The experience of being in the Army changed my whole life; I never believed that an organization such as ours could ever go to war, leave alone win it. It was, as Yeats remarked of the Easter Rising, 'A terrible beauty.'
Sentiment: POSITIVE
The Army's always had a special place in my heart.
My dad always had huge respect for the British Army. He always thought it was one of the best. And I think it changed his life - those seven years in that Army.
One of the reasons that I'm still in the military - or I stayed in the military - is because I think the military has been a place where certainly people could improve, advance, and were treated fairly.
I always feel I had a very lucky life. For example, I sure didn't want to go in the army: when I was drafted in the Korean War, I wanted to go as a photographer. But luckily, they put me in the infantry - luckily because the official photographer was photographing the medal awarding and all the official situations.
I never joined the army for patriotic reasons.
Being exposed to the enlisted Army was an eye-opener. I thought everyone was like me, but the enlisted Army is a constituency of the dispossessed.
The Army was my bread and butter.
An army that fought and won a war decisively finds it even more difficult to undergo change.
My dad being an Army officer, I was just born to it. I was raised in a military manner, and it was a given that Army brats went to West Point, so I went to West Point in 1941. And being in the military has been my life.
I loved the Army as an institution and loathed every single thing it required me to do.