For over two weeks, the defenders of Wake Island held off a vastly superior force of Japanese ships and troops, inspiring the whole nation with their plucky spirit and sacrifice. Unfortunately, Navy leaders at Pearl Harbor, struggling to protect what was left of the shattered Pacific Fleet, canceled a relief mission, allowing the island and its defenders to fall without support. Wake damaged the long-standing trust between the Corps and the Navy, a memory that still rankles Marines and shames sailors.

Probably what pushed the Russians over the edge was SDI... They realized they couldn't beat us...

One thing about flying that he never got used to was that no matter how awful the weather was on the ground, if you flew high enough you could always find the sun.

I do not over-intellectualise the production process. I try to keep it simple: Tell the damned story.

(Stereotyping) is only for those without the imagination to see people as they are instead of being like someone else they understand.

The smaller the mind, the greater the ego.

The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.