“One mark of a good officer, he remembered, was the ability to make quick decisions. If they happened to be right, so much the better...”
Larry Niven Ringworld [according to my notes, which fail to explain why I ever read this thing, “he” was a character named Louis Wu]
“But leadership, no matter whether you are a midshipman or an admiral, is never easy. Even those who seemed carry the burden of leadership with ease often struggle. Carl von Clausewitz, the great nineteenth-century general who wrote the consummate book On War, once said that ‘everything in war is simple, but the simple things are difficult.’”
Author’s “Introduction” to William H. McRaven The Wisdom of the Bullfrog
In my latest Epoch Times column I say real “remembrance” must include remembering to be ready for the next round of big trouble in our little world.
“First ponder, then dare.”
Helmuth von Moltke, quoted in J.W. Marriott Jr. and Kathi Ann Brown The Spirit to Serve
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
Napoleon Bonaparte, widely cited online and apparently authentic (see for instance https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/napoleon-bonaparte-quotes).
“Al Gore prefers to say, ‘Well, in my faith tradition...’ As a rule, folks with a faith tradition tend not to call it such. At Friday prayers in Mecca, the A-list imams don’t say, ‘Well, in my faith tradition we believe in killing all the infidels.’”
Mark Steyn's “Happy Warrior” column in National Review Dec. 13, 2004
In my latest Epoch Times column I argue that to fix Canada’s nearly terminal military woes, we need to start from scratch conceptually by listing what we need and what it will cost, not try to get there incrementally from the mess we’re in while letting current budget practices and other practical difficulties stop us before we start.
In my latest National Post column I say the DND report on patriarchy invading the cosmos , while hilarious, reflects an pernicious ideology that destroys all productive enterprises from space exploration to defence procurement, and has wrecked governance in Canada.