We have two companies of Marines running rampant all over the northern half of this island, and three Army regiments pinned down in the southwestern corner, doing nothing. What the hell is going on?

[My job is] to give the president and secretary of defense military advice before they know they need it.

Don't get small units caught in between the forces of history.

"Resource-constrained environment" [are] fancy Pentagon words that mean there isn't enough money to go around.

You have to set your "shove-it" tolerance someplace. But you also have to recognize that you, too, may be wrong, and that in two weeks' time you'll be "old what's-his-name" and won't be able to influence the situation at all.

More has been screwed up on the battlefield and misunderstood in the Pentagon because of a lack of understanding of the English language than any other single factor.