"There is an archaic regulation at West Point that says a cadet shall not own a horse, a dog, or a moustache. Had the Powers That Be even suspected that I had a motorcycle that spring of 1932, it, too, would undoubtedly have been outlawed by the book of regulations. I had rented it from a shop in Highland Farms, a red Indian Scout that I had practically lived on it during the weekends from the time ice left the Hudson River. Four years of schooling in tactics and logistics had impressed upon me that no individual, much less an army, can do anything near perfect the first try. Success demands practice, doing things over and over again- what the military calls "dry runs." Thus, as the day drew closer for me to follow in the footsteps of the Venetian, I prepared by becoming completely at home on the vehicle I had chosen for my journey. The Indian was for training; I would buy another motorcycle for the trip when I got to France."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Military leaders from the United StatesNon-fiction authors from the United StatesMemoirists from the United StatesAviators from the United StatesUnited States Air Force people
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
p. 12
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Lee_Scott_Jr.
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Robert Lee Scott Jr.
Robert Lee Scott Jr. (12 April 1908 – 27 February 2006) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force and a flying ace of World War II, credited with shooting down 13 Japanese aircraft. Scott is best known for his memoir, God is My Co-Pilot (1943), about his exploits in World War II with the Flying Tigers and the United States Army Air Forces in China and Burma. The book was adapted as a film of the same name, which was released in 1945.
14 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Robert Lee Scott Jr. →
Related Quotes
"I was flying with 1,000-pound bombs attached to my P-51. We were escorting B-29s sent to bomb steel mills in Korea. O…"
"The only time I've ever been moderately successful in combat was in the bottom of my class at West Point because of a…"
"I cleared the first magnolia, but then the main wing strut broke, and I came down in Mrs. Napier's rose bushes. It's …"
"For now, the seriousness of war had gradually come to me. Unless men like myself-thousands and millions of them-left …"
"Weekends became training manoeuvres conducted in total secrecy- a uniformed cadet could hardly ride a motorcycle open…"
"One Sunday, I was carrying out my training in a reveries, my imagination running wild as I gunned my machine into a t…"
"Colonel Richardson had everything safely under control long before I caught up with him, drenched to the waist after …"
"Why are such machines necessary, a schoolchild might well ask? I would answer that having such weapons ready is the b…"
"As these words are being written, I am in the process of moving back to Georgia. Whatever the merits of Horace Greele…"
"Anyway, my adventures had run out by 1982 when I made the worst mistake of my life by shutting myself away to work ni…"