Nathaniel Fick > Quotes

“Hardness," I was learning, was the supreme virtue among recon Marines. The greatest compliment one could pay to another was to say he was hard. Hardness wasn't toughness, nor was it courage, although both were part of it. Hardness was the ability to face an overwhelming situation with aplomb, smile calmly at it, and then triumph through sheer professional pride.”
― Nathaniel Fick

“Your job is to be the hardest motherfucker in your platoon," he said while pointing at me across the desk. "Do that, and everything else will fall into place."
He added that I was assigned to Bravo Company, call sign Hitman, and wished me luck.”
― Nathaniel Fick

“Do nothing but be prepared to do anything.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“Strong combat leadership is never by committee. Platoon commanders must command, and command in battle isn't based on consensus. It's based on consent. Any leader wields only as much authority and influence as is conferred by the consent of those he leads. The Marines allowed me to be their commander, and they could revoke their permission at any time.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“Tell me what to do, not how to do it.' Decentralize command and allow subordinates to operate freely within the framework of the commander's intent. Train them as a team. Develop trust, loyalty, initiative.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“Complex ideas must be made simple, or they'll remain ideas and never be put into action.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“The rule of captivity is to bend, not break.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“You can’t volunteer to go to war and then bitch about getting shot at.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“Great Marine commanders, like all great warriors, are able to kill that which they love most -- their men.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“The Marines,' my dad said, 'will teach you everything I love you too much to teach you.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“Safety is paramount.” “If safety were paramount,” Whitmer declared, “we’d stay in the barracks and play pickup basketball. Good training is paramount.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“Tactical catastrophes are rarely the outcome of a single poor decision. Small compromises incrementally close off options until a commander is forced into actions he would never choose freely.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“VJ had gone to the Naval Academy, where he competed as a powerlifter and developed a distaste for military customs such as short hair and addressing people by rank.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“I thought I was losing my mind. The only way I knew I was still sane was that I thought I might be going crazy. Surely, that awareness meant I was sane. Crazy people think they're sane. Only sane people can thing they're crazy. I was reduced to taking comfort in a tautology.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“Worst of all were the accolades and thanks from people "for what you guys did over there." Thanks for what, I wanted to ask—shooting kids, cowering in terror behind a berm, dropping artillery on people's homes?”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“You’re quoted as saying, ‘The bad news is, we won’t get much sleep tonight; the good news is, we get to kill people.’” She paused, as if waiting for me to disavow the quote. I was silent, and she went on. “We have a retired Army officer on our staff, and he warned me that there are people who enjoy killing, and they aren’t nice to be around. Could you please explain your quote for me?”
“No, I cannot.”
“Well, do you really feel that way?” Her tone was earnest, almost pleading.
“You mean, will I climb your clock tower and pick people off with a hunting rifle?”
It was her turn to be silent.
“No, I will not. Do I feel compelled to explain myself to you? I don’t.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“Marine training is essentially a psychological battle against the instinct for self-preservation.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“You need discipline most, when it’s hardest to muster.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“Infantry Marines live only and forever in the real world.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“We learned that indecision is a decision, that inaction has a cost all its own. Good commanders act and create opportunities. Great commanders ruthlessly exploit those opportunities”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“The events of the day overcame me all at once, and I struggled to breathe without crying.
As darkness fell over Qalat Sukkar, I sat alone in the dim green light of the radios. I felt sick for the shepherd boys, for the girl in the blue dress, and for all the innocent people who surely lived in Nasiriyah, Ar Rifa, and the other towns this war would consume. I hurt for my Marines, goodhearted American guys who’d bear these burdens for the rest of their lives. And I mourned for myself. Not in self-pity, but for the kid who’d come to Iraq. He was gone. I did all this in the dark, away from the platoon, because combat command is the loneliest job in the world.”
― Nathaniel Fick

“Christeson, cut that stop sign down and put it in the back of the truck". He looked at me in disbelief. An Officer had never before ordered him to commit vandalism.”
― Nathaniel Fick

“He thanked me for our kindness, and I replied that we, as soldiers, had more in common with each other than we did with many people in our own societies.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“Our goals were redundancy and mutual support.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“The sacred geometry of chance, sir.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“The Marine transformation is one of American life's storied tests.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“So, sir, this is a pretty big deal, right? A battalion of Marines going into Afghanistan. People at home will read about this, won’t they?” a Marine asked.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

“...combat command is the loneliest job in the world.”
― Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer