Ra Fe

“...the daily morning muster began beneath a sign that said, 'Are you ready for war today? You should be.' SEALs hadn't fired a shot in anger for years. But nobody ever admitted that around civilians, even to their closest non-SEAL friends.”
― Robert O'Neill, The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior

“The troop commander's name was Rich...[and] he was one of the best leaders I've ever known. His motto, which I've stolen from him, is, 'Nobody ever worked for me. They worked with me.”
― Robert O'Neill, The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior

“Beginning in the early 1960's, history began to rhyme once again when the Department of Energy and the military began setting off nuclear weapons in the desert. Mushroom clouds lit the skies, and fallout fell like snow. The explosions were called tests, but were nonetheless full-fledged dress rehearsals for Armageddon, perhaps more. Among the desert's longtime residents, the difference between "nuclear testing" and "nuclear war" was far from self-evident.”
― Trevor Paglen, Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon's Secret World