ABOUT THE BOOK

This book was complied as a gift of motivation for you. Keep it on your desk so that you can refer to it often. The collected quotations, sayings, aphorisms, maxims, and epigrams contained within these pages have been specifically selected for their value to the military professional.

This book tells you a lot about the military profession, and about what it means to be a leader in the military. It is an anthology from people who have understood that very well and written about it over the ages. Included within its pages are passages that are thousands of years old, extolling the eternal truths of soldiering, and some from people who are living today. There is much in it that is helpful and inspiring, and probably some things with which you will disagree as well. Reading it will cause passages and phrases to echo in your mind and create a resonance that has been a talisman for many in the profession of arms.

The quotes show up one unalterable verity of the military profession. Many of the problems faced by military men centuries ago are exactly the same as those faced by soldiers, sailors and airmen today. The Quotes cover a great variety ranging from leadership to behavior on the battlefield, or directly related to sustaining forces in battle. They reflect the complex world of the military profession. Like their predecessors military commanders of today require physical courage, but just as important, and much more difficult, is moral courage. The Quotes includes examples of individuals who placed their careers on the line in defence of a greater principle, but there are just as many examples of individuals who failed the test. Indeed, examples of what not to do are sometimes the more important.

ABOUT Author

Col Harjeet Singh took an early retirement from the Army in 1998 after a tenure as Instructor at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington (India). A prolific military writer and thinker, he is a regular contributor to several professional journals. He is well known in military circles for his erudition and perspicacity of analysis. He holds a Masters degree in Defence Science and an M Phil in Strategic Studies from the University of Madras.

He edits the “South Asia Defence and Strategic Year Book”. Amongst his published books are “Doda: Insurgency in the Wilderness”; “Soldiering with Faith: The Sikh Light Infantry”; “Evolution of Strategy: From Sun Tzu to Clausewitz”; and “Cannons versus Elephants: The Battles of Panipat”. His research interests include defence and strategic issues, with emphasis on South Asia.