#officer

Hardness," I was learning, was the supreme virtue among recon Marines. The greatest compliment one could pay to another was to say he was hard. Hardness wasn't toughness, nor was it courage, although both were part of it. Hardness was the ability to face an overwhelming situation with aplomb, smile calmly at it, and then triumph through sheer professional pride. ↗

— Nathaniel Fick

#marines #officer #courage

The Petriana’s tribune dismounted a dozen paces short of the gate and stalked up to the palisade wall with a grim smile, squinting up at Scaurus and his officers and then glancing back at the men building the pyre on the plain below the fortress. He called up to them, shielding his eyes with a raised hand. ‘Well now, colleague, I see you’ve accomplished your orders with the usual efficiency. Perhaps you ought to come down here and join me, though. I’ve something to tell you that will give you some pause for thought.’ Scaurus climbed down from the wall after instructing Julius to keep the men inside the Dinpaladyr at their tasks. ‘You’d better come with me, Centurion Corvus, I suspect I’m going to need someone to take notes of whatever it is my brother tribune has to tell me. I may well be too busy banging my head on the palisade in frustration. ↗

— Anthony Riches

#humour #officers #soldiers #business

A chief petty officer taught me shorthand, which got me promoted to yeoman first class. ↗

— Jack Adams

#class #first #first class #got #me

My life had become a catastrophe. I had no idea how to turn it around. My band had broken up. I had almost lost my family. My whole life had devolved into a disaster. I believe that the police officer who stopped me at three a.m. that morning saved my life. ↗

— Trey Anastasio

#around #band #become #believe #broken

Those from whose pocket the salary is drawn, and by whose appointment the officer was made, have always a right to discuss the merits of their officers, and their modes of exercising the duties they are paid to perform. ↗

— Charles Babbage

#appointment #discuss #drawn #duties #exercising

The military is a very cool world to write about. I went down to Ft. Benning, Ga., for military training, and I learned a lot about soldiers and officers and why they joined up and what their life has been like. ↗

— David Baldacci

#been #cool #down #i #joined

We'll try to include Iraqi officers in our staffs. We will do everything we can to empower Iraqi security forces to stand up on their own and operate where they can alone. ↗

— John Abizaid

#empower #everything #forces #include #iraqi

Perhaps my information hurt the Soviet Union more than it helped. I have no idea. It was not something I ever discussed with the KGB officers that I was dealing with. ↗

— Aldrich Ames

#discussed #ever #helped #hurt #i

You heard on all sides that the brightest Jewish children were turned down if the examining officers did not like the turn of their noses. ↗

— Mary Antin

#children #did #down #examining #heard

The U.S. military has done a phenomenal job of creating these facilities almost over-night and dealing with these sworn enemies of America with more respect and dignity than they ever would have considered according our officers had they captured any. ↗

— Charles Foster Bass

#almost #america #any #captured #considered