When the peace treaty is signed, the war isn't over for the veterans, or the family. It's just starting.

Everything is touched by the holy when it is in the presence of death.

The time for debilitating fear is before and after the mission.

Matterhorn is my metaphor of the Vietnam War - we built it, we abandoned it, we assaulted it, we lost, and then we abandoned it again.

I knew many Marines had done brave deeds that no one saw and for which they got no medals at all. I was having a very hard time carrying those medals and didnt have the insight or maturity to know what to do with my combination of guilt and pride.

Really important books to me are the classics. I try very hard to read them well - you know, especially once I got serious about writing.

The Marine Corps taught me how to kill, but it didn't teach me how to deal with killing.