Quotes from The Punisher: Born.
Frank Castle is the finest officer the Marines of Firebase Valley Forge have ever known. He is the reason I am sure I will survive this. His dedication to his men is total. Not from love — that word and he do not belong together — but from the same determination to do his job correctly that informs his every action. Since he arrived, six months ago, not one patrol that he has led has suffered KIA. His first tour, so the story goes, began with Tet in sixty-eight. The brass in Da Nang detected some dark promise in the young platoon commander, and Special Forces had themselves a new recruit. Within that strange Praetorian Guard his star shone brightly. His second tour is mostly a mystery, but I've heard talk of wetwork in Cambodia, black ops, the company, an NVA General sniped just outside... And horror stories too outlandish to be true. But now the war in Vietnam is winding down, and no one knows quite what to do with the predators it has bred. His third tour saw him sent to Valley Forge — because they had to send him somewhere, after all. A specialized assassin in command of infantry. The writing is upon the wall: America will soon be gone from here. Alas for Captain Castle, he is running out of war.
— Stevie Goodwin, Born #1
I will have sons. When the big freedom bird takes me home. I will make love to many, many beautiful women, and when I meet the most beautiful of all I will marry her that very day. She will give me sons and they will grow up tall and strong as giants, and I will watch them grow, and sing with pride. I will take them up into the woods and the mountains and show them the greatest country in the world: the promised land that is their birthright. The good America. The real America. And not this tragic misstep into darkness. In years to come the boys will learn their father went to war, and gaze on him anew, eyes bright with fascination. They will ask the old man what he did, and who he fought, and where he went, and what he saw there — And I will never, ever tell them.
— Stevie Goodwin, Born #1
Very clever Frank. You got your war a stay of execution. But it won't last. You know that. The things the General said are true. This wonderland of yours is coming to an end. I know you love this. Talk all you want about your duty, about stopping Charlie creeping in and killing half of the Corps in its sleep — we both know that isn't it. When did you ever feel so alive? So full of fierce black joy? I can fix it so you can do this forever, Frank. There'll be a price to pay, but you can keep on going and never have to stop. Just say the word and I can fix it. Who am I? Is that what you're asking? Well who do you think I am, Frank...?
— Mysterious voice in Frank's head, Born #1
This war has bred a saying, oft-repeated: "Payback is a motherfucker". At Valley Forge we have another. "If you think payback's bad — you haven't met Frank Castle".
— Stevie Goodwin, Born #2
We cannot lose in Vietnam. Try as we might. Though our Generals are so stupid, our strategy so poor, as to all but guarantee defeat... Though our morale is trampled in the deepest ditch, shot through with heroin and bitter failure... Though we face the toughest, bravest fighters in the world, strange little men with hearts like those of tigers... Though we make the world despise us... Though we do things that will stain our souls forever... Though America eats its own intestines over this, cities, riven with unrest, leaders inspiring loathing and distrust... We cannot lose. Because when we are gone — when the brave little fighters kick us out, and we finally lose all stomach for this wretched, knotted puzzle of a war — No one — in South East Asia, or anywhere on Earth, will look at what is left of Vietnam — And think it smart to fuck with the United States.
— Stevie Goodwin, Born #3
There is a Great Beast loose in the world of men. It awoke in dark times to fight a terrible enemy. It stormed through Europe, across the far Pacific, and crushed the evil that it found there underfoot. But when it was victorious, when the crooked cross and the rising sun were done with, the Great Beast's keepers found that it would not go back to sleep. The Beast has many heads, and on its heads are written names: Lockheed. Bell. Monsanto. Dow. Grumman. Colt. And many more. And they are very, very hungry. So the Great Beast must be fed: and every generation, our country goes to war to do just that. A war for war's sake, usually. And one that could have been avoided. But there must be blood, in extraordinary quantities, and whether it is foreign or American is of no consequence at all. And so, today, at Firebase Valley Forge, our turn has finally arrived. Today is the day we feed the Beast.
— Stevie Goodwin, Born #4
