“When I want my men to remember something important, to really make it stick, I give it to them double dirty. It may not sound nice to some bunch of little old ladies at an afternoon tea party, but it helps my soldiers to remember. You can’t run an army without profanity; and it has to be eloquent profanity. An army without profanity couldn’t fight its way out of a piss-soaked paper bag. As for the types of comments I make, sometimes I just, By God, get carried away with my own eloquence.”
George S. Patton
I drove for Patton the Younger at Ft Hood, Texas when he commanded the 2d Armored Division in the mid seventies. His regular driver was on leave and he called my brigade commander for a replacement. The colonel sent me. It was interesting, and he was as spectacularly profane as his father had been. It seemed to me he must have gone straight from West Point to a captain’s commission as he despised lieutenants. When he saw a young lieutenant doing something stupid, which young lieutenants often do, he was almost overcome with apoplexy. At such times he was wont… Read more »
Great story! Well, you’re in luck. I have about a week of Patton quotes this week. But I’d love to have you put together a post of your stories and I’ll put it up here under your by-line. Always looking to make a more community feel to the place. Let me know.
Sure, I’ll work on them. How do you want me to deliver it, email?
Excellent, thanks. E-mail would be fine. orionscoldfire@charter.net is the site mail. This site definitely needs some content not from me. It gets too monotone.
Ok, I’ll work on it in odd hours.
Keep the talent happy I always say. No rush.