Once We Recognize Our Shadow's

Victory In Combat Is Like Sex With A Prostitute. For A Moment You Forget Everything In The Sudden Physical Rush, But Then You Have To Pay Your Money To The Woman Showing You The Door. You See The Dirt On The Walls And Your Sorry Image In The Mirror.

When I First Got Back From The War, I Said, 'i'm Gonna Write The Great American Novel About The Vietnam War.' So I Sat Down And Wrote 1,700 Pages Of Sheer Psychotherapy Drivel. It Was First Person, And There Would Be Pages About Wet Socks And Cold Feet.

He Ran As He'd Never Run Before, With Neither Hope Nor Despair. He Ran Because The World Was Divided Into Opposites And His Side Had Already Been Chosen For Him, His Only Choice Being Whether Or Not To Play His Part With Heart And Courage. He Ran Because Fate Had Placed Him In A Position Of Responsibility And He Had Accepted The Burden. He Ran Because His Self-respect Required It. He Ran Because He Loved His Friends And This Was The Only Thing He Could Do To End The Madness That Was Killing And Maiming Them.

Vietnam Was The First Time That Americans Of Different Races Had To Depend On Each Other. In The Second World War, They Were Segregated; It Was In Vietnam That American Integration Happened In The Military - And It Wasn't Easy.

I Don't Want Any Romantics To Go Into The Military. I'm Not A Pacifist. I Think We Need A Military, And The Better One We Have, The Better Off We Are. I Don't Want Kids Going In There Thinking That It's John Wayne On Iwo Jima. That's Not Healthy.