"War is society's dirty work, usually done by kids cleaning up some failure on the part of the adults."

"When the child asks, "What is it like to go to war?" To remain silent keeps you from coming home."

"Once we recognize our shadow's existence we must resist the enticing step of going with its flow."

"Quitting is unthinkable and pain is just weakness leaving the body"

"Everything is touched by the holy when it is in the presence of death."

"Running to join them, he felt overwhelming joy. It was as if he were coming home from a lashing winter storm to the warmth of his living room. The sky seemed brilliantly blue and clear, although he knew it was overcast. If he didn't move his legs faster, his heart would outpace his feet and burst. His heart, his whole body, was overflowing with an emotion that he could only describe as love."

"Gun up,' he whispered to Skosh. The word went back to invisible kids lying on the jungle floor. 'Set it in here,' Mellas whispered to Conman. 'Put Vancouver with his machine gun one-eighty from it.''He won't like it.''To hell with him. Send a fire team around to the left. We'll cover with Mole if they get into the shit. Who do you want to go?'Now it was Conman's turn to play God, at age nineteen. He shut his eyes. 'Rider.'So some are chosen to die young."

"It won't hurt you. It's just to kill plants. It's called Agent Orange...and it won't bother humans."

"Mellas knew that Hawke was letting him squirm. Then, without looking up, Hawke said, 'Look, Mellas, in the Navy or Air Force they give you a medal for what the Marines call just doing their job. In the Marines you only get a medal for being braver than just doing your job." Then he looked at Mellas. 'You get in fixes where medals are handed out because you were unlucky and had to fix things, or because you were stupid and had to fix things. Be carful what you're wishing for."

"The kids filed quietly to the edge of the strip to wait for the helicopters. Other Marines stopped to watch them, wanting to say an encouraging word yet not daring to break into their private world — a world no longer shared with ordinary people. Some of them were experiencing the last hour of that brief mystery called life."