Relating to Mars Summary and Analysis

In the final chapter, Marlantes brings the experiences he has described in the preceding chapters to bear on a proposition to improve the way society prepares for war and the way it prepares its warriors.

Marlantes organizes his proposal around five elements, which he presents as separate headings. The first heading is "Understanding warrior ethics and psychology: Waite's Dictum and The Warrior's Dictum."

Marlantes explains what he calls Waite's Dictum. In 1987 Terry Waite was sent to Lebanon by the Archbishop of Canterbury to negotiate the release of some hostages. He was taken hostage himself and held alone, blindfolded and chained, for five years. After being released, he told a story of being led to the bathroom one day by his guard. Left alone in the room he found a loaded rifle on the back of the toilet...