Jones To The Grindstone

Cruise in courtroom (from Yahoo images)

Yes, here is the sequel to Part 1 of quoting “A Few Good Men,” 1992.  Of course, writing this Part 2 opens me up to criticisms that it won’t be as good as Part 1. I left out some of the better-known quotes on Part 1 in hopes of having some good shiz left for Part 2.

Here we go—

Setting: The courtroom when Cruise gets Nicholson’s hackles up about how to run a “real base.”

Kaffee: I want the truth!
Col. Jessep: [shouts] You can’t handle the truth!

Is there any other line out there that is stripped down to be this real, without any fanfare, pomp and circumstance, to lay it the line, bring it to the mat? Often we cannot handle the truth. The truth can hurt.

 Holding up the proverbial mirror to my face can reveal anguish and honesty that no one wants to see in themselves. When I was in a dance place the other weekend and I had one of those moments. I looked in the bathroom’s wall mirror and I thought, “Who are you kidding? Go home.”

I promptly left. It was time. The truth was I looked like a tipsy mom in a bar. At least I handled the truth, I suppose.

* * *

Setting: Cruise and Bacon are discussing the missing of a key witness, Lt. Col. Markinson.

Capt. Ross: You’ll never know.
Kaffee: You think I can’t subpoena Markinson?
Capt. Ross: You can try but you won’t find him. You know what Markinson did for the first 17 of his 26 years in the Corps? Counter intelligence. Markinson’s gone, there is no Markinson.

“There is no Markinson” means you will never find the “needle in the haystack.”  When I’ve dealt with the government-run programs on the Air Force bases, I have often uttered, “there is no Markinson,” under my breath. For example, after the military hospital lost my third set of health records, I felt like Markinson. I didn’t exist any more.

Good thing about losing my records is that no other doctor or medical person will be privvy to whatever drivel the doc wrote about me. I can create whatever medical history I want, like that I’m a former Olympic athlete or that I require drugs like Vicodin and to keep it comin’, carte blanche.

* * *

Setting: Cruise addressing his clients after they were found guilty of below par conduct for a service member.

Kaffee: You don’t need a patch on your arm to have honor.

Often people feel that we need public, visual recognition of our good deeds. Look at our ribbons, trophies, and reams of paper certificates and diplomas that we proudly display for others to see we “mean business.” However, we don’t always get the recognition we deserve and that’s okay. Some of the best things we do go unnoticed and that’s part of what makes the acts great.

(The movie quotes are from the Internet Data Base website.)