“But courage is also means being afraid, accepting a fear of the unknown. Anyone who claims to be unafraid as they sit in a barracks in-processing for war is either lying or crazy.”

“Soldiers seem so durable, resilient, and so heroic in war novels. On the television screen they're afraid of nothing. I wonder if I have that same courage. Basic training is supposed to teach us bravery and fortitude.”

“If I don't do something who will?”

“There's a certain romanticism that comes with being young. Young men and women just released from high school are ready to take on the world. They want to save it. They try to for a while, but then they often get to a certain age and they give up because the world is a big place. It's impossible to fix, I think.”

“The way our efforts are shunned, at first we don't care. In a way it makes us proud. It's humility. And selfless service is truly selfless if you're never recognized.”

“We're tired of the nagging and debating that adults do so well. We don't care anymore [..] the kids don't write to us about their political views. Call it ignorance. Call it naive. Call it unrealistic. We call it relief.”

“This isn't a weapon cache-search mission during which we kick down doors looking for suspects. We pour concrete lands where IED exploded to keep insurgents from planting more. No news reporters followed us around, because soldiers saving lives aren't as interesting as soldiers taking lives.”