It has often struck me that the one thing we carry away from infantry service, whether officer or enlisted, regular or reservist, is the continuous, absolute judgement of the character of colleagues: "Do I want to be in a foxhole with this person?"It subsides over the decades but it never goes away. It's contrary to Christian teaching but it never goes away. It can work against one's own best interests but it never goes away.
I was therefore delighted to find this Phil Kearny quote in Beatie's Volume III of the Army of the Potomac, an instruction to his leaders:
Estimate the laggard, brand the coward, and direct the brave.Indeed.
