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U.S. Army Engineer School Commandant’s Reading List
- chrissnell 11y agoA strange story to make it to the front page. I'm a US Army Engineer officer who went through this schoolhouse so this made me chuckle. Commanders'/Commandants' reading lists are almost always excellent. It's usually a mix of military history, area studies, professional development, and leadership books. I think every young officer who likes to read dreams of making up his or her own reading list someday.
- briandear 11y agoI was an NBC officer and we had a similar list. Lots of WWI and Roman history. I think the OCS reading list was pretty good too; despite not having any time to read them all. I think the biography of Shackelton was the only one I remember actually being able to complete other than the typical FMs.
- tcopeland 11y agoI started the site about 8 years ago because 1) these lists have lots of great selections that you might not come across otherwise (e.g., "The Cruel Sea" by Nicholas Monsarrat) and 2) .mil web sites tend to get reorganized regularly and older content seems to get swept away. So I hope this site helps to preserve some things that might otherwise be lost. FWIW, for an overview of all the lists, there's a "map" page: http://militaryprofessionalreadinglists.com/map http://militaryprofessionalreadinglists.com/map
- arethuza 11y ago"The Cruel Sea" was also made into an excellent movie with some genuinely shocking moments for a film made in 1953. However, I am particularly fond of Nicholas Monsarrat's "Three Corvettes" his non-fiction account of his wartime experiences, one of the few books that has moved me to tears.
- Rebelgecko 11y agoInteresting list. It's also interesting to see compare the lists for different ranks and see how the focus changes. e.g. Enlisted get a lot of books about courage and valor, higher up guys get recommended books that seem more like cautionary tales.
- aswanson 11y agoSeems a shame that the cautionary tale theme doesn't seem to have reached/imprinted the highest levels of civilian government, at least during the idiotic Bush administration era.
- mabbo 11y ago"The Goal" is both wonderful as a teacher, and terrible as fiction. And I don't think Goldratt cares about the latter.
- sxcurry 11y agoUseful list - I just added Cobra II to my Audible Wish List. My 6th grade teacher read Captains Courageous to us - it made a lasting impression.
- SocksCanClose 11y agoProbably also good (better even, perhaps) to add his "Endgame" -- a truly definitive study of the entire war.
- sxcurry 11y agoThanks - just added Endgame as well.
- wtf_is_up 11y agoI love that the list includes GS grades for DoD civilians. There's some really interesting books in these lists. I already had Washington's Crossing queued up. Seeing PowerPoint in the title of a GS-14/15 recommendation gave me a chuckle.
- tobltobs 11y agoMaybe at least one book about what to do after you dropped tons of bombs and killed thousand of civilians would help to prevent the usual collapse of civilizations and rising of warlords. But of course I do understand that there is more money to make with a collapsed nation.
- snickerdoodles 11y agothat would be a job for the politicians, who directed the military to act.
- tobltobs 11y agoAre soldiers replaced by politicans after the surrender of the enemy?
- bane 11y agoUsually.
- CapitalistCartr 11y agoSoldiers are directed by politicians at all stages. The decisions on what to do after surrender is entirely made by politicians. Basically an army's job is to break things and kill people. The politicians' job is to know what to do with such a powerful tool as an army. In my experience, precious few of them do.
- tobltobs 11y agoThe order from the politicans for the soldiers for e.g. Abu Ghraib was to behave like some drunken animals?
- mpyne 11y agoNo, but what's your point? Should we require computer programmers to read books explaining why murdering people is wrong in case there's another Hans Reiser or Ross Ulbritch?
- hyperion2010 11y agoGlad to see Thucydides down there on the list.
- mpyne 11y agoTruly proof that there is nothing new under the sun. Between Pericles's justification for why Athens had to expand to the unexpected agony of the plague, the decision to undertake the Sicilian expedition, the capture of the Spartiates, etc. etc... war hasn't really changed in millenia, only the technology has. Even today, war in the end almost always devolves to questions of fear, honor or interest, just as described by Thucydides.
- jacquesm 11y agoSurprising to see so many books on ethics, foreign cultures and critical thinking skills on that list.
- waterlesscloud 11y agoWhy? Those are core subjects for a military officer.