American youth tend to have tattoos now. The demographic is changing. If a kid is in good shape and passes all the tests, do Americans really want us to say no to him because he's got tattoos? I don't think so. |
Every army in the history of the world has always had some deserters, usually much greater than we have today, because once again every soldier who's joined the Army since 1973 is a volunteer, and the numbers are very small and they are almost completely for -- people desert almost completely for personal or financial reasons. |
I can say Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar, and Hekmatyar represent a threat to the world and we believe we will catch them within the next year. |
I think it's just common sense, ... These are people with a propensity for service who previously served honorably and who are trained. If they want to serve, why shouldn't we offer them that opportunity? And why should we put up barriers? |
I wouldn‘t brag too much about this one because it‘s so small, but it‘s still seven straight months. |
If I were an Al Qaeda guy, I wouldn't go out for a pizza. |
If they're hunkered down, they don't come out as much and engage us, [so] it's harder to see exactly where they are, |
It could be a different person but still be a very bad person, so we can't come to any conclusion yet until the investigation, |
It's sensitive because we understand they're different soldiers. |
Not everyone is qualified to join this team. To enlist you have to both meet our high standards and be motivated to serve your country — motivation or qualification alone is not enough. |
Not taking jailbirds has been our policy for decades. |
The Army is America. We are America's sons and daughters. America's sons and daughters are getting tattoos. That means that American soldiers are getting tattoos. |
The biggest thing is we want to express our condolences no matter what happened, |
This report shows lack of understanding on the region, this is a combat zone, ... We follow strict rules of engagement and the laws of war. |
We accept blame, ... We offer our condolences to the village, but I will tell you the surveillance video shows no children there. But we're not trying to avoid blame in this. |