Jack Reacher's Rules

DIA Defense Intelligence Agency

DOD Department of Defense

HET Heavy Equipment Transporter

HRT Hostage Rescue Team

JAG Judge Advocate General

KIA Killed In Action

LAV Light Armored Vehicle

LGH Let’s Go Home

MASH Mobile Army Surgical Hospital

MIA Missing In Action

MPBN Military Police Battalion

MRE Meal, Ready to Eat

NCIC National Crime Information Center

PASGT Personal Armor System, Ground Troops

PH Public House

RIF Reduction In Force

RPG Rocket-Propelled Grenade

RTAFA Rotational Torque-Adjustable Fastener Applicators

SAC Special Agent in Charge

SEAL Sea Air and Land (U.S. Navy SEALs)

SOC Special Operations Capable

SOP Standard Operating Procedure

SSDD Same Shit, Different Day

SWAG Scientific Wild-Ass Guess

UNSUB Unknown Subject

USA PATRIOT ACT Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act

WTF Whisky Tango Foxtrot …

RESPECT YOUR OPPONENT

“Dealing with morons … is like teaching Hindu to a beagle.”

“He was in no imminent danger of winning the Nobel Prize but definitely smarter than the average bear.”

“He wasn’t the crispest shirt in the closet.”

“You’re pretty good for an old guy.” “That’s how I got to be an old guy,” McGrath said.

“You have a message? Who from? The National Association of Assholes?”

“He’d fallen out of the ugly tree and hit every branch.”

“I nodded amiably at the two of them. I figured they had less than an hour to live.”

“Guys like these, they couldn’t find their own assholes if I gave them a mirror on a stick.”

“He was an observant man. He had made his living by noticing details. He was living because he noticed details.”

Think about everything you’ve seen and heard. Work the clues.

>>KNOW THE SIGNS OF BEING UNDER SURVEILLANCE

unexplained cars

parked vans

pairs or trios of dressed-down people with wires in their ears

clean taxicabs with two people in them

pedestrians you see inexplicably in two different places

The width of a person’s wrists is the best indicator of his or her strength.

People don’t like searching above head height. If you want to hide something, hide it on the top shelf.

People hiding and waiting give off human vibrations. If you don’t feel them, they’re not there.

An elected official always has a separate brass plate. (It makes it cheaper when the guy changes every few Novembers.)

The easiest way to spot a hooker is by her big purse—hookers have to carry around a lot of stuff (condoms, massage oils, gun, credit card machine …).

If a lock doesn’t have scratches around it, then no one uses the door.

“I think Reacher’s the kind of guy that sees things five seconds before the rest of the world.”

Look, don’t see; listen, don’t hear. The more you engage, the longer you survive.

If somebody’s got money outside of his salary, it shows up somewhere.

“Suicide bombers give out all kinds of telltale signs. Mostly because they’re nervous. By definition, they’re all first-timers.”

>>THE PERFECT OBSERVATION POINT

A soldier knows that the perfect observation point provides:

An unobstructed view to the front

Adequate security to the flanks and rear

Protection from the elements

Concealment of observers

A reasonable likelihood of undisturbed occupation

A result

THE TWELVE SIGNS OF A SUICIDE BOMBER

(as identified by Israeli counterintelligence)

  1. Inappropriate clothing—oversized or padded coat

  2. A robotic walk—because of carrying unaccustomed weight

  3. Irritability

  4. Sweating

  5. Tics

  6. Nervous behavior

  7. Low and controlled breathing, panting

  8. Staring rigidly ahead

  9. Mumbled prayers

10. A large bag

11. Hands in the bag

12. A lack of suntan from a fresh shave (male); lack of suntan from taking off a headscarf (female)

The U.S. Army Military Police

CODE OF ETHICS

I AM A SOLDIER IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY.