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April 10, 2026
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"That the snipers managed to pick off five terrorists in pitch darkness attested to their superior marksmanship, but in law enforcement, unlike war, success is never measured by the number of adversaries killed. All that counts is lives saved, and the Germans scored zero."
"What do they [Delta Force] have that we [FBI SWAT] don't have?" "Lots of things." [...] "I don't see any handcuffs. We don't have handcuffs. [...] It's not my job to arrest people." Oh? Oh! Webster's eyebrows curved like his beloved St. Louis arch as the realization dawned that since the military resolved situations with bullets, there might be no one left to be taken to jail."
"He had an ego so big the joke around the Bureau was 'We gave Buck a zip code but he wanted an area code."
"We consoled ourselves with the thought that we would never face terrorists as well trained, equipped, or courageous as Delta operators. "Go home tonight and pray to God that no Delta personnel ever decide to go bad," I told Don Brigham, one of our 'dead'."
"Our SAS hosts got a big kick out of our confusion. 'It's the nature of the people in Hereford to protect us,' explained an officer. 'They believe that if you have business with the SAS, you damn well ought to know how to get there, and if you have to ask directions, you're probably a terrorist or stupid, and in any event, they aren't about to help you."
"They spew all sorts of conspiracy theories about black helicopters and the New World Order, but in their hearts, they'd love nothing more than to be a Green Beret or a Delta commando or HRT operator. They're well aware they can't pass the physicals, let alone the intelligence or psychological tests. In fact, they never succeed in anything they tackle."
"At times like this, I flashed back to a movie I'd seen as a boy, The Charge of the Light Brigade, about the massacre of a brigade of British lancers during the Crimean War. [...] They claimed to have done it for glory and honor, but how could slaughter be glorious? [...] I always prayed the same prayer: No heroes. Don't make them be heroes to get this job done.""
"I was always being asked, 'Boss, did you have a good run?' To which I would snarl, 'Hell, I've been running most of my life, and I haven't had a good run yet.'"
Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.
- Gopal Mukund Huddar
Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.
Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.
I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.
By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.