War Books: The Marine Corps Commandant's 2026 Reading List

https://mwi.westpoint.edu/war-books-the-marine-corps-commandants-2026-reading-list/

by Alien1Being • 1 month ago

27 14 1 month ago

mwi.westpoint.edu

trhway3• 1 month ago

"The Arms of the Future: Technology and Close Combat in the Twenty-First Century"

somehow i feel that the Pentagon leadership didn't read that book before starting the Iran affair.

Frieren• 1 month ago

the Pentagon leadership didn't read that book before starting the Iran affair.

The current Pentagon leadership is the kind of people that buy thousands of books with public money that nobody will read (written by their friends).

- "Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card" is the only one from the list I have read.

- "This Kind of War: The Classic Korean War History, by T. R. Fehrenbach" seems interesting. South Korea still seems very grateful to the USA and commemorates the USA (and the rest of allies) that helped them during the Korean war.

trhway3• 1 month ago

- "This Kind of War: The Classic Korean War History, by T. R. Fehrenbach" seems interesting. South Korea still seems very grateful to the USA and commemorates the USA (and the rest of allies) that helped them during the Korean war.

For "easy reading"- viewing - on that war there are somewhat informative - in very coarse grain sense - movies that i watched recently:

SK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_Jangsari

China (with heavy propaganda angle of course and a big budget): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_at_Lake_Changjin

pjc502• 1 month ago

The Korean war is technically not over. I believe the most recent framework is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panmunjom_Declaration , but the recently-evicted South Korean president was actively trying to restart it for his own Trumpian reasons.

It's one of those things like the San Andreas fault. Just because nothing has happened for decades doesn't mean the risk has gone away.

cpursley• 1 month ago

Nor: https://www.amazon.com/Losing-Military-Supremacy-American-St...

roenxi2• 1 month ago

Which leadership are we talking? The US military has been clear enough that they thought an Iran invasion was infeasible for obvious reasons - it isn't like what actually happened surprised many people, the US never looked like it could take on Iran in a direct war on Iranian soil. It was so obvious not even the Bush administration tried, and the US was in a much stronger relative position back in the 2000s.

If we're talking the likes of Hegseth and Trump then we're all waiting for the inside gossip on exactly what mad assumptions they were making that led to this scheme looking acceptable. Maybe Trump is going senile too, maybe the Israelis managed to sell a story, maybe the US is being deceptive and it is some sort of anti-China attempt.

donavanm2• 1 month ago

maybe the Israelis managed to sell a story

This was already reported a month or so back. It also matched some of the early, unprepared, statements along the lines of “acting before they (israel) do.” And matches previous reporting along the lines of JCS/NSC giving “nuanced” advice which is easily interpreted as agreement or compliance.

pjc502• 1 month ago

maybe the Israelis managed to sell a story

1) attack Iran, directly as well as in the neutral third country Lebanon;

2) Iran counterattacks, including at unrelated parties

3) US is forced to intervene on the Israeli/Gulf States side

This is also why any "deal" is of very questionable longevity unless it is meaningfully binding on Israel.

(Israel will claim, with some justification, that the October attacks were sponsored by Iran, as have a lot of the missiles against which Iron Dome was built)

halJordan• 1 month ago

The pentagon absolutely did not start the war. Misunderstanding how the military works is one of the more dangerous things a lazy citizen can (fail to) do.

Which you would know if you were reading the books on the lists West Point puts out

trhway3• 1 month ago

could you please state the date and time and the actors of an event you consider as the starting event of the war.

keybored• 1 month ago

[flagged]

rramadass• 1 month ago

Seems to be missing a bunch of essential subjects, viz;

Warfare within the context of overall Statecraft, Integrated warfare, Information warfare, Asymmetric warfare, Grey-zone warfare, Psychology w.r.t. Propaganda/Reflexive control/Active measures, Behavioural game theory etc.

All the tactics/technology/manpower/training/stories/anecdotes are insufficient if one does not have an understanding of the overall strategic theory within which they operate.

"Winning" has many forms depending upon the context.

PS: List of military strategies and concepts - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_strategies_an...

War Books: The Marine Corps Commandant's 2026 Reading List

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