The Pentagon Wars (1998 TV Movie)

Richard Schiff: Colonel Smith

Quotes 

• Col. Robert Laurel Smith : In summation, what you have before you is...

  Sgt. Fanning : A troop transport that can't carry troops, a reconnaissance vehicle that's too conspicuous to do reconnaissance...

  Lt. Colonel James Burton : And a quasi-tank that has less armor than a snow-blower, but carries enough ammo to take out half of D.C... . *This* is what we're building?

• Brig. General Robert Laurel Smith : Are you out of your mind, Colonel? If the Pentagon had their choice of busting us or nailing a Soviet spy, they would choose us in a heartbeat!

  Lt. Colonel James Burton : Who exactly is "us," General?

  Brig. General Robert Laurel Smith : There are some people who work in the Pentagon who are fed up watching billions of dollars thrown away on defective weapons upon which our troops are supposed to stake their lives. People like you, Colonel. We are the enemy!

  Lt. Colonel James Burton : To whom?

  Brig. General Robert Laurel Smith : To majors who want to be colonels, to colonels who want to be generals, to generals who want that fourth star, you bet we are the enemy! Nobody moves up without getting things done! So what you don't want to be is the one who drops the ball, 'cause if you're the one who drops the ball: no promotion! no star! no cushy job with a contract when you retire!

• [after redesigning the Bradley to carry a gun turret] 

  Col. Robert Laurel Smith : That's one hell of a cannon.

  Jones : That's the problem.

  Col. Robert Laurel Smith : What is?

  Jones : You go out on the battlefield with this pecker sticking out of your turret, and the enemy's going to unload on you with everything they got. Might as well put a big red bullseye on the side.

  Col. Robert Laurel Smith : But it's a troop carrier, not a tank.

  Jones : Do you want me to put a sign on it in fifty languages, "I am a troop carrier, not a tank, please don't shoot at me"?

• [the generals want to add a rapid-fire cannon to the Bradley] 

  Jones : Where am I supposed to put the extra ammo?

  Col. Robert Laurel Smith : I don't know.

  Jones : You've already got 30,000 rounds of machine gun ammunition, now he wants to add 30-millimeter shells?

  Col. Robert Laurel Smith : The general wants his ammo.

  Jones : He can't have his ammo, not unless he runs alongside this thing carrying it.