A. I'm reminded of R. E. Heinlein's speech to Annapolis grads,
Women and Children First. Here are a few quotes from the Grand Master:
- Men are expendable; women and children are not. A tribe or a nation can lose a high percentage of its men and still pick up the pieces and go on… as long as the women and children are saved. But if you fail to save the women and children, you've had it, you're done, you're through! You join Tyrannosaurus Rex, one more breed that bilged its final test.
- "Patriotism" is a way of saying "Women and children first." And that no one can force a man to feel this way. Instead he must embrace it freely.
Is a nation that hides behind the skirts of its mothers, daughters, and wives fit to survive?
See also Mark Twain's The War Prayer and Smedley Butler's War is a Racket.