Compass Points – Restore Reading

An interview about professional reading

Compass Points – Restore Reading

An interview about professional reading

May 31, 2024

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In the summer of 2019 when the previous Commandant issued his Commandant's Planning Guidance, that was the start of a drastic change in the focus of the Marine Corps from global crisis response to regional island bound missile units. Back then, the new plan was regarded by some as the start of a bold new direction for the Marine Corps.

The years have gone by now, however, and what once seemed like a new direction, now seems more like a senseless detour. The Marine Corps of today and the Marine Corps of tomorrow need new thinking, new discussions, and new ideas. Where do new and better ideas come from? Experienced warfighters know an enduring truth: when you need new ideas, read an old book.

Professional reading has always been a part of the education and growth of leaders of Marines. What books should Marine leaders read? The world is filled with endless books. What books are most important for Marine leaders to read? Back in 1989, as the Marine Corps University was being established, the original Commandant’s Reading Program was being created. The original Marine reading program was a combat curated roster of all-star volumes. The list was filled not with books focused on fads, fashions, or topics of secondary importance. The original reading list focused on tactics and operations. The original reading list focused not on management, but on leadership and not just any kind of leadership, leadership of Marines.

LtGen Paul K. Van Riper was the first President of the Marine Corps University, and he was also the creator of the original Commandant’s Reading Program. Marines today can learn much from General Van Riper and his decades of studying war, fighting in war, and teaching war.

Compass Points thanks General Van Riper for taking time to discuss the importance of professional reading. Compass Points interviewed General Van Riper about how important it is for leaders of Marines at every level to take time for reading and self-study. In General Van Riper’s view, Marines preparing themselves today for positions of increased responsibility tomorrow, must continually read, think, question, study, and grow.

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Interview with Lt Gen Paul K. Van Riper

First President, Marine Corps University

CP: General Van Riper thank you for taking time to discuss the importance of professional reading. As you may know, some Compass Points readers have said the current Marine reading program has become a mismatched mess of management books. Is this the way it should be? How did you get the idea for the first Marine reading program?

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PKVR:  

Professional self-study is part of being a Marine. The original reading program was not my idea. In 1989 the 29^th Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Al Gray, tasked the Marine Corps Combat Development Command to develop a professional reading list.  The Commanding General passed that task down the chain of command and it landed on my desk as the Director of Command and Staff College. 

CP: What sort of guidance did General Gray give you?  Specifically, did he tell you what books to put on the list?

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PKVR:

As you would expect, General Gray used a maneuver warfare approach straight out of what would later become FMFM-1 Warfighting. He spoke only of his intent, why he desired a list of books.  Sun Tzu’s The Art of War is the one book he required be a part of the list.  General Gray wanted the list to focus on warfighting with emphasis on military history and maneuver warfare.  He also wanted a balance of theory and practice for he knew it was as important to know why things worked as it was how they worked.  And the list was to contain serious books, not faddish ones on management or sociology run amok.  His intent was to help Marines think deeply about war and warfare.

CP: How difficult was it to create the list General Gray wanted?

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PKVR:

I believed initially it would be an easy task to accomplish because as a student at the US Army War College several years earlier I had created a list similar to what I believed the Commandant was asking for.  Thus, I thought it would only be a matter of checking and updating that list. 

CP: You had a running start, was it as easy as you thought?

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PKVR:

It was not easy and not simple. Before actually creating the list that General Gray was looking for, I decided it would be helpful to check with other organizations that might have reading lists.  Taking this step proved beneficial because I learned a lot that aided my efforts.

CP: What made you think of doing this?

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PKVR:

I was simply following the sage advice of John Boyd who soon after I met him urged me to change my habits and begin “casting my net widely.”  What he meant was don’t rely on your own experience, interests, and instincts alone. Look up. Look around. Read, study, and ask questions when you face a new or novel problem.

CP: So, where did you cast your net and what did you find?

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PKVR:

First, I went to the other US Services to see if they had lists, and if they did, what books they contained.  I next turned to the Service academies and then to the war colleges and command and staff colleges.  Finally, I queried several civilian colleges and universities, not so much for the content of lists if they had them, but for the criteria they used in selecting books.  I discovered what to do and as importantly what not to do.

CP: What do you mean?

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PKVR:

Well, as an example, I was advised not to have a single list with 25, 50, or a 100 books because Marines would look at such a list and believe they would not be able to read that many books in any reasonable amount of time.  Thus, they wouldn’t even start to read. With that information I knew the list would have to be tailored to segments of the Corps, not one list for every Marine.  I determined that I would assign just enough books to a rank so that a Marine could easily read all the books assigned to that rank in a few years.  If I recall correctly, this turned out to be 2 to 4 books for noncommissioned officers and 3 to 6 for officers each year.

CP: How did you select the best books for each grade?

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PKVR:

Doing so was more complicated than I first imagined it might be.  Eventually I created a large worksheet with the ranks down the left side and the topics across the top.

CP: And how did you determine what the topics would be?

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PKVR:

That was relatively simple.  I knew I wanted to include books on the functions of intelligence, operations, logistics, and decision making, and various elements of military theory.  In addition, I established topics for tactics, strategy, military history, leadership, memoirs, airpower, and a few others.

CP: At that point I guess you begin identifying the books.

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PKVR:

No, that is not what happened.  As I thought about how this list might translate into a reading program, I believed it important that Marines who served together read some of the same books so they could discuss them.  For example, in considering the leadership of platoons I ensured staff sergeants and lieutenants were to read some of the same books.  The same logic applied to company-size units where gunnery sergeants and first sergeants were to read a few of the books that captains were to read.

CP: Were there other factors that you considered.

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PKVR:

Yes, there were a number of other factors.  One was to ensure that as a Marine advanced in grade he or she built their knowledge on what they had read before.  As an example, Marines were to read basic books on the battlefield functions early on and the more detailed and complex ones later in their careers.  I also wanted to cover all America’s major wars while ensuring a proper mix of wars that involved insurgencies, that is, irregular war, and regular wars.

CP: Were there any surprises as you developed the list.

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PKVR:

Yes, and the one I recall being the most significant was the selection of Ender’s Game.  I was not a fan of science fiction but John Schmitt, the author of Warfighting, kept telling me that I needed to read this book by Orson Scott Card and loaned me a copy.  I stuck it in my brief case with the intent to scan a few pages and say, no, it’s not the kind of book we want on the list.  It stayed there for weeks until while flying to an event I decided to take a quick look and be done with John’s recommendation.  To my great surprise, once I started to read, I could not put the book down.   Its maneuver warfare like characteristics were obvious.  As you know, it became one of the most popular books on that first list.  Some years later, John met Orson and was delighted to learn that as John was a fan of Ender’s Game Orson was a fan of Warfighting.

CP: Well, how did you go about actually identifying the books for that first list.

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PKVR:

I used the books from my Army War College paper as the starting point.  I sent this list to 15 Marines who I knew to be avid readers.  I received 21 responses!  Several of the original 15 told me another Marine would see what they were looking at and weigh in with their own thoughts.   Some of these other Marines took the extra effort to respond directly to my request. 

I also received comments and recommendations from distinguished military historians who I knew such as Williamson “Wick” Murray and Allan Millett.  And I received exceptional support from the Command and Staff College faculty and others close to the college.

The most difficult thing was to sort out disagreements.  There were books that one respondent would tout, and that another would dismiss saying such things as, “No book by this author should ever be on the list.”  I found I needed to study reviews of the controversial books and even re-read some before deciding if I would include them.  In a sense, I understood that it was a “no win” situation because of the emotions and sharp opinions of the strong-minded individuals I sought out for advice, but their help improved the final list immeasurably.  In the end, I simply made the hard calls.

As you know, the fact the Corps had such a quality list led to extensive, positive media attention.  More important, Marines gave every evidence that they wanted to read books on the list.

CP: It has been 35 years since you worked on the first list; do you know what happened to that list in the succeeding years?

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PKVR:

As with many things, Marines found reasons to make changes to the book list over time and at several points it became pretty much incoherent.  I was asked several times by the Commandant or the Marine Corps University President to assist with revisions.  On each occasion I was troubled to find that much of what some very knowledgeable people advised me to avoid when creating the first list was overlooked in the revisions, thus, causing the anticipated problems. 

To illustrate, in one instance I found the matrixed list was gone and there was one long list containing all the books.  Even as an ardent reader I would have been dissuaded from trying to master that list.  On another occasion I found significantly flawed works were on the list, which indicated to me there had been little due diligence in identifying and selecting books.  I also observed that when the Marine Corps changed the list significantly every few years Marines who were diligent in their efforts to read all their assigned books became discouraged and stopped trying.

CP: How do you evaluate the current Marine Corps Reading list?

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PKVR:

The short answer is if I had sent the current Marine reading list to General Gray, he would have immediately relieved me of my duties, told me to submit my retirement papers, pack my trash and go home.  The current list is a professional embarrassment to the Marine Corps.

That may sound harsh, but here is why.  As I noted at the outset of the interview, General Gray directed that first list focus on warfighting.  He wanted the books on that list to aid in developing the knowledge and skills needed to lead and fight in the heat of combat.  The current list does not accomplish that goal.  It is not a serious list.  Examples abound.  Let me share a few. 

The categories or topics that contain the book titles are misleading, which indicates who ever populated them had no knowledge of that topic.  There are no classic books under “Strategy” such as Clausewitz’s On War or newer works like Beatrice Heuser’s The Evolution of Strategy.  What is there are a few worthwhile books and then ones that are not appropriate such as Jim Collin’s Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t and Edward Hess and Katherine Ludwig’s Humility is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age.  These books have nothing to do with military strategy. 

As another example, under the topic “Leadership” are a few very good books and then what I can only describe as self-help books like Michael Bungay Stanier’s The Coaching Habit and Charles Duhigg’s Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business.  Nowhere to be seen are classics like Martin Blumenson and James Stokesbury’s Masters of Command.  It appears to me the Marines who selected these books were more interested in managing than leading.  They certainly weren’t thoughtful students of warfighting and give little evidence of combat or leadership experience.

I am also troubled by the fact that despite the division by topics this is in reality one long list for all Marines with no consideration of experience or education.

Bottom line, I am saddened and disappointed at the state of the current Commandant’s Professional Reading list.

High quality professional reading can have an enormous effect on leadership throughout the Marine Corps. Gary Anderson recently published an article in Real Clear Defense which was critical of today’s most senior Marine leaders. Lack of a high quality professional reading program over the last decade could be part of the problem.

CP: Is reading older military books still valuable or practical today? Technology has changed. Some would say just use a search engine or even AI.

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PKVR:

There is no technology that can substitute for deep, continuous, self-study. The profession of arms is unlike anything else. All Marines and particularly Marines who aspire to be leaders of Marines, must grow themselves in every way. They must grow their physical strength, their spiritual strength, and their mental strength. Engaging with the classic books on war and warfighting is like engaging in a live fire exercise with a well-armed adversary. Take hold of one of the great books on warfighting. Go page by page. Wrestle with the author, underline key ideas, stop and think, argue, question, and learn. Reading deeply is like good PT, exhausting, worthwhile, and fun.

The current Marine reading program is not where it should be. It needs a drastic overhaul and a new focus on war and warfighting. But no matter how much needs to be done to restore the Marine reading program today, Marines should remember that ultimately professional education is the responsibility of every Marine and every leader of Marines. Take time to read and study. Do not approach it as a chore. Approach it as a way to grow your mental muscles.  The right kind of reading can draw out the best in a Marine, so that every Marine can give more to Country and Corps.

I enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1956. Decades and wars have rolled by. I have studied war, experienced war, and taught war. I am still studying, still learning, and still growing today. Why bother after all these years? Because working to get better day by day is what Marines do. Grab a book and get busy.

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