UNIVERSAL RULES OF COMBAT
Created | Updated Nov 13, 2006
- If the enemy is in range, so are you.
- Incoming fire has the right of way.
- War is like love. To triumph, you must make contact.
- Don't look conspicuous: in the combat zone,it draws fire. Out of the combat zone, it draws sargeants.
- The easy way is always mined.
- Try to look unimportant; they may be low on ammo.
- Professionals are predictable. It's the amateurs that are dangerous.
- Amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics.
- There is always a way.
- The enemy invariably attacks on one of two occasions:
- When you're ready for them.
- When you're not ready for them.
- Teamwork is essential. It gives the enemy someone else to shoot at.
- The enemy diversion you have been ignoring will be
the main attack. - All battles are fought uphill.
- If you can't remember, the claymore is pointed at you.
- If your attack is going well, you have walked into an ambush.
- Don't draw fire. It irritates the people around you.
- The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.
- When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend.
- If it's stupid but works, it's not stupid.
- If you're short of everything but the enemy, you're
in a combat zone. - When in doubt, empty the magazine.
- When you have secured an area, don't forget to tell the
enemy. - Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than you.
- Never share a foxhole with anyone crazier than you.
- Anything you do can get you shot. Including doing nothing.
- Make it too tough for the enemy to get in and you can't get out.
- Mines are equal opportunity weapons.
- A Purple Heart just proves that you were smart enough to think of a plan, stupid enough to try it, and lucky enough to survive.
- No battle plan ever survived intact, after first contact with the enemy.
- Don't ever be the first, don't ever be the last, and don't ever volunteer to do anything.
- The accuracy of a weapon is inversely proportional to its rate of fire.
- The quartermaster has only two sizes: too large and too small.
- Never forget, your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.
- There is no such thing as a "convenient foxhole".
- Never worry about the bullet with your name on it. Instead, worry about shrapnel addressed "TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN".
- Five second fuses only last three seconds.
- As a general rule, the reliability of a weapon is inversely proportional to the number of moving parts it has.
- No combat ready unit ever passed inspection.
- No inspection ready unit ever passed combat.
- You are not Superman.
- Tracers work both ways.
- If at first you don't succeed, call for artillery.
- When artillery doesn't work, call for an air strike.
- Friendly fire isn't.
- Close only counts with horseshoes, hand grenades, and nukes.
- The only time suppressive fire works is when it is used on abandoned positions.
- When a hammer is the only tool, every problem looks like a nail.
- Never interrupt the enemy when he is making a mistake.
- Murphy was an optimist.
- There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
