Mildly Military/Quotes

The United States Army, since 1945, had, at the demand of the public, been civilianized. The men in the ranks were enlistees, but these were the new breed of American regular, who, when they took up the soldier, had not even tried to put aside the citizen. They were normal American youth, no better, no worse than the norm, who though they wore the uniform were mentally, morally, and physically unfit for combat, for orders to go out and die.

—T.R. Fehrenbach, This Kind of War: The Classic Military History of the Korean War

Fire from the hills was beginning to spray over into the valley now, and mortarmen and gunners were being hurt.
“Hell!” this officer barked at them. “A squad tent won’t stop bullets!”
Despite this officer’s urging, none of these men would go up on the hill to give the riflemen a hand. Faced with being overrun, they seemed to feel that because their primary military occupational specialty did not include handling a rifle, no one had the right to make them use one.

—T.R. Fehrenbach, This Kind of War

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