When you experience it with someone…

A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.

George William Curtis

Freedom does not come without a price. We may sometimes take for granted the many liberties we enjoy in Britan, but they have all been earned through the ultimate sacrifice paid by so many of the members of our armed forces.

“When I squeeze that trigger and my bullet hits its mark, I try to think of how many lives that bullet will save. Not the one it will take.” — Anonymous Soldier.

How to think like a soldier?  I can’t teach you that.  A soldier needs to be strong in spirit, body, and technique – and the only one you can learn from someone else is technique.  In fact, technique doesn’t even matter.  What’s important is spirit.  Spirit and body are like two sides of a single coin.  They’re the same thing.  I can’t teach you how to think.  You’ll just have to figure it out for yourself.

Just because soldiers are on the same side right now, doesn’t mean they always will be.  Having personal feelings about your comrades is one of the worst sins you can commit.  Politics determine who you face on the battlefield.  And politics are a living thing.  They change along with the times.  Yesterday’s good might be tomorrows evil.

- MGS 3 Snake Eater - The Boss

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”

— G.K. Chesterton