At over 300 pages long, one wonders if soldiers will have time to digest the new US Army field manual on combat skills. And c’mon, who can remember 300 pages worth of guidance. Well I’ve been reading B.P McCoy, The Passion of Command (on loan from Jazari). Okay McCoy is a Marine Colonel. But still, I reckon the army would have been better off giving McCoy’s book a FM designation and re-publishing it in one of those snappy green covers that screams “doctrine.” Why McCoy?
First virtue: it’s short. Just 78 pages.
Second, it’s a bloody good read. Well, it’s bloody. And it’s a great read. Not since Victor Davis Hanson has battle been described in such vivid detail. And Hanson was harping on about a bunch of long-since dead Greeks. McCoy tells us about young Americans in battle today.
Third, McCoy speaks many words of wisdom. Not surprizingly. He led the 3rd batt, 4th Marine regt. from 2002-2004: so did the drive up Baghdad for OIF and came back to do Fallujah and Al Karma in 2004. Of course, must fess up to not having experienced battle myself (thank the stars). So there will be others out there better able to judge. But as somebody who has studied war for 22 years now, I would respectfully submit that there is much here to agree with. McCoy preaches the “Five Habits”: combat markmanship, combat conditioning, battle drills, casualty evac, and discipline. Five things that will enable a unit to survive the first five minutes of battle, and give them the skill and moral resources to close with and kill the enemy.
And there is so much more in this thin volume. McCoy questions whether America really has a warrior culture. McCoy also has profound things to say on the “warrior’s stone mask.” This book really packs a lot in 78 pages. Compulsory reading I’d say.
Wednesday, 6, February, 2008 at 9:47 am |
First off, what the heck is going on with Jazari’s extra-curricular reading? This better be for a class and not for personal pleasure. If this is the kind of stuff she reads on the Tube, Lord help us. Someone buy her a copy of Flashman.
Second, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps have these really weird parallel reading lists. Books that every U.S. Army officer reads (such as “Once an Eagle”) no Marine has ever heard of. And Marines all read “Gates of Fire,” but fewer U.S. Army soldiers do. Weird, I know. So the best way to ensure a U.S. Army officer will never read a book is to mention it’s either required reading in the U.S. Marine Corps or that it was written by a Marine.
Third and finally, *why* on Earth do U.S. Marines insist on self-identifying with the Spartans. (Hence, the “Gates of Fire” fetish.) Why? Yes, we all know the Spartans were tough and brave. But this opens the door to so many man-boy love jokes it’s ridiculous.
Wednesday, 6, February, 2008 at 9:55 am |
I believe she reads this book to unwind. This is more than a little disturbing – speaking as somebody who likes to tune out by reading Harry Potter (only the copies with the retro-adult covers, naturally).
Some things never change, it seems. Cameron Craig’s American Samurai is excellent on US Army-USMC “co-operation” in the Pacific campaign during WWII. USMC commanders would rather send depleted units to be ground up assaulting well defended enemy positions than call on neighbouring army units for support. Inter-service competition: it’s not always healthy.
And why do Spartans speak like Sean Connery?
Wednesday, 6, February, 2008 at 11:59 am |
I haven’t read Gates of Fire but I picked up Pressfield’s Afghan Campaign (set during Alexander the Great’s campaign there) in the airport before a long flight a while ago and read the thing in one go. Quite good. Bleak. A book I like on the Marine Corps reading list is CS Forester’s Rifleman Dodd. Napoleonic era. Dodd gets separated from his regiment during a withdrawal. Wanders around behind the lines in Portugal trying not to starve while giving the odd Frenchmen the chop. Eats a mule. Single-handedly thwarts (sort of) a French Army river crossing. Rejoins his unit without fanfare. Has a good meal. Soldiers on. The plot’s Tolkienian in pacing: fight, run, eat, repeat.
Dodd is a study in equanimity which seems to me the soldierly attribute nonpareil.
Wednesday, 19, March, 2008 at 5:07 am |
I have to say, I served under Col. McCoy during OIF1 and OIF2, and anything that that man says is as honest and pure as could ever be said. We lost marines during both tours and he told us exactly how to cope and inspired us to finish our job. We were not in college for math, or business or biology, we were at war studing killology, we are Marines through and through, McCoys Devil Dogs. If you want or need inspiring words than I would suggest this read.
As to why Marines refer to themselves as Spartans, The Marine Corp today is the the most revealed fighting force on the planet today. The Warriors of the modern era. That is a fact. Its not to boost our own egos or make us feel giddy, take a look at anything the Marine corp offers, higher standards in physical fitness, discipline, integrity command… the list goes on and on.
Monday, 27, July, 2009 at 7:40 pm |
I’m a Marine. Need more be said?
S/F
TFF