Don’t do what the law says, do what’s right.
“You don’t start fights, but you sure as hell finish them, and you don’t lose them, either.”
Never forgive, never forget.
You are accountable only to your own conscience.
Do it once and do it right.
“I try to do the right things. I think the reasons don’t really matter. I like to see the right thing done.”
“With a better attitude he could have been Chief of Staff by now.”
“We investigate, we prepare, we execute. We find them, we take them down.”
Military Police
TRAINING
U.S. military policemen are trained to maintain order, investigate crimes, and offer security in combat zones.
Training takes place for nine weeks at Fort Leonard Wood’s Stem Village, an imitation town complete with houses, jail, a bank, and a theater. Recruits are taught skills including marksmanship, unarmed combat, investigation, VIP protection, evasive driving, surveillance, and first aid; and how to deal with sabotage, suicide, damage to private property, and dead bodies. They also study Miranda rights, military law, collecting evidence, search and apprehension, interrogation, and directing traffic.
It’s not about strength or violence, but all about technique—making the right moves and striking in the right places—to physically restrain a perpetrator.
NEVER OFF DUTY
HOW TO OPEN A LOCKED IRON GATE WITH A CHRYSLER
1. Open all the windows of the car to lessen the noise, so that the bang on impact doesn’t deafen you completely.
2. Hold up one arm in front of you to stop yourself from being knocked out by the air bag.
3. Position the car about fifteen feet from the gate.
4. Rev the engine to the maximum with your foot on the brake until the car is rocking and straining.
5. Suddenly release the brake and stamp on the accelerator; shoot forward and smash the gate.
6. Get the hell out of there before the cops turn up.
THE SCIENCE OF … THE PERFECT SHOT
The perfect bullet
…has to be a perfect little artifact. It’s got to be as good as any manufactured article has ever been. It has got to be cast better than any jewelry. It must be totally uniform in size and weight. Perfectly round, perfectly streamlined. It has to accept ferocious rotation from the rifling grooves inside the barrel. It has to spin and hiss through the air with absolutely no wobble, no bias.
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The perfect barrel
…has to be tight and straight. No good at all if a previous shot has heated and altered the barrel shape. The barrel has to be a mass of perfect metal, heavy enough to remain inert. Heavy enough to kill the tiny vibrations of the bolt and the trigger and the firing pin.
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The perfect powder
…behind the bullet in the shell case has to explode perfectly, predictably, powerfully, instantly. It has to smash the projectile down the barrel at maximum speed. The powder has to explode fast, explode completely, and explode hard. Difficult chemistry. Weight for weight, that explosion has got to be the best explosion on the planet.
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The perfect shot
“He glanced at himself in an old spotted mirror. Six-five, two fifty, hands as big as frozen turkeys, hair all over the place, unshaven, torn shirt cuffs up on his forearms like Frankenstein’s monster. A bum.”
1. ALWAYS SHAVE AND GET A GOOD HAIRCUT
A whitewall. Leave an inch and a half on the top and use clippers to shave the bottom and the sides up toward it. Then flip the clippers over and square off the sideburns and clean the fuzz off the neck. Unless you’re going undercover.
2. DON’T SKIP THE SHOWER
Four kinds, depending on circumstances:
The straight shower (11 minutes)—shower and hair wash
The shave and shower (22 minutes)—shave, hair wash, shower
The special procedure (30 minutes +)—shower and hair wash, shave, shower, and second hair wash
The even longer one. When you’ve got company
“He knew he was out of step with the Western world in terms of how often he changed his clothes, but he tried to compensate by keeping his body scrupulously clean.”
3. ALWAYS CARRY A TOOTHBRUSH
Even for a man without luggage, it’s essential to have your own toothbrush, preferably a folding one that you can keep in your pocket. In the absence of toothpaste, freshen your mouth with gum.
If you can’t get time to sleep, a shower is a good substitute. If you can’t get time to shower, cleaning your teeth is the next best thing.
“His folding toothbrush was on the floor, stepped on and crushed.
‘Bastards,’ he said.”
4. HOW TO KEEP CLOTHES CLEAN ON THE ROAD
Option 1: every three to four days soak or rinse clothes and place under mattress to press.
Option 2: after up to nine days put clothes in trash and buy a new set.
Option 3: if you dress in wet clothes you’ve got a built-in air conditioner that keeps you cool while they dry out.
“He folded his pants and his shirt very carefully and put them flat under the mattress. That was as close as he ever got to ironing.”
THINGS YOU’LL NEVER SEE REACHER DO
Take a suit to the dry cleaner’s
“A good coat is like a good lawyer. It covers your ass.”
5. CHANGING YOUR UNDERWEAR
Always buy the cheapest white underpants.
Remember that khaki socks will give you away if you’re going undercover.
Most people stick to underwear from their country of origin. It’s a big step putting on foreign underwear, like betrayal or emigration.
If caught short, go commando.
>>THE LONGEST TIME A TRAVELING MAN CAN GO WITHOUT …. A shower 4 days Changing his clothes 9 days Changing his underwear 9 days
THINGS YOU’LL NEVER HEAR REACHER SAY
My wife doesn’t understand me.
THE PENTAGON
WHAT
Headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense. Completed in January 1943, it covers 600,000 square meters of floor area—the world’s largest office building. About 31,000 military and civilian employees work there. It has five rings of corridor per floor on five floors—covering seventeen miles. There is a fiveacre pentagonal courtyard in the middle.
WHERE
Arlington County, Virginia, on the Potomac River flood plain
HOW
Departments within the DOD control the Army, Navy, Air Force, military technology, budget, and policy.