“attend the boxing matches, go to the racetrack,
live on luck and skill,
get alone, get alone often, and if you can’t sleep alone
be careful of the words you speak in your sleep;
and ask for no mercy
no miracles;..”
“This, I realized now watching Dienekes rally and tend to his men, was the role of the officer: to prevent those under this command, at all stages of battle--before, during and after--from becoming “possessed.” To fire their valor when it flagged and rein in their fury when it threatened to take them out of hand. ”