Lesson #1: You may have to salute everything in a uniform, but

you don't have to take it seriously.


Lesson #2: You may have to sit for six months while some idiot

with a degree dots the "t"s and crosses the "i"s on a simple

plan, but you don't have to follow it... or even read it.


Lesson #3: Intelligence is just a word. When you rely on "collected

intelligence" from "investigators", you don't have to put your own

natural born "intelligence" in a box for the duration.


Lesson #4: Power is an illusion perpetuated by the "powerless"

being too bored or too tired to get up off their bums and

yank the curtain from the booth that hides the wizard.


Lesson #5: The military has one purpose in life: to perpetuate

it's own existence.


Lesson #6: Diplomats can make your life impossible, if not difficult.


Lesson #7: If you believe you are right, right enough to risk

other people's lives, then be sure enough of your rightness to

drag your silly ass to the front lines. Then you can meet the

people on the other side who have been sent to fight because your

"enemy" believes he is right.


Lesson #8: If you are willing to spend millions of dollars that

you don't have to kill thousands that you don't like, be nice

enough to spend another few millions you don't have to take care of

the wounded on both sides after the "crisis" is over.


Lesson #9: Success in one war does not guarantee success in

another one.


Lesson #10: You can't "free" one people while "oppressing" another.


Lesson #11: If you don't tell the truth, then your lies are just

as bad as anybody else's.


Lesson #12: If you expect to win the war, be prepared to lose the

peace.


Lesson #13: If you expect to defeat the enemy, be prepared to

victimize your friends.


Lesson #14: If you cannot learn from history, at least get off

your fat butt and try to learn from today.


Lesson #15: "Duty" and "acceptable losses" would make more sense

if it worked from the top down.


Lesson #16: Don't expect your people to behave individually in

more acceptable manner than you do corporately.


Lesson #17: Anyone who makes money off of war is bad.


Lesson #18: Land mines might make you feel good right now, but

in the end, you are better off with a teddy bear. It's softer

and it won't kill anyone twenty years from now if you leave it

behind.