Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps Official Reading List:
Books Recommended for the Officer Candidate
The intent of the Commandant in issuing this list (MCBUL 1500) is stated as follows: “In an era of constrained resources, our professional reading program is designed to provide Marines with an intellectual framework to study warfare and enhance their thinking and decision making skills. The mind, like the body, grows soft with inactivity. All Marines must understand that mental fitness is as demanding and as important as physical fitness, for both require commitment and perseverance. In a world characterized by rapid change and great uncertainty, our reading program will act as a combat multiplier by providing all Marines with a common frame of reference and historical perspective on warfare, human factors in combat and decisionmaking. In so doing, the program will also strengthen the threads of cohesion that make our Marine Corps unique.”
I didn’t know about this list until at OCS, but for you motivated candidates with time on your hands, here’s a few recommendations for you.
A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard
Ender’s Game (The Ender saga) by Orson Scott Card
First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps by Victor H. Krulak
First to Fight
Warfighting by U.S. Marine Corps
Once a Marine: An Iraq War Tank Commander’s Inspirational Memoir of Combat, Courage, and Recovery by Nick Popaditch and Mike Steere
Rifleman Dodd: A Novel Of The Peninsular Campaign by C. S. Forester
The Armed Forces Officer: 2007 Edition (National Defense University) by U.S. Department of Defense
The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by D. Halberstam
The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat by B. Drury and T. Clavin
The Last Stand of Fox Company
The Lions of Iwo Jima by Maj Gen (ret) F. Haynes and J. Warren
The Soldier’s Load and the Mobility of a Nation by S.L.A. Marshall
Tiger Force: A True Story of Men and War by M. Sallah and M. Weiss
Tiger Force
