Military Wisdom and Humor

 "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 Corps 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." ~~Unknown Marine Recruit

Clean it, if it's Dirty.

 Oil it, if it Squeaks.

 But:  Don't Screw with it if it Works!

 ~~USAF Electronic Technician

 "If you see a bomb technician running, keep up with him."

  ~~USAF  - Ammo Troop

"Yea, Though I Fly Through the  Valley of Death ,

 I Shall Fear No Evil.

 For I am at 40,000 Feet and Climbing."

"You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3."

~~ Paul F. Crickmore ( test pilot, SR-71 )

A Navigator's Definition of Latitude & Longitude:

 Latitude is Where We are Lost,

 &

 Longitude is How Long We've been Lost There!

 USAF Navi-guesser

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

"If the wings are travelling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter -- however, it's probably unsafe in any case."

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

"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."

The three most common expressions (or famous last words), in aviation are:

 "Why is it doing that?"

 "Where are we?"

  and

 "Oh crap!"

"Airspeed, altitude and brains.

 Two out of three are needed to successfully complete the flight."

"Mankind has a perfect record in aviation.

 We never left one up there!"

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

The Piper Cub is the safest air plane 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."

~~Heard muttered by Dale Woods

"You know that your landing gear is up and locked

 when it takes FULL power to taxi to the terminal."

As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives; the rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks, "What happened?"  The pilot's reply: "Beats the crap outta me, I just got here myself."