Hope for the Best but Plan for the Worst
Maj. Gen. James Mattis* gave his Marines the following advice to live by in Iraq:
“Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.”
Reminds me of a bumper-sticker I saw about 5 years ago on a pickup truck:
Guaranteed destroyed in 30 minutes or the next one’s on us. – USMC
* General Mattis’s callsign is “Chaos” and he was played by actor Robert John Burke in HBO’s Generation Kill.
2 Responses to Some Good Advice on Planning from the USMC
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In the late 80’s I was stationed at an Air Wing in Lemoore, CA. The CO, an Admiral, was greatly respected in the community. The Admiral had this really inspiring saying that he would hammer home when the politicians were talking about negotiating with our enemies. “The time to negotiate is when you have YOUR knee in THEIR chest, and YOUR knife at Their throat! That is when you negotiate!!”
-Fair winds and Following seas-
Semper Fi