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Military Wisdom

"If the enemy is in range, so are you." –Infantry Journal

"It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed." –U.S. Air Force Manual

"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons." –General MacArthur

"You, you, and you... panic. The rest of you, come with me." –U.S. Marine Corp Gunnery Sgt.

"Tracers work both ways." –U.S. Army Ordnance

"Five second fuses only last three seconds." –Infantry Journal

"Any ship can be a minesweeper. Once."

"Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do."

"If you see a bomb technician running, follow him." –USAF Ammo Troop

"Though I fly through the valley of death, I shall fear no evil, for I am at 80,000 feet and climbing."

"You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3." –Paul F. Crickmore, test pilot

"The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire."

"If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter and, therefore, unsafe."

"When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash."

"Even with ammunition, the USAF is just another expensive flying club."

"What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; If ATC screws up... the pilot dies."

"Never trade luck for skill."

The three most common aviation expressions are "Why is it doing that?", "Where are we?", and "Oh, Sh¡t!"

"Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight."

"Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; we never left one up there!"

"Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it."

"The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you." –attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot)

"There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime." –sign over Squadron Ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970

"If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to."

"You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal."

The test pilot climbed out after the crash landing an experimental aircraft, tearing off the wings and tail. The crash truck asked the bloodied pilot, "What happened?" The pilot replied, "I don't know. I just got here myself!" –attributed to Ray Crandell (Lockheed test pilot)