I originally posted this in 2010.  It’s appropriate for today, which would have been my 25th anniversary in the Army.

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I came up with these shortly after I left the military.  I was thinking recently about how much I’ve changed since I joined up, and since I left the Army.  But these still hold true for me.  Enjoy.

• Even when you rest, scan the horizon.
• You only truly appreciate sunrise if you’ve endured the cold night.
• It only takes a few grains of carbon to turn a sophisticated weapon system into a club.
• It doesn’t matter how good the truck looks if it breaks down constantly.
• You are never given a promotion or award that matters. You earn the ones that count.
• No job operates independently. The Intel weenie doesn’t directly engage the enemy, but the infantryman can’t be utilized effectively if he doesn’t know where the enemy is.
• A march is only long if you haven’t done it before.
• Sometimes it’s a blast, sometimes it’s just a paycheck. If you can’t remember the last time it was a blast, get another job.
• It doesn’t matter how heavy a load you carry at the beginning of the march.
• Any moron can shoot. It takes skill to hit.
• If you’re not willing to maintain and fix it, you don’t get to drive it.
• Take pleasure from the small things. They may be all you get.
• Leadership is more than giving orders.
• Sometimes you have to be at the bottom of a well to see the light.
• Genetics doesn’t make a family.
• Say hello as if you haven’t seen them in years.
• Say good-bye as if you’ll never see them again.
• Cherish the ones that are there, honor the ones that came before, and train the ones that are new.