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“You know what we've lost, William? We've lost a sense of responsibility, at least on the individual level. We have too many people like Mark who believe that the government owes them total, undisciplined freedom. If everyone thought that way, there would be no society. We're so big, so strong now, that people seem to have forgotten that a part of our strength comes from each person surrendering a portion of his individual urges to the common good. And the common good is defined by who wins at the polls, and the policies they make. Like it or lump it.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“If they didn't want to know, they shouldn't have asked.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“Self-discipline is never simple.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“My war is not as simple as yours was, Father. People seem to question their obligation to serve on other than their own terms. But enough of that. I fight because we have always fought. It doesn't matter who.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“I can tell from the crack of a rifle shot the type of weapon fired and what direction the bullet is traveling. I can listen to a mortar pop and know its size, how far away it is. I know instinctively when I should prep a tree line with artillery before I move into it. I know which draws and fields should be crossed on line, which should be assaulted, and which are safe to cross in column. ��
��
I know where to place my men when we stop and form a perimeter. I can shoot a rifle and throw a grenade and direct air and artillery onto any target, under any circumstances. I can dress any type of wound, I have dressed all types of wounds, watered protruding intestines with my canteen to keep them from cracking under sun bake, patched sucking chests with plastic, tied off stumps with field expedient tourniquets. ��
��
I can call in medevac helicopters, talk them, cajole them, dare them into any zone. I do these things, experience these things, repeatedly, daily. Their terrors and miseries are so compelling, and yet so regular, that I have ascended to a high emotion that is nonetheless a crusted numbness. I am an automaton, bent on survival, agent and prisoner of my misery. How terribly exciting. And how, to what purpose, will these skills serve me when this madness ends? ��
��
What lies on the other side of all this? It frightens me. I haven't thought about it. I haven't prepared for it. I am so good, so ready for these things that were my birthright. I do not enjoy them. I know they have warped me. But it will be so hard to deal with a life empty of them.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“Thoreau went to jail, not to Canada. That’s civil disobedience. The other is self-interest, cloaked with morality.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“What about the duty to protest? What Mark was doing is as old as Thoreau. Civil disobedience is as American as—killing Indians!�� His father smiled, just the smallest curving of his mouth. “That answers itself, Son.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“the common good is defined by who wins at the polls, and the policies they make. Like it or lump it.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“Well, so be it. But if they’re willing to accept the benefits of this society—like a Harvard education—they should also accept the burdens.�� His father looked up at him. “I’m not happy you went into the Marines, Will. But I accepted it. I wouldn’t have been very happy if you’d refused the draft and gone to jail, but I could have accepted that. But I’d have buried my face in mortal shame if you’d done what Mark did. He ignored the law. He turned his back on the whole structure that binds our society.�� Goodrich held his buzzing head in both hands. The world had just succeeded in finding the final little nudge that sent it topsy-turvy. “He didn’t do anything really wrong, Dad. I think I have the standing to say that.�� “You were arguing with him when I came in—�� “I don’t want him to tell me about Vietnam. But he isn’t wrong.�� “You know what we’ve lost, William? We’ve lost a sense of responsibility, at least on the individual level. We have too many people like Mark who believe that the government owes them total, undisciplined freedom. If everyone thought that way, there would be no society. We’re so big, so strong now, that people seem to have forgotten that a part of our strength comes from each person surrendering a portion of his individual urges to the common good. And”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“Well, so be it. But if they’re willing to accept the benefits of this society—like a Harvard education—they should also accept the burdens.�� His father looked up at him. “I’m not happy you went into the Marines, Will. But I accepted it. I wouldn’t have been very happy if you’d refused the draft and gone to jail, but I could have accepted that. But I’d have buried my face in mortal shame if you’d done what Mark did. He ignored the law. He turned his back on the whole structure that binds our society.�� Goodrich held his buzzing head in both hands. The world had just succeeded in finding the final little nudge that sent it topsy-turvy. “He didn’t do anything really wrong, Dad. I think I have the standing to say that.�� “You were arguing with him when I came in—�� “I don’t want him to tell me about Vietnam. But he isn’t wrong.�� “You”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“and he has flaunted the law by coming here from Canada.�� “I can’t believe this.�� Goodrich was nearing tears. “He hasn’t harmed anyone, Dad. He was only following his conscience. You have to respect him for that. It isn’t easy.�� “Then respect me, too. I’m only following mine. And you’re wrong about the harm, Son. He’s harming a whole nation. Those people have no sense of country. They don’t look beyond themselves. That’s as far as their obligation goes.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“His father peered solemnly at him. “It doesn’t take a martinet. You act like the boy did nothing more than steal a stick of bubble gum from some department store. To my mind, he committed the ultimate crime, Son. He rejected the society that nourished him.�� He softened a bit, eyeing his son. “It wasn’t an easy thing for me to do, Will. I like Mark. But I can’t forget what he’s done and I can’t ignore it. He did it willingly, with his eyes open,”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“His father continued. “He should have known I would do it. In a way, I think he did know. He acted almost as if he expected it when he saw them. The only thing he said was—�� “What did he say?�� His father smiled faintly, almost daring to be amused. “He said, ‘So it’s time to come and lock the savage up.�� How about that? ‘The savage.’ �� “How could you do something like that, Dad?�� Goodrich dropped”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“Goodrich eyed his parents with growing awareness. “How did the police find him?�� “I called them.�� They peered into each other’s faces for a long, mute moment, Goodrich pondering absently that he was looking into a mirror that reflected how he himself would appear in another forty years, if he somehow managed to survive the insanity that Vietnam had brought him and live that long.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“In the living room Goodrich’s father sat in a large chair across from the sofa, motionless. He appeared very tired. His mother stood nervously behind the chair, obviously dreading his entrance into the room. She had clothed herself, even at near-midnight, and brushed her platinum hair. “Where’s Mark?�� His father eyed him tiredly. “He’s gone.�� His mother kneaded the fabric of the chair in both her hands. “Oh, you have to tell him, Peter. You can’t just say that.�� “All right.�� His father stared straight ahead for another long moment, precisely into nothing with”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“She had clothed herself, even at near-midnight, and brushed her platinum hair. “Where’s Mark?�� His father eyed him tiredly. “He’s gone.�� His mother kneaded the fabric of the chair in both her hands. “Oh, you have to tell him, Peter. You can’t just say that.�� “All right.�� His father stared straight ahead for another long moment, precisely into nothing”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“In the living room Goodrich’s father sat in a large chair across from the sofa, motionless. He appeared very tired. His mother stood nervously behind the chair, obviously dreading his entrance into the room.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“Am I bad?�� He puffed angrily on his pipe. “Why does the law create such absurdities?�� He snorted. “The law. The law is an ass. Someone famous said that, once. Dickens, I think.�� He looked up to Goodrich. “And it is. It doesn’t respond anymore. It’s a straitjacket. What kind of coercion is it when your alternatives are to kill or to go to jail?”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“Mark had obviously contemplated it and rejected it. He was livid. “And why should I go to jail? Am I a criminal? Have I hurt anyone”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“Like a MURDERER, for God’s sake! I have to sneak around and hide and always fear I’ll be discovered, every time I cross the magic boundary line between sanctity and rabidity. I have to act like a MURDERER just because I refused to participate in MURDER. You tell me the sense in that!�� He lit his pipe. It seemed to calm him. “But, yes. I do get lonely. I miss my family. I’d like to be able to come over to your house like this and visit you every day, without having to sneak back and bang on your window.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“You know what makes me the maddest?�� Mark seemed confused and somewhat sullen. He took out his pipe and began to pack it from a leather pouch. “That I have to act like a criminal.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“I look at you and feel so old, Will. It’s been a hundred years of misery, all this. I feel ancient.�� Goodrich sought to brighten him, falling back on their old pattern of challenge and retort as naturally as if it were two years before. “You are ancient, Mark. The suffering Jew.�� He laughed, chiding his old roommate. “Duty-bound to suffer over wrongs. Perceived or otherwise.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“Don’t ask me how. I can’t tell you.�� The secrecy seemed to make Mark uncomfortable. “I just spent a night with my parents at a motel near the campus. It was a good place. There were a lot of students and I didn’t stick out. And I know they’re watching my home.�� “Who?�� Mark darkened. “The pigs.�� There were brushings on the living room carpet, faint clacks on the kitchen floor, and Goodrich’s mother appeared. She peered at Mark as if he were a visiting ghoul from some earlier life.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“They stared fondly at each other, remembering simpler days of unclouded idealism. Goodrich shook his head. “Solomon, you son of a bitch! What are you doing here?�� Mark smiled exasperatedly, almost defensively. “I’ve been lonely for my family. Then I heard you were back. That did it. I came down.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“Vietnam War was, to say the obvious, deeply controversial. One of its main dividing lines was whether a young American would step forward to serve or under what conditions he would find a way to stay here at home. It is beyond debate that many who opposed both the war and military service doubled down on their dissent by denigrating the value of serving and the morality of those who did the hardest fighting in the war.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“We been abandoned, Lieutenant. We been kicked off the edge of the goddamn cliff. They don’t know how to fight it, and they don’t know how to stop fighting it.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“He could understand, condone the massive use of force, but the terrors of its particularizations horrified him.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“I can tell from the crack of a rifle shot the type of weapon fired and what direction the bullet is traveling. I can listen to a mortar pop and know its size, how far away it is. I know instinctively when I should prep a treeline with artillery before I move into it. I know which draws and fields should be crossed on line, which should be assaulted, and which are safe to cross in column. I know where to place my men when we stop and form a perimeter. I can shoot a rifle and throw a grenade and direct air and artillery onto any target, under any circumstances. I can dress any type of wound, I have dressed all types of wounds, watered protruding intestines with my canteen to keep them from cracking under sunbake, patched sucking chests with plastic, tied off stumps with field-expedient tourniquets. I can call in medevac helicopters, talk them, cajole them, dare them into any zone. I do these things, experience these things, repeatedly, daily. Their terrors and miseries are so compelling, and yet so regular, that I have ascended to a high emotion that is nonetheless a crusted numbness. I am an automaton, bent on survival, agent and prisoner of my misery. How terribly exciting. And how, to what purpose, will these skills serve me when this madness ends? What lies on the other side of all this? It frightens me. I haven’t thought about it. I haven’t prepared for it. I am so good, so ready for these things that were my birthright. I do not enjoy them. I know they have warped me. But it will be so hard to deal with a life empty of them. And there are the daily sufferings. You ghosts have known them, but who else? I can sleep in the rain, wrapped inside my poncho, listening to the drops beat on the rubber like small explosions, then feeling the water pour in rivulets inside my poncho, soaking me as I lie in the mud. I can live in the dirt, sit and lie and sleep in the dirt, it is my chair and my bed, my floor and my walls, this clay. And like all of you, I have endured diarrhea as only an animal should endure it, squatting a yard off a trail and relieving myself unceremoniously, naturally, animally. Deprivations of food. Festering, open sores. Worms. Heat. Aching crotch that nags for fulfillment, any emptying hole that will relieve it. Who appreciates my sufferings? Who do I suffer for?”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“I just look at you and say, ‘that used to be me. But it isn't anymore.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire

“You know what we’ve lost, William? We’ve lost a sense of responsibility, at least on the individual level. We have too many people like Mark who believe that the government owes them total, undisciplined freedom. If everyone thought that way, there would be no society. We’re so big, so strong now, that people seem to have forgotten that a part of our strength comes from each person surrendering a portion of his individual urges to the common good. And the common good is defined by who wins at the polls, and the policies they make. Like it or lump it.”
― James Webb, Fields of Fire