U.S. Marine Reading Program

Reading enriches our knowledge and understanding of war. This by itself, however, is not the primary reason for pursuing a reading program. Timely and correct actions taken on the battlefield are. How do we translate written words into sound military decision? Obviously, the first step is to read. Then we must relate what we have read to what we actually do in training, field exercises, wargames, leadership, and the like. We must read and discuss our readings with each other.

U.S. Marine Reading List

Commandant's Favorites

ALMARS

Other Interesting Reading:

Congressman Ike Skelton's Military Reading List

Read Marine Doctrine

Online Reading

What to read:

1. Read in Depth About a Single Battle... By the time you have studied one battle in this way, you will have learned much about your profession on multiple levels. You will make discoveries about offensive and defensive tactics, reconnaissance, and combined arms. Lessons of intelligence are inescapable. But there will be much more. Study of one battle will also take you to the higher levels of war. You will learn lessons about the operational art, strategy, communications, technology, the friction of war, leadership, and morale. Marines who know one battle well know more about their profession than those who read a hundred manuals. . . .

2. Read About Many Battles... We have already discussed how your military literacy improves if you read in-depth about a single battle. It follows that reading about many battles should improve your military literacy that much more. That is why you are encouraged to read several books a year. In doing so, you will discover that some aspects of battle are timeless. Other aspects do change and one of the best ways you can gain insight into which things stay the same and which things change is to read about many different battles.

3. Reading About Subjects Other Than Battles... History gives you an appreciation for human action in the past. This is essential. But you should read more than history. Cast your net widely! Remember that as Paul Tillich writes in Theology of Peace, "history is remembered history." Make your own judgments of history based on our values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment. It is just as important for you to know what you are fighting for and what you stand for as it is to know how to fight. . . focus on values, decisionmaking, and leadership. Read about current events in newspapers and periodicals. Read of science and classic literature. Read military theory as well...but a word of caution here! The works of theorists often get condensed and simplified. That is how much of our previous doctrine was written. The reader of such condensed works unwittingly becomes the prisoner of someone else’s theories. Campaigns and wars need to be studied too with or without focusing on the battles. Read good fiction, it provides an understanding of such subjects as fear and what fear does to people. Stay current, relevant, and intellectually agile. Your credibility as a leader depends on it.

Leading Reading:

How do leaders know if their Marines are reading? By talking to them. By observing them in the field. And, most importantly, by reading yourselves and discussing your reading with your Marines. Reading on its own, is not enough. We must read and discuss as teachers and scholars. Our reading program purposely covers a vast spectrum. No Marine can be as widely knowledgeable as we want them to be without reading. In evaluating a Marine as a warrior, we do not count the number of books read in a year. Instead, we gauge the capacity for sound military judgment. Yes, the Marine Corps certainly expects -- in fact requires -- the reading of books annually from the list. But the output we desire is daily display of military judgment that will serve our Marines and the American people in time of war.