"As I watched the recruits march out of the final test course, 
all proud of their 'accomplishment' and full of themselves, I 
could feel nothing but contempt for them. I still saw them as 
nothing but dumb rookies, gung-ho hotshots whose overconfidence 
in their own abilities would get them slaughtered on their very 
first mission. Happened with more than a few of the groups that
came before them, and I had no reason to believe Orbital Marine 
Corps Squad 119 - or, as they called themselves, the "Alien 
Assault Force" - would be any different in that regard.
 
As the history books show, I was completely wrong on that account.
At the time, however, I still considered them all to be complete
idiots. So I walked up and told them that very thing."
 
 
-- excerpt from "Between the Swarm and Cold Space: A History of 
the First Orbital War", by Drill Sgt Karen Henderson (retired).
.
