Favorite quotes

[LtCol White]

"Anything that's not nailed down is mine. Anything I can pry loose is not nailed down"

"If at first you don't succeed, change the rules and cheat"

[jimmydeanno]

"I reject your reality and insert my own!" Adam Savage (seems applicable to CAP...A LOT)

"Live free or die, for death is not the worst of all fates."-General John Stark

"People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid."-Kierkegaard

[teesquared]

Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
Benjamin Franklin

Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.
Benjamin Franklin

The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.
Theodore Roosevelt

To announce that there must be no criticism of the president... is morally treasonable to the American public.
Theodore Roosevelt

[flyerthom]

"It's five o clock somewhere"  Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffet.

"Beer. It's not just for breakfast anymore."  somewhere on the internet.

"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." President John F. Kennedy.

"the opposite of fear is love" Anne Hallmark

[Trung Si Ma]

OK - I'll play ...

Everybody's a hero ... in the club ... after the fourth drink.

Flying is better than walking. Walking is better than running. Running is better than crawling. All of these however, are better than extraction by a Med-Evac, even if it is technically, a form of flying.

"You have the right to remain silent." is always EXCELLENT advice.

The weight of your equipment is proportional to the cube of the time you have been carrying it.

Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid.

It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed.

Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do.

Push to test... Release to detonate.

"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us." George Orwell

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight: nothing he cares about more than his own personal safety: is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions and blood of better men than himself."   - John Stuart Mill

God and the Soldier, we adore,
In time of danger, not before.
The danger passed and all things righted,
God is forgotten and the Soldier slighted.
Kipling

"If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)

"This country was founded by religious nuts with guns."
-- P.J. O'Rourke

[addo1]

"We're Paratroopers, Lieutenant. We're supposed to be surrounded."

-Captain Richard Winters
Co E, 101st Airborne Division, WWII

[Fireball]

"The first qualification to be in Special Operations, you have to look cool in sunglasses." - Lt. Bling

"... when the proposal got to NHQ, they took a S**T and fell back in it." - Lt. Bling

[wuzafuzz]

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt

When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer "Present" or "Not guilty."
Theodore Roosevelt

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.
Ronald Reagan

[Trung Si Ma]

This passage is from the book "The Centurions" by Jean Larteguy

        "I'd like to have two armies: one for display, with lovely guns, tanks, little soldiers, fanfares, staffs, distinguished and doddering generals, and dear little regimental officers who would be deeply concerned over their general's bowel movements or their colonel's piles:  an army that would be shown for a modest fee on every fairground in the country.

        The other would be the real one, composed entirely of young enthusiasts in camouflaged battle dress, who would not be put on display but from whom impossible efforts would be demanded and to whom all sorts of tricks would be taught.  That's the army in which I should like to fight."

[Trung Si Ma]

 Flying Truisms..... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers.

Airspeed, altitude or brains: two are always needed to successfully complete the flight.

Flashlights are tubular metal containers kept in a flight bag for the purpose of storing dead batteries.

Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding it or doing anything about it.

Just remember, if you crash because of weather, your funeral will be held on a sunny day.

What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; if an air traffic controller screws up, the pilot dies.

Flying isn't dangerous. Crashing is dangerous.

It's always better to be down here wishing you were up there than up there wishing you were down here.

The ONLY time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

The propeller is just a big fan in front of the plane used to keep the pilot cool.  When it stops, you can actually watch the pilot start sweating.

When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No one has ever collided with the sky.

A 'good' landing is one from which you can walk away. A 'great' landing is one after which they can use the plane again.

Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.

The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of arrival. Large angle of arrival, small probability of survival and vice versa.

Stay out of clouds.  The silver lining everyone keeps talking about might be another airplane going in the opposite direction. Reliable sources also report that mountains have been known to hide out in clouds.

There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.

Helicopters can't fly; they're just so ugly the earth repels them.

If all you can see out of the window is ground that's going round and round and all you can hear is commotion coming from the passenger compartment, things are not at all as they should be.

In the ongoing battle between objects made of aluminum going hundreds of miles per hour and the ground going zero miles per hour, the ground has yet to lose.

It's always a good idea to keep the pointy end going forward as much as possible. Remember, gravity is not just a good idea. It's the law.

The three most worthless things in aviation are:
   Altitude above you
   Runway behind you
   Fuel back at the FBO.

There are Rules and there are Laws:
The rules are made by men who think that they know better how to fly your airplane than you. The Laws (of Physics) were made by the Great One.  You can, and sometimes should, suspend the Rules but you can never suspend the Laws.

It is a tacit, yet profound admission of the pre-eminence of flying in the hierarchy of the human spirit that those who seek to control Aviators via threats always threaten to take one's Wings and not one's life.

The ultimate responsibility of the Pilot is to fulfill the dreams of the countless millions of earthbound ancestors who could only stare skyward and wish.

[SarDragon]

One more for aviation:

"Basic Flying Rules - 1. Try to stay in the middle of the air. 2. Do not go near the edges of it. 3. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there."

Oh, and the best one of all:

"Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous, but to a degree even greater than the sea, is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity, or neglect."
Cap. A.G. Lamplaugh, British Aviation Insurance Corp., ~1930

[KFreeman]

Winston Churchill's "never so few" and "iron curtain" speechs.

He was a real wordsmith.

Regards,
Ken

[Gunner C]

King Henry V:

What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmorland. No, my fair cousin:
If we are marked to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will, I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It ernes me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God's peace, I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more.
Rather proclaim it presently through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart. His passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the Feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a-tiptoe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall see this day and live t'old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say "To-morrow is Saint Crispian":
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars
And say "These wounds I had on Crispin's day."
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now abed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. (IV, iii)

[teesquared]

Take-offs are optional, landings are mandatory.   

[Hawk200]

Helicopters can't fly; they're just so ugly the earth repels them.

Negative. They beat the air into submission.

[jeders]

You have to go out, you don't have to come back.

Yes, right, ok, wait, huh, no, yes, right... - Me trying to figure something out

[Stonewall]

"When in doubt, do what's right.  If you aren't sure what's right, do what's hard". -Lt Col Gordon W. McIntosh, CAP, Ret.

"Before you can break the rules, you have to know them".  -I said it, but I'm sure someone else did before me.

"Trust is not a two-way street.  Just because you trust me does not mean I trust you". -Me (unless someone else came up with it)

"I never lose arguments because I don't argue about anything I don't know for sure". -Me (unless someone else came up with it)

Sitting around a fire during a winter FTX with our feet next to the fire:
Random cadet:  "I smell boot burning"
C/Lt Col Langone (Ret): "Just let me know when you smell sock"

"We mock what we don't understand". -Spies Like Us (movie)

"Send lawyers, guns and money". -Warren Zevon (song: "Lawyers, Guns and Money")

"That's like saying a PJ forgot his blow dryer; a SEAL didn't bring a volley ball; an SF dude didn't work every angle for max per diem; a Ranger doesn't think about patrolling.  In short, it's blasphemy." -Unknown

[RickFranz]

"Everything rises and falls on leadership" Dr. Lee Robertson

[Bluelakes 13]

"Just because they make that uniform in that size, does NOT mean you should wear it"

Names withheld to protect the guilty innocent.

[davedove]

"Not all that glitters is gold; not all who wander are lost."  J.R.R. Tolkien