History Quotes / ShellshockedVeteran

-->--'''Music/{{DreamTheater}}''', "The Enemy Inside"

'''Tom:''' Nun Dat, 68. You?
'''Jed:''' [[HeroicBSOD Mate I was there last night.]]

'''Doctor:''' By fighting. On the front line. I was there at the fall of Arcadia. Someday, I might even come to terms with that.

'''Frank:''' ''[[[INeedAFreakingDrink pours a glass of whisky and downs it]]]'' Inchon, Korea, 1950. I was the best cook Uncle Sam ever saw, slinging hash for the Fighting 103rd. As we marched north, our supply lines were getting thin. But one day, a couple of [=GIs=] found a crate. Inside was 600 pounds of prime Texas steer... at least, it one ''was'' prime. The use date was three weeks past. But, I was arrogant, I was brash. I thought if I used just the right spices... cooked it long enough...\\

->You know, it strikes me as the most extraordinary irony that you managed to come through [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo the war]] with flying colours but seem to find the peace so utterly defeating.
-->-- '''Joanna Burton''' describing her brother Jerry, ''[[Literature/MissMarple Marple: The Moving Finger]]''

'''Dean:''' Well ain't you a bucket of sunshine.\\

'''George:''' Is he a cowards, Mr. Dawson?\\

-->-- '''The Tenth Doctor''', ''Series/DoctorWho''

->Lately I've been thinking about all the people I've had to kill. God, the first five, ten times you take a life it's eerie, you remember every detail. I can see all their faces, one had a beard. Each time I pulled the trigger I tied a little knot in my memory that no amount of whisky could loosen. Course, eventually I stopped caring, now I can put a bullet through a man's head while thinking about how much KFC to pick up on my way home. It's usually no more than a bucket. The sick part is I've come to love it, snuffing out lives, I crave it! I feel like an angel of death, a messenger of eternal darkness, the merciless demon with an unquenchable th- oh they just put more orange chicken in the buffet, gotta run.

->Lately I've been thinking about all the people I've had to kill. God, the first five, ten times you take a life it's eerie, you remember every detail. I can see all their faces, one had a beard. Each time I pulled the trigger I tied a little knot in my memory that no amount of whisky could loosen. Course, eventually I stopped caring, now I can put a bullet through a man's head while thinking about how much KFC to pick up on my way home. It's usually no more than a bucket. The sick part is I've come to love it, snuffing out lives, I crave it! I feel like an angel of death, a messenger of eternal darkness, a merciless demon with an unquenchable th- oh they just put more orange chicken in the buffet, gotta run.

->Lately I've been thinking about all the people I've had to kill. God, the first five, ten times you take a life it's eerie, you remember every detail. I can see all their faces, one of them had a beard. Each time I pulled the trigger I tied a little knot in my memory that no amount of whisky could loosen. Course, eventually I stopped caring, now I can put a bullet through a man's head while thinking about how much KFC to pick up on my way home. It's usually no more than a bucket. The sick part is I've come to love it, snuffing out lives, I crave it! I feel like an angel of death, a messenger of eternal darkness, a merciless demon with an unquenchable th- oh they just put more orange chicken in the buffet, gotta run.

->Lately I've been thinking about all the people I've had to kill. God, the first five, ten times you take a life it's eerie, you remember every detail. I can see all their faces, one of them had a beard. Each time I pulled the trigger I tied a little knot in my memory that no amount of whisky could loosen. Course, eventually I stopped caring, now I can put a bullet through a man's head while thinking about how much KFC to pick up on my way home. It's usually no more than a bucket. The sick part is I've come to love it, snuffing out lives, I crave it! I feel like an angel of death, a messenger of eternal darkness, a merciless demon with an unquenchable th- oh they just put more orange chicken in the buffet.

->''And so I sit here at this [[DrowningMySorrows bar]]'' \\
''I'm not a hero, I'm not a movie star'' \\
''I've got my beer, I've got my stories to tell'' \\
''But they won't tell you what it's like in [[WarIsHell hell]]'' \\
''Red flowers bursting down below us'' \\
''Those people didn't even know us'' \\
''We didn't know if we would live or die,'' \\
''We didn't know if it was wrong or right'' \\
''We didn't know if we would live or die,'' \\
''I bombed Korea every night''
-->-- '''Music/{{Cake}}''', "I Bombed Korea"

->''I realize: I am not answerable for'' \\
''The fate of those who perished in the war,'' \\
''For every younger pal or senior vet'' \\
''Left yonder; nor is anybody saying'' \\
''That I could save them, but fell short of saving,'' \\
''No one says that, and yet, and yet, and yet… ''
-->-- '''A. Twardowski''', "And yet…"

->''from passing by the roses strewn''\\
''at the feet of the fallen and feeling''\\
''the names of the dead on the cold, wet''\\
''stone, there became a certain''\\
''satisfaction in breathing''\\\
''and even more in realizing we still could.''
-->-- "[[http://sound-dispute.deviantart.com/art/Vietnam-152238074 Vietnam]]", a poem by '''[=sound-dispute=]'''

->''"These are men whose minds the Dead have ravished.\\
Memory fingers in their hair of murders,\\
Multitudinous murders they once witnessed.\\
Wading sloughs of flesh these helpless wander,\\
Treading blood from lungs that had loved laughter.\\
Always they must see these things and hear them,\\
Batter of guns and shatter of flying muscles,\\
Carnage incomparable and human squander\\
Rucked too thick for these men's extrication."''
-->-- '''Wilfred Owen''', "Mental Cases"

->''"Do they matter--[[FlashbackNightmare those dreams in the pit?]]\\
[[DrowningMySorrows You can drink and forget and be glad,]]\\
And people won't say that you’re mad;\\
For they know that you've fought for your country,\\
And no one will worry a bit."''
-->-- '''Creator/SiegfriedSassoon'''

->'''NOTHING''' is "over". Nothing. [[TheRemnant You just don't 'turn it off.']] It wasn't ''my'' war. You asked me, I didn't ask you.
-->-- '''[[{{Franchise/Rambo}} John Rambo]]''' to Col. Trautman, ''First Blood''

->'''Rufus:''' Folks like us, there ain't no happy ending. We all got it coming.\\
'''Dean:''' Well ain't you a bucket of sunshine.\\
'''Rufus:''' I'm what you've got to look forward to if you survive.
-->-- '''{{Series/Supernatural}}'''

-->--'''Willard''', ''Film/ApocalypseNow''

->'''Corp. John Russell:''' This medal? I got it when [[MedalOfDishonor I lost my five best friends in a firefight.]] AK-47 rounds. [[SurvivorsGuilt I don't know why I survived.]]\\
'''Det. Danny Reagan:''' Maybe you survived 'cause you were meant to get back to your family.\\
'''Russell''': No. No, it's 'cause I was quick. You know that drill? ''(at attention)'' '''''WHAT ARE [[ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld THE TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD]], SOLDIER?!'''''\\
'''Danny:''' John, you've got to leave that behind, man...\\
'''Russell:''' '''''THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, SIR! [[SoundOff WHAT ARE YOU?! THE QUICK! WHAT'RE THEY?! THE DEAD!!]]'''''\\
'''Danny:''' John, look at me. John. It's time to come home, man.\\
'''Russell:''' I don't want to be quick anymore. ''(leaps to his death)''
-->--'''''Series/BlueBloods''''', "Unfinished Business"

->The war gave them definition, direction, purpose. Without it, they don't know how to fit in anymore. So they keep looking for ways to go out in a blaze of glory. Some people call that being a hero. Maybe so. I don't know. I've never been one. Me? I think they're looking for something worth dying for because it's easier than finding something worth living for.
-->-- '''Garibaldi''', ''[[Series/BabylonFive Babylon 5]] -- "Infection"''

->Once you've been to Serenity, you never leave. You just learn to live there.
-->-- '''Zoe Washburne''', Series/{{Firefly}}

->There's no place I can be/Since I found Serenity...
-->-- '''[[ThematicThemeTune The Ballad of Serenity]]''', Series/{{Firefly}}

->The winter after the curse was lifted, hundreds of veteran orcs like me were lost to despair. Our minds were finally free, yes... Free to relive all of the unthinkable acts that we had performed under the Legion's influence. I think it was the sounds of the draenei children that unnerved most of them... You never forget... Have you ever been to Jaggedswine Farm? When the swine are of age for the slaughter... It's that sound. The sound of the swine being killed... It resonates the loudest. Those are hard times for us older veterans.
-->-- '''Varok Saurfang''', ''WorldOfWarcraft''

->'''The Chief''': Is it possible that you were living out a war flashback, Sarge?\\
'''Sarge''': Aye.\\
'''The Chief''': Let's go ahead and say that's what happened.\\
'''Sarge''': It would explain a lot.
-->-- ''WebVideo/AgentsOfCracked''

->When does it stop--the ringing in your ears?
-->-- '''Annie Walker''', ''Series/{{Covert Affairs}}''

->The people I killed...they're not comin' back, Leo. What's left for ME!?
-->-- '''Maximilian''', ''VideoGame/AnarchyReigns''

->'''Soldier:''' You know, Captain, we drove through this whole city to find you. We... we saw things. If you don't mind me asking, what was it like? How did you survive all this?\\
'''Walker:''' ...Who said I did?
-->-- ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine''

->I'm sorry about your friend Mark. But I think that most of him died somewhere in Kandahar.
-->--[[SociopathicSoldier Colton]] [[ProfessionalKiller Rhodes]], ''Series/{{Justified}}''

-->-- '''GeorgeMacDonaldFraser''', ''McAuslan''

->'''[[spoiler:Contessa]]''': ''Just about everyone comes to this crossroad. Some get seventy years, some only get fifteen. Enough time to grow, to take stock of who you are. Enough time to do things you’ll regret when you run out of time.''

->'''[[spoiler:Taylor]]''': It’s about regret, [[TheseHandsHaveKilled and coming to terms with it all.]]\\
'''[[spoiler:Annette]]''': You’re only eighteen. Why are you worrying about something like that at this stage?\\
'''[[spoiler:Taylor]]''': Because I’m done. My life is over, for all intents and purposes. No matter how hard I try from here on out, [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu I’ll never do anything one ten–thousandth as important as what I was doing before.]]
-->--''Literature/{{Worm}}''

->It’s so much worse than you think, Rose. The things that happen over there, the state of things in the trenches, and having to guard my unit at all hours? I changed, I got fit, I changed the way I think, how I sleep and eat, so I can be on guard, always watching for [[{{Ghostapo}} tricks.]] For rats that are a little too smart, or phantoms that would whisper panic into men’s ears while they sleep? For ghouls that… well, they pretend to be soldiers that die like anyone might, but when you let your guard down and search the body, they bite you and get a hungry kind of death into the wound?
-->--'''Aimon Behaim''', ''Literature/{{Pact}}''

->You know, it strikes me as the most extraordinary irony that you managed to come through [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo the war]] with flying colours but seem to find the peace so utterly defeating.
-->--'''Joanna Burton''' describing her brother Jerry, ''[[Literature/MissMarple Marple]]: The Moving Finger''

->It's not that I don't want to remember. I have to remember… for those who can't.
-->--'''Ratchet''', ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''

->Their fires lit up the night. All across Lake Rumare, like stars come to earth. It was beautiful, really.\\

-->--'''Salvianus''', ''Videogame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''

->''"There was a time I could see. And I ''have'' seen... boys like these - ''younger'' even - their arms torn out, their legs ripped off. But there is ''nothing'' like [[DespairEventHorizon the sight of an amputated spirit]]. There is no prosthetic for that."''
-->-- '''Colonel Slade''', ''Film/ScentOfAWoman''

->''"[[StrangerInAFamiliarLand How do you pick up the threads of an old life?]] How do you go on when in your heart, you begin to understand... there ''is'' no going back? There are [[BreakTheCutie some things]] that time cannot mend... some hurts that go too deep... that have taken hold."''
-->-- '''Frodo Baggins''', ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings The Return of the King]]''

->“Black dice… You’ve been out in the field too long…that’s what black dice means. Means the luck of the draw has run out on him. A guy with experience that can see death in another man’s eyes. Yeah, the next time the dice of chance roll, they’ll roll up black. Death.”
-->-- ''Literature/TheExecutioner'' #98: “Black Dice”