and honey there, but tears and blood Flowed where the hosts of evil trod in fire, And left a worse than desert where they passed."

"The knight's bones are dust, And his good sword rust; His soul is with the saints, I trust."

"How sleep the brave, who sink to rest, By all their country's wishes blest! * * * * * By fairy hands their knell is rung, By forms unseen their dirge is sung."

"Who passes down this road so late? Compagnon de la Majaloine? Who passes down this road so late, Always gay! Of all the King's Knights 'tis the flower, Compagnon de la Majaloine, Of all the King's Knights 'tis the flower, Always gay!"

"Back of the boy is Wilson, Pledge of his high degree, Back of the boy is Lincoln, Lincoln and Grant and Lee; Back of the boy is Jackson, Jackson and Tippecanoe, Back of each son is Washington, And the old red, white and blue!"

"I have seen men march to the wars, and then I have watched their homeward tread, And they brought back bodies of living men, But their eyes were cold and dead. So, Buddy, no matter what else the fame, No matter what else the prize, I want you to come back thru The Flame With the boy-look still in your eyes!"

"He stands erect; his slouch becomes a walk; He steps right onward, martial in his air, His form and movement."

"Far in foreign fields from Dunkirk to Belgrade Lie the soldiers and chiefs of the Irish Brigade."

"Terrible he rode alone, With his yemen sword for aid; Ornament it carried none But the notches on the blade."

"His helmet now shall make A hive for bees."

"So let his name through Europe ring! A man of mean estate, Who died as firm as Sparta's king, Because his soul was great."

"Mouths without hands; maintained at vast expense, In peace a charge, in war a weak defense: Stout once a month they march, a blustering band, And ever, but in times of need, at hand."

"Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the Judgment Day; Love and tears for the Blue, Tears and love for the Gray."

"Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben?"

"We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more."

"Man should be trained for war and woman for the recreation of the warrior."

"The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay; Sat by his fire, and talked the night away, Wept o'er his wounds, or tales of sorrow done, Shoulder'd his crutch, and show'd how fields were won."

"Wake, soldier wake, thy war-horse waits To bear thee to the battle back;— Thou slumberest at a foeman's gates,— Thy dog would break thy bivouac; Thy plume is trailing in the dust, And thy red falchion gathering rust."

"He slept an iron sleep,— Slain fighting for his country."

"The sex is ever to a soldier kind."

"Ben Battle was a soldier bold, And used to war's alarms; But a cannon-ball took off his legs, So he laid down his arms."

"But for you, it shall be forever Spring, And only you shall be forever fearless, And only you shall have white, straight, tireless limbs, And only you, where the water lily swims, Shall walk along pathways, thro' the willows Of your West. You who went West, And only you on silvery twilight pillows Shall take your rest In the soft, sweet glooms Of twilight rooms."

"The Seconds that tick as the clock moves along Are Privates who march with a spirit so strong. The Minutes are Captains. The Hours of the day Are Officers brave, who lead on to the fray. So, remember, when tempted to loiter and dream You've an army at hand; your command is supreme; And question yourself, as it goes on review— Has it helped in the fight with the best it could do?"

"He smote them hip and thigh."

"In a wood they call the Rouge Bouquet, There is a new-made grave today, Built by never a spade nor pick, Yet covered with earth ten meters thick. There lie many fighting men, Dead in their youthful prime."

"Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off."

"As we pledge the health of our general, who fares as rough as we, What can daunt us, what can turn us, led to death by such as he?"

""What are the bugles blowin' for?" said Files-on-Parade. "To turn you out, to turn you out," the Colour Sergeant said."

"For they're hangin' Danny Deever, you can 'ear the Dead March play, The regiment's in 'ollow square—They're hangin' him to-day; They're taken of his buttons off an' cut his stripes away, An' they're hangin' Danny Deever in the morning."

"Tho 'eathen in 'is blindness bows down to wood an' stone; 'E don't obey no orders unless they is 'is own; 'E keeps 'is side-arms awful: 'e leaves 'em all about, An' then comes up the Regiment an' pokes the 'eathen out."

"So 'ere's to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, at your 'ome in the Soudan; You're a pore benighted 'eathen but a first-class fightin' man; And 'ere's to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, with your 'ay-rick 'ead of 'air; You big black boundin' beggar—for you broke a British square!"

"For it's Tommy this an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "Savior of 'is country," when the guns begin to shoot."

"It is not the guns or armament Or the money they can pay, It's the close co-operation That makes them win the day. It is not the individual Or the army as a whole, But the everlastin' teamwork Of every bloomin' soul."

"But in a large sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract."

"Nulla fides pietasque viris qui castra sequuntur."

"Ned has gone, he's gone away, he's gone away for good. He's called, he's killed. Him and his drum lies in the rain, lies where they was stood. Where they was stilled."

"Nicanor lay dead in his harness."

"Here's to the Blue of the wind-swept North When we meet on the fields of France, May the spirit of Grant be with you all As the sons of the North advance! * * * * * Here's to the Gray of the sun-kissed South When we meet on the fields of France, May the spirit of Lee be with you all As the sons of the South advance! * * * * * And here's to the Blue and the Gray as One! When we meet on the fields of France, May the spirit of God be with us all As the sons of the Flag advance!"

"Companions," said he [Saturninus], "you have lost a good captain, to make of him a bad general."

"Napoleon's troops fought in bright fields where every helmet caught some beams of glory; but the British soldier conquered under the cold shade of aristocracy."

"The greatest general is he who makes the fewest mistakes."

"Judge not that ye be not judged; we carried the torch to the goal. The goal is won: guard the fire: it is yours: but remember our soul Breathes through the life that we saved, when our lives went out in the night: Your body is woven of ours: see that the torch is alight."

"The muffled drum's sad roll has beat The soldier's last tattoo; No more on Life's parade shall meet The brave and fallen few. On Fame's eternal camping-ground Their silent tents are spread, And Glory guards, with solemn round The bivouac of the dead."

"Miles gloriosus."

"But off with your hat and three times three for Columbia's true-blue sons; The men below who batter the foe—the men behind the guns!"

"I want to see you shoot the way you shout."

"A thousand leagues of ocean, a company of kings, You came across the watching world to show how heroes die. When the splendour of your story Builds the halo of its glory, 'Twill belt the earth like Saturn's rings And diadem the sky."

"'Tis a far, far cry from the "Minute-Men," And the times of the buff and blue To the days of the withering Jorgensen And the hand that holds it true. 'Tis a far, far cry from Lexington To the isles of the China Sea, But ever the same the man and the gun— Ever the same are we."

"Abner … smote him under the fifth rib."

"Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er, Dream of fighting fields no more: Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking, Morn of toil, nor night of waking."

"Although too much of a soldier among sovereigns, no one could claim with better right to be a sovereign among soldiers."

"Yet what can they see in the longest kingly line in Europe, save that it runs back to a successful soldier?"

"A soldier is an anachronism of which we must get rid."

"When the military man approaches, the world locks up its spoons and packs off its womankind."

"Does Djilas, who is himself a writer, not know what human suffering and the human heart are? Can't he understand it if a soldier who has crossed thousands of kilometers through blood and fire and death has fun with a wench or takes some trifle?"

"Sleep, soldiers! still in honored rest Your truth and valor wearing: The bravest are the tenderest,— The loving are the daring."

"Foremost captain of his time, Rich in saving common sense."

"For this is England's greatest son, He that gain'd a hundred fights, And never lost an English gun."

"Home they brought him slain with spears, They brought him home at even-fall."

"Dans ce pays-ci il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un admiral pour encourager les autres."

"Old soldiers never die; They fade away!"

"Under the tricolor, long khaki files of them Through the Étoile, down the Champs Elysées Marched, while grisettes blew their kisses to miles of them, And only the old brushed the tear stains away— Out where the crows spread their ominous pinions Shadowing France from Nancy to Fay, Singing they marched 'gainst the Kaiser's gray minions, Singing the song of boyhood at play."

"The more we work, the more we may, It makes no difference to our pay."

"Our youth has stormed the hosts of hell and won; Yet we who pay the price of their oblation Know that the greater war is just begun Which makes humanity the nations' Nation."

"Where are the boys of the old Brigade, Who fought with us side by side?"

"Oh, a strange hand writes for our dear son—O, stricken mother's soul! All swims before her eyes—flashes with black—she catches the main words only; Sentences broken—gun-shot wound in the breast, cavalry skirmish, taken to hospital; At present low, but will soon be better."

"Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, As his corse to the rampart we hurried."

"If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England."

"Soldiers! When it is announced that a respected and beloved leader has died for our freedom in the course of the battle, do not grieve, do not lose hope! Observe that anyone who dies for his country is a fortunate man, but death takes what it wants, indiscriminately, in peace-time as well as in war. It is better to die with freedom than without it. Our fathers who have maintained our country in freedom for us have offered us their life in sacrifice; so let them be an example to you! Soldier, trader, peasant, young and old, man and woman, be united! Defend your country by helping each other! According to ancient custom, the women will stand in defence of their country by giving encouragement to the soldier and by caring for the wounded. Although Italy is doing everything possible to disunite us, whether Christian or Muslim we will unitedly resist. shelter and our shield is God. May our attackers' new weapons not deflect you from your thoughts which are dedicated to your defence of Ethiopia's freedom. Your King who speaks to you today will at that time be in your midst, prepared to shed his blood for the liberty of Ethiopia."

"The patriot volunteer, fighting for country and his rights, makes the most reliable soldier on earth."

"Oh, it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' 'Tommy, go away'; But it's 'Thank you, Mister Atkins', when the band begins to play— The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play, Oh, it's 'Thank you, Mister Atkins,' when the band begins to play."

"Honor to the Soldier, and Sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country's cause. Honor also to the citizen who cares for his brother in the field, and serves, as he best can, the same cause—honor to him, only less than to him, who braves, for the common good, the storms of heaven and the storms of battle."

"This extraordinary war in which we are engaged falls heavily upon all classes of people, but the most heavily upon the soldier. For it has been said, all that a man hath will he give for his life; and while all contribute of their substance the soldier puts his life at stake, and often yields it up in his country's cause. The highest merit, then, is due to the soldier."

"I have every confidence in the ultimate success of our joint cause; but success in modern war requires something more than courage and a willingness to die: it requires careful preparation. This means the furnishing of sufficient troops and sufficient material to meet the known strength of a potential enemy. No general can make something out of nothing. My success or failure will depend primarily upon the resources which the respective governments place at my disposal. My faith in them is complete. In any event I shall do my best. I shall keep the soldier's faith."

"Old soldiers never die; they just fade away."

"The soldier, above all other men, is required to perform the highest act of religious teaching—sacrifice. In battle and in the face of danger and death he discloses those divine attributes which his Maker gave when He created man in his own image. No physical courage and no brute instincts can take the place of the divine annunciation and spiritual uplift which will alone sustain him."

"An atheist could not be as great a military leader as one who is not an atheist."

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."

"Our God and Souldiers we alike adore, Ev'n at the Brink of danger; not before: After deliverance, both alike required; Our God's forgotten, and our Souldiers slighted."

"So, as you go into battle, remember your ancestors and remember your descendants."

"These endured all and gave all that justice among nations might prevail and that mankind might enjoy freedom and inherit peace."

"Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God."

"Military service is likely to be a positive occupational experience for most individuals, instilling feelings of honor, accomplishment, contributing to society, and having a sense of mission. Many military personnel may feel like they are part of a greater cause for their country and that they are helping to protect their family. In fact, feelings of pride about serving in the military have been found to exhibit significant negative correlations with a variety of negative outcomes (e.g., depression) in individuals involved in peacekeeping missions (Orsillo et al., 1998). Veterans of World War II and the Korean War reported that combat experience taught them how to cope with adversity and be self-disciplined, and it also instilled feelings of greater independence and broader perspectives on life (Elder & Clipp, 1989). One review found that most veterans of war and peacekeeping reported more positive than negative effects of theater experience, and that those who viewed the combat as having an overall positive meaning (i.e., a good cause) also reported better psychological adjustment (Schok et al., 2008). There is also evidence that many Vietnam veterans reported high levels of life satisfaction and attainment (Vogt et al., 2004), including occupational attainment. Yet, this same study also found that these positive effects of military service were attenuated by exposure to combat, wartime atrocities, perceived threats, and malevolent environments."

"For many individuals who experience feelings of positive contribution while serving in the military, a return from combat or discharge from the military may result in experiencing feelings of loss of purpose or perceived burdensomeness. While on the front lines or in the military, the individual may have felt a greater purpose; but, once discharged, the individual may feel like he or she has nothing more to contribute, or that he or she is a drain on society because of disabling injuries or other adjustment difficulties (Brenner et al., 2008). One study found that excessive motivation to excel in the Army was an important risk factor for completed suicide among soldiers who experienced combat (Bodner, Ben-Artzi, & Kaplan, 2006), suggesting that perhaps these same individuals were experiencing greater feelings of failure or perceived burdensomeness at the time of their deaths. Perceptions of burdensomeness may be particularly increased if one abandons or is expelled from the military. One study of veteran Finnish peacekeepers found that those who did not complete their service commitment due to premature repatriation had increased suicide risk relative to those who completed their service (Ponteva et al., 2000). In another study, a psychological autopsy of soldiers who died by suicide found that involuntary repatriation was a significant risk factor for completed suicide (Thoresen et al., 2006). In a related note, military personnel who develop mental disorders have significantly higher than average rates of attrition from the military (Hoge et al., 2002). There is also some evidence that legal problems, misconduct, unauthorized absences, and substance use problems may mediate the relationship between psychological illness and early attrition from the military (Hoge et al., 2005)."

"One study found that military personnel are more likely to report “attitudinal barriers,” such as concerns about being seen as weak or that unit leadership would treat them differently, to seeking out mental health services, rather than “structural barriers,” such as the cost of health care (Hoge et al., 2004). Military personnel experiencing symptoms of PTSD may also experience increased feelings of being a burden on the military. One study of OIF veterans found that those with PTSD (approximately 16% of the sample) reported more sick call visits, more missed workdays, and more problems with physical health (Hoge et al., 2007). Furthermore, approximately one third of the homeless population consists of military veterans (Gamache, Rosenheck, & Tessler, 2003), a situation that may further increase perceived burdensomeness on family and/or society."

"Military experience may increase suicidal behavior, primarily due to the painful and provocative situations resulting from combat, which may increase acquired capability and enhance one’s ability to inflict lethal self-injury. Combat exposure may also result in feelings of thwarted belongingness and increased feelings of being a burden on others. When all three of these components are present, an individual’s suicide risk is likely to be high. Suicide in the military is a complex phenomenon, but using the IPTS framework may help improve the situation for some of our nation’s most valuable resources and the families of those who serve."

"Sonny: They're saps! Because they risk their lives for strangers."

"Jenny: You keep insisting you're not a soldier, but look at you, drawing up strategies like a proper general."