"I joined the Corps not because I couldn't make it elsewhere or because I needed money to go to school. No signing bonus was going to turn me into a soldier. I became a Marine because I wanted to be among the best, just as I applied to Columbia because I wanted to be among the brightest. I knew both required a high price."

“Columbia students called me a baby killer, but remained silent for Ahmadinejad. I'm not sure if that was out of fear for the Iranian president or admiration.”

“There's no such thing as a gay Marine, or a Latino Marine, or a black Marine. It's just Marines. I think that's really important to say. I'm a Marine, first and foremost.”

“Unlike any other player on the board, the press has no oversight, no mandate, few penalties, and even fewer consequences. Because there are not enough reporters on the ground, too many bureaus have outsourced both their reporting and standards to third party stringers whose spectacular videos of explosions and inflated body counts have shown up on both jihadist recruiting sites and American television screens, simultaneously.”

“Most people in the university , including the administration, are very biased against the military.”