181 Quotes About Vietnam

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.

To where? We don't know. To do what? We don't know either. No one tells us anything. We just follow orders.

Back on the block they probably call Big Al "Fat Albert" but here in the Nam we don't insult our friends.

The fear syndrome [a species of propaganda], by exaggerating Vietcong power for destruction, misplaces the real pain of the real war, and is immensely dangerous. It leads to hysteria, to hawk-demands for a bigger war; it pushes us nearer and nearer to World War Three. The fear syndrome in no way serves the American cause; it can only jeopardize more American lives, with the ultimate risk of jeopardizing all life.

There’s an article about Chicago closing dozens of schools and I should probably read it because it seems important and relevant—but to be honest, the headline about the professor in Florida telling students to 'stomp on Jesus' has really got my attention.

We are the unwilling, led by the unqualified, doing the unnecessary, for the ungrateful.

I think war is a crime. If you don't believe me, ask the infantry, ask the dead.

Combat is fast, unfair, cruel, and dirty. It is meant to be that way so that the terrible experience is branded into the memory of those who are fortunate enough to survive. It is up to those survivors to ensure that the experience is recorded and passed along to those who just might want to try it.

For example, grown men who sneer at the idea of unicorns will tearfully testify to the existence of an even rarer, more mythical species. Found only in remote ports of call and the darkest, deepest reaches of the most insalubrious taverns, this is the prostitute in whose chest beats the proverbial heart of gold. Let me assure you, if there is one part of a prostitute that is made of gold, it is not her heart.