Preparing the mind for battle [Recommended reading for the Marine Corps]

Baltimore Sun ^ | Dec 18, 2003 | (list complied by Tom Bowman)

[68skylark]

On the theory that preparing the mind for battle is as important as preparing the body, the top officer in each service provides a reading list of recommended books for enlisted personnel to commissioned officers. The Marine Corps, which for many Americans has the image of being the toughest of the tough, offers the most extensive reading list, with about 175 books divided among each rank.

They include classics on warfare, such as The Art of War, by Sun Tzu (for staff sergeants and lieutenants); and The Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides (for colonels). The U.S. Constitution is recommended for low-ranking enlisted personnel and junior officers.

There are memoirs by enemies, including World War II German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, and by Civil War generals, such as William Tecumseh Sherman. There are books on courage, firepower and military innovation. And there are best sellers, such as Fields of Fire, by former Navy Secretary James H. Webb Jr., and Diplomacy, by former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. There are heroic tales and examinations of stunning defeats.

[luvbach1]

I guess "Pity the Poor Loser" may be a good subtitle for "All Quiet." I never read the book. did see the old Lew Ayres movie. To me it was always portrayed as merely being a view of war from the other side. The message being, of course, that war impacts both sides' military in similar ways. Did read Crane's "Red Badge" So beautifully written. He was quite a prodigy.