Book suggestions!

M

meh126

5-Year Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2013
Messages
88
My DS is a big reader and I am looking for book ideas for Christmas. What leadership and/or military books have you read that the most helpful and inspiring? Thanks!
 
Not military books, But Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy are amazing books.
 
I can only speak for Navy books but #1 on your DS list should be "The Naval Academy Candidate Handbook" by S. Ross. There is also a USAFA and USMA version too----all of them superb for each Academy.

For Navy Air: "Feet Wet" by Gilchrist (non-fiction)
For Subs: "Red November" by Reed (non-fiction)
For USNA itself: "Sense of Honor" by Webb (A novel along the lines of the "Caine Mutiney"---based in the past but an excellent morality play about leadership. Fiction)
For Marine Corps: "Fields of Fire" by Webb (Fiction)
For Navy Line: "Last of the Tin Can Sailors" by Hornfischer (non-fiction)
and finally, if you are curious what the driving force and reasoning is behind Plebe Year: "Becoming a Leader the Annapolis Way" by Johnson and Harper. The title has got to be the corniest, hokiest thing you could come up with, but it is written by an academy grad as well as a psychologist and Leadership Dept professor and the content lays out what and why the Mids go through certain experiences.

Of course if it is not the Navy he is interested in.......well, they are still good books.
 
"The Unforgiving Minute," by Craig Mullaney. Mullaney is a West Point grad and writes about his time at West Point, Ranger School, and when he was deployed. I read it over the summer and it was an excellent read. I really recommend it, because he writes in such a frank manner that doesn't glorify war and death like some do.

Also, "One Bullet Away," by Nathaniel Fick. Fick was a Marine officer and writes about leadership and his time as an officer, especially as deployed in the early years of the war in a Recon unit. Another fantastic read.
 
Military Fiction

- Once an Eagle - Anton Meyer

- Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brien

- Hornblower Series - CS Forester

- Brotherhood of War series & The Corp Series - both by WEB Griffin

- Winds of War and War & Remembrance - both by Herman Wouk
 
"It Doesn't Take a Hero" by Norman Schwarzkopf. Very interesting. Also "Infantry Attacks" by Erwin Rommel. Both books with great insight, and themes that are still very applicable.

Sent using the Service Academy Forums® mobile app
 
For Air Force cadets I'd recommend:

Every Man a Tiger by Tom Clancy: about Gen Chuck Horner, who led the air war during the Gulf War

American Patriot by Robert Coram: an inspiring bio of Bud Day
 
The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant is a classic of American military literature. I wonder how widely it is read by your son's future colleagues at UNG or the Citadel.
 
You guys are awesome! Needless to say Amazon loves me! Ordered the W.E. B Griffin Brotherhood series, the Grant memoirs, Unforgiving Minute, One Bullet Away, and Once an Eagle...phew! The rest have been added to my wish list!

Thanks so much!
 
Can the mailman handle one more? :biggrin:

The Killer Angels - M. Shaara

(My Mid has to read it for a brigade staff leadership seminar happening next month.)
 
Chickenhawk, Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, and Not a Good Day to Die are also good.
 
raimius said:
Chickenhawk, Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, and Not a Good Day to Die are also good.
Click to expand...

:thumb: for "Not a Good Day to Die"

I might have missed the service, but if your son is interested in COIN, "Counterinsurgency" by Kilcullen and "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" and "The Other Side of the Mountain" by Grau are very good.
 
Reading Material.....

With The Old Breed

Lone Survivor

Seal of Honor

Endurance - Shackleton Expedition

Black Hawk Down

Starship Troopers (nothing like the bug movie)


Push Hard, Press Forward
 
Fighter Pilot - the life story of General Robin Olds. A West Point graduate and a former superintentent at the Air Force Academy.
 
what you will/they will discover is

meh126 said:
You guys are awesome! Needless to say Amazon loves me! Ordered the W.E. B Griffin Brotherhood series, the Grant memoirs, Unforgiving Minute, One Bullet Away, and Once an Eagle...phew! The rest have been added to my wish list!

Thanks so much!
Click to expand...

There is a longstanding tradition of the 'Warrior-Poet' and it seems many of us enjoy that meme

two of the suggestions I gave you that you ordered, Brotherhood series & Once an Eagle, have an excellent thread they share: Careerism vs True Warriors

I find that a fascinating idea to plant at this time in a young person's life.

My hope is that more choose the way of the warrior than the political hacks that choose careerism :)

I pray you enjoy all these wonderful books :)

S/F
 
"One Bullet Away" by USMC CAPT Nathaniel Fick

"The Heart and the Fist" by former SEAL Eric Greitens

"The Hard Corps" by Stewart Husted
 
"About Face" by David Hackworth - definitely interesting autobiography and well worth the read about the US Army and officership

The Killer Angels Series- very good for historical fiction

"Military Blunders"- can't remember who is the author, but gives a new officer a sense of what not to do when it comes to the big picture of battles and campaigns from Waterloo to the Litlle Bighorn (I'm gonna reread it!)

"Band of Brothers"- by Stephen Ambrose (or get the DVD series can't go wrong either way :thumb:)

"We Were Soldiers"- by Hal Moore

"The Killing Zone"- autobiography of a platoon lieutenant in Vietnam
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top