Lethal Minds Volume 27 CORRECTION
Volume 27, October, 2024
I Screwed Up
Accountability is a founding principle of any effective military organization, likewise, any organization born of military service like Lethal Minds Journal. After Joshua Sulentic, a US Marine infantryman, and I discussed the way he sees things at the squad level, I asked him to offer his thoughts on things that matter. He was accountable. He came through. Then I screwed up and published a version of "Professional Reading for the Young Warfighter," which was not the most current iteration of the hard work he did to make it a part of Volume 27 of Lethal Minds Journal.
There exists a surplus of people avoiding responsibility for anything and everything in this country. I won't add to that, therefore I am sending you the most current version of his work because he deserves that from me and so do you.
I hope Joshua's efforts can spark discussion about what servicemembers ought to be reading. I hope mine can spark discussion about the criticality of taking responsibility for errors large and small, the importance of trust, and paying attention to the small details, something beaten into my skull during twenty-seven years as one of America's amphibious ambassadors of death.
Joshua, and readers, please accept my apologies and thanks for being part of the LMJ team. The correct version follows.
I'll see you in the comments section.
Fire for Effect,
Russell Worth Parker.
Editor in Chief - Lethal Minds Journal
Submissions are open at lethalmindsjournal.submissions@gmail.com.
Dedicated to those who serve, those who have served,
and those who paid the final price for their country. Subject to Student Match: The Right Books for the Right Marines
Joshua Sulentic
As it stands today, the United States Marine Corps places significant importance on the professional development of its non-commissioned officers. It initiates Professional Military Education at a lower level than any other branch. It provides resources for those who have yet to earn the title (Recruits and Poolees) to begin preparing for their careers as members of the profession of arms through the Commandant’s Professional Reading List. This list, a cornerstone of our professional development, is a testament to our commitment to continuous learning and growth at all ranks.
The Commandant’s Professional Reading List (CPRL) was codified in 1989 by “the enlisted Marines’ Commandant,” General Alfred M. Gray Jr, and since then, has been updated by every Commandant of the Marine Corps to “improve Marines’ understanding of the military profession, the nature of warfare, and develop decision-making and critical-thinking skills.”1 The CPRL has recently been updated to include six core sections: Commandant’s Choice, Profession of Arms, Innovation, Leadership, Strategy, and Foundational. The latter section is more like the traditional CPRL, assigning specific titles to the ranks that should be reading them as the foundation of their general self-education. They cover a wide range of topics, such as leadership, history, and strategy. This is a great way to ensure that Marines of all ranks and billets have a resource to look to for information on how to better educate themselves as members of the profession of arms across a wide spectrum of pertinent subjects. But from what I have seen, it is not being utilized as it should be, and for a rather simple reason: young Marines aren’t interested.
In warfare, certain weapons engage certain targets based on a prescribed weapon-to-target match. Mechanized vehicles are engaged with high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds, bunkers are engaged with machine guns and high explosive dual penetration (HEDP) rounds, and individual targets are engaged with rifle fire. This is because certain weapons, despite doing more damage, may not be best applied to smaller targets. We need to think of prescribed reading more similarly: we should find the weapon to target match for books to Marines.
Commandant’s Choice
Let us begin with the “Commandant’s Choice.” As you will see with many of these titles, some are good, but others should be shifted to a different position. The good titles include First to Fight by LtGen Victor H. Krulak, The Leader’s Bookshelf by Stavridis and Ancell, and MCDP 1: Warfighting. Each of these books develops a foundation of knowledge for all ranks: First to Fight speaks on the history of the Corps from the Revolution to Vietnam, The Leader’s Bookshelf gives valuable suggestions for books from the libraries of flag officers across the military, and Warfighting develops an understanding of why and how the Marine Corps fights. However, other titles on this list do not make much sense as a baseline for all ranks. A Private will likely have little to no interest in learning how to be successful like the All Blacks (New Zealand’s national rugby team) from Legacy by James Kerr, or how “hiring ‘neuro-diverse’ workers and creating empathetic shampoo bottles signal[s] a dramatic shift toward compassion in the workplace,”2 from Rohit Bhargava’s Non-Obvious. I have noticed a shift in my peers and younger Marines in reading these Wall Street Journal-esque “learn to lead people” titles. Still, I am confident that even the young entrepreneurs will hold little interest in A World In Disarray by Richard Haass, which talks about globalism and geopolitics in the 21st century. It’s likely safe to assume junior Marines think more about their next chow or liberty timeline than “updating the global operating system.” I have not read any of these three books, so I cannot personally speak to the value each holds to the military profession, but I am sure that they hold some value given their place on the list. As a former 18-year-old Private First Class, I can also be sure that many young Marines will have no interest in these three books, and there are titles out there that will be more useful to them. We need titles that are informative, engaging, and relevant to the daily lives and challenges of our enlisted Marines.
The “Commandant’s Choice” subsection could be seen as the foundation's foundation since it is geared toward all Marines, according to the CPRL website. Therefore, it may help for it to be stocked with titles that build a foundation of professional knowledge all Marines can build upon. Titles like The Warrior Ethos by Steven Pressfield could be placed here so Marines can build on an already established understanding of moral foundations. Publications such as MCDP 1-3: Tactics and MCWP 6-11: Leading Marines should also be included to develop a foundation of understanding on leading in and out of combat (something all Marines should be expected to do since every Marine is expected to be a leader and a rifleman).
Also, we should remember that every Marine has sworn an oath to “…support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic…” Every Marine should understand the Constitution of the United States of America since they have sworn an oath that they are willing to fight and possibly die to uphold the principles that the document stands for. It is also well understood within the Corps that one of our secondary duties is to develop Marines to be successful and knowledgeable American citizens. As stated in Major James Stephens’ Marine Corps Gazette article “Better Citizens:” “The Corps has an implicit responsibility to return better citizens to American society.”3 Since the dawn of our Republic it has been understood that good citizens understand their liberties and rights, as well as how the government operates. It’s a primary reason Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison wrote The Federalist Papers during the framing of the Constitution.4 Therefore, the Constitution and its Amendments should be required reading for all Marines, as well as at minimum certain articles collected in The Federalist Papers.
Understandably, some would argue that the Commandant’s Choice section is just that: a list of books that the Commandant of the Marine Corps fancies would be good reading for all Marines. That, in and of itself, is understandable. But if that is the case, there still fails to be a foundation common to all Marines that the Marine Corps can stand behind and say, “Understanding the concepts laid out within these titles is paramount to understanding your role as a member of the Marine Corps, Department of Defense, and as an American citizen.” Rather than developing a totally separate list, it may help for the “Commandants Choice” titles to reflect that foundation. Otherwise, a separate category could be developed under a title similar to “Foundational Reading for All Marines.”
Junior Enlisted Titles
Many of the titles under Primary Level Enlisted (Private, Private First Class, and Lance Corporal) and Career Level Enlisted (Corporal and Sergeant) are phenomenal reads. I have many suggested books on my bookshelf, such as Ender’s Game, The Last Stand of Fox Company, Rifleman Dodd, Battle Leadership, and With the Old Breed. However, some titles hold little to no appeal to the young Marine, such as On Combat and On Killing by Dave Grossman or The Revenge of Geography by Robert Kaplan. Most Marines in their first enlistment are aged 17 to 23, and most young men and women who enlist in the Marine Corps do not do so with the primary intent of learning about geopolitics or the psychology and sociology of warfare. Often, they like the appeal of shooting machine guns, flying in helicopters, or turning wrenches on tanks, planes, and trucks; they feel a draw towards a life of service to their nation; or they are trying to develop themselves as adults and learn skills to take into the civilian sector. You will be hard-pressed to go to a Marine Corps recruiting sub-station and find a poolee who wants to become a Marine so they can become a student of psychology or history through the Marine Corps (this is not counting those joining for GI Bill benefits since they can enter any branch of service to get the same benefits). However, understanding warfare is critical as they progress up the chain and step into leadership billets. As General Krulak said, “Training is preparation for the expected. Education is preparation for the unexpected.” So, how can we educate young enlisted Marines on warfare in a way that will keep them engaged?
The best approach would be to ask Marines what they are reading, take their suggestions, and push them into the CPRL. We could also go to bookstores near Marine Corps bases and ask them for demographic information on what young Marines are purchasing. Rather than pushing a square block into a round hole, we should look for what is already fitting and emulate it.
Another route could be to take a less research-centric approach and think critically. If young Marines don’t want to read what are effectively long research papers, then give them stories, both fiction and non-fiction, of warriors from the past. Books such as The Things They Carried, I’m Staying With My Boys, All Quiet on the Western Front, and Storm of Steelare shorter, more exciting, and more engaging to young adults than hundreds of pages of meticulous research. They also deal with some of the most critical factors of warfare that these young Marines will deal with, such as the human dimension and the fog of war.5
Implementation
We have already discussed possible changes to suggested reading for young Marines. The question now stands: How do we implement this? Right now, the most common way for the reading list to be “enforced” is through essays written by Marines for brownie points toward promotion. Though good in theory, from what I have seen, it is poor in practice. Most Marines I have spoken to take advantage of websites like SparkNotes or generative artificial intelligence to write essays of titles from the CPRL rather than taking the time to read and learn from the book. They view it in the same light as many MarineNet courses: a check in the box to earn promotion points rather than a way to develop themselves as professionals and critical thinkers. On top of that, many young Marines do not read as much as they probably should. This is not necessarily bad, since these Marines are likely more focused on the technical aspects of their job than the educational or more theoretical aspects: the science of war versus the art of war. So, how do we implement the art of war into their education?
The easiest way is likely to update the program of instruction in the lowest levels of enlisted PME: Lance Corporal’s Seminar and Corporal’s Course. Though “Lance Camp” (as it is affectionately known to many) is too short to dedicate large blocks of time to reading, key passages and lessons can be pulled from titles in the Primary Level Enlisted subsection of the CPRL and integrated into already existing blocs of instruction. For Corporal’s Course, allow the instructors to decide on one book from the Career Level Enlisted list that is to be read throughout the two to three-week course, with thirty minutes or so allocated periodically every day or two to discuss the lessons learned in the assigned part and how it is relevant to our profession.
Conclusion
If the Marine Corps is to take the professional education of its lowest enlisted members seriously, it must develop and implement professional reading based on a realistic understanding of the target audience rather than the understanding of senior leaders who are decades removed from the mindset of the current generation of young enlisted Marines. By effectively determining a subject-to-student match, we will succeed in getting the proverbial feet in the door of professional reading, and it will make it easier to add more complex and detailed titles into the suggested reading for Sergeants and Staff NCOs, who will have already begun to develop the ability to find and take away crucial lessons from higher-level writing.
Citations:
1: Marine Corps University Press (2024, April 30). Commandant's Professional Reading List. Marine Corps University. Retrieved June 20, 2024, from https://www.mca-marines.org/resource/commandants-professional-reading-list/
2: Marine Corps Association (2024, May 20). Commandant's Professional Reading List. Marine Corps Association and Foundation. Retrieved June 20, 2024, from https://www.mca-marines.org/resource/commandants-professional-reading-list/
3: Stephens, J. M. (2022). Better Citizens. Marine Corps Gazette, 106(8), WE8. https://www.mca-marines.org/wp-content/uploads/Better-Citizens.pdf
4: Hamilton, A. (1787). General Introduction. The Federalist Papers, 1.
5: (2018). MCDP-1: Warfighting. United States Government.
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In This Issue
Across the Force
Opinion
Written Word
The World Today
Poetry and Art
Transition and Veteran Resources
Across the Force
Written work on the profession of arms. Lessons learned, conversations on doctrine, and mission analysis from all ranks.
TITLE
AUTHOR
Opinion
Op-Eds and general thought pieces meant to spark conversation and introspection.
Written Word
Fiction and Nonfiction written by servicemen and veterans.
The World Today
Poetry and art from the warfighting community.
Health and Fitness
Fitness and PT Guidance for improving diet, physical performance, health, and leading troops in physical training.
Poetry and Art
Poetry and art from the warfighting community.
Transition and Veteran Resources
Career and civilian transition guidance, geared towards helping servicemembers plan their careers and help transitioning servicemembers succeed in civilian life. __
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