It's a George Orwell quote. "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
Oh, they're animals, and no mistake. A chap I knew who used to occasionally be sent to stay in barracks at Aldershot used to loosen the metal leg of his bed before going to sleep in the knowledge that, at some point in the night, he would almost certainly require a weapon to defend himself in the inevitbale fight, for, lacking an enemy, Paras will happily fight each other.
Some of the finest troops on earth, and all volunteers, of course.
Orwell didn't mean it like that. He meant it as a reminder to those who sneer at the armed forces that their freedom to do so is entirely reliant on the people they sneer at. Always worth bearing in mind, that - without going into paroxysms of military worship, of course.
oi oi Chief you old ****!
Yeah cheers for that £5b loan on the last day of the war, couldn't have done it without ya!