Lee Child - Jack Reacher's Rules

WHO

Applicants must have an above-average academic record and qualities of leadership, and be fit, strong, and agile. They are nominated by either a person connected with the service or by a member of Congress.

THE WEST POINT MISSION

“To educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army.”

Old West Point saying:

“Everyone’s life needs an organizing principle, and relentless forward motion was Reacher’s.”

Always move on and never look back. Never do the same thing twice.

The best place for a nomad to sleep is a motel. It has beds and doors that lock. Pay cash and don’t give your real name.

“Part of being a drifter means you look forward, not backward. You concentrate on what’s ahead.”

Arrange the smallest details in your life so that you can move on at a split second’s notice.

Own nothing, carry nothing.

Two days in one place is about the limit.

“Mostly he had rocked and swayed and dozed on buses, watching the passing scenes, observing the chaos of America, and surfing along on memories. His life was like that.”

“I’m a nomad.”

“Nomads have animals. They move around to find pasture. That’s the definition.”

“Okay, I’m a nomad without the animal part.”

Transience is a habit you can’t break.

A wad of dollars means … a few more weeks when you don’t have to find a job.

Don’t do permanent, be a Reacher, not a Settler.

Take the first bus out.

“They say you need to ride the rails for a while to understand the traveling blues. They’re wrong. To understand the traveling blues, you need to be locked down somewhere. In a cell. Or in the Army. Someplace where you’re caged. Someplace where smokestack lightning looks like a faraway beacon of impossible freedom.”

CODES USED BY THE MILITARY POLICE

10–2Ambulance urgently needed

10-3Motor vehicle accident

10-4Wrecker requested

10-7Pick up prisoner

10-8Subject in custody

10-9Send police van

10-10Escort/transport

10-13Repeat last message

10-14Your location?

10-15Go to …

10-16Contact by secure landline

10-17Return to base

10-18Assignment completed/mission accomplished

10-19Contact by phone or radio

10-22Fire

10-23Disturbance

10-24Suspicious person

10-25Stolen/abandoned vehicle

10-26Serious accident

10-28Loud and clear

10-29Weak signal

10-30Need assistance

10-31Request investigator

10-32Request MP duty officer

10-33Stand by

10-34Cancel last message

10-35Meal

10-36Please forward my messages

10-62Fellow officer in trouble, requests urgent assistance

Or use the secret Alphabet Code, as in:

“We’d rate him SAS, sir.” (Stupid Asshole Sometimes)

Hurry up and wait.

“ Hurry up and wait was the real MP motto. Not Assist, Protect, Defend. ”

Never volunteer for anything. Soldier’s basic rule.

Confusion and unpredictability are what you should expect.

If in doubt, be flippant.

When the Navy says three hours, it means three hours. One hundred and eighty minutes, not a second more, not a second less.

The soldierly way to kill people is to shoot or stab or hit or strangle. They don’t do subtle.

Confront your enemies.

“Back in the day.”

“Delta is full of guys who can stay awake for a week and walk a hundred miles and shoot the balls off a tsetse fly, but it’s relatively empty of guys who can do all that and then tell you the difference between a Shiite and a trip to the latrine.”

Almost any place is serviceable; there is always somewhere worse to compare it with.

First you check, then you double-check.

Eat every time you can, sleep every time you can.

>>TWO WAYS TO GET PROMOTED

Let them think you’re just a little dumber than they are.

Raise a glass to “bloody wars and dread diseases.”

If in doubt, go formal.

Preconceptions get in the way.

“With manpower like the Army has, you can find a needle in a haystack. You can find both halves of the broken needle. You can find the tiny chip of chrome that flaked off the break.”

In the Army you learn how to sleep anywhere, anytime.

Initiative in the ranks usually ends in tears. Especially when live ammunition is involved.

The military and civilians will always remain a mystery to each other.

“I guess I don’t understand the military.”

“Well, don’t feel bad about it. We don’t understand you, either.”

“He was pretty sure he didn’t want to live in a house. The desire just passed him by. The necessary involvement intimidated him. It was a physical weight, exactly like the suitcase in his hand.”

Don’t own a house. You could be traced by paying property tax, insurance, electricity, heating, water … even by the electoral roll.

If you never rent an apartment, or even a room, they’ll never be able to trace you by your last known address.

“You’re the only person I know who wants to be homeless.”

Don’t own a car. You have to pay insurance, oil changes, inspection, tax, gasoline. You’ll be identified by your car’s registration number. Hitch a ride, or hop on a Greyhound bus.