John M. Collins began to amass military experience when he enlisted in the Army as a private in 1942. Thirty years and three wars later, in 1972, he retired as a colonel. He spent the next quarter century as the leading analyst on military and defense issues at the Congressional Research Service. He has written a dozen books and often contributes to Proceedings. Six years ago he established the Warlord Loop. The handpicked military and civilian members of the Loop, who represent every point on the public opinion spectrum, have debated crucial national security issues online ever since. Colonel Collins recently conducted a survey in which he asked members to identify two books, fiction or nonfiction, that helped shape their professional perspectives. A cross-section of responses follows. The book most named? Anton Myrer's Once An Eagle. The runner-up? Viscount Slim's Defeat into Victory.
Lieutenant Colonel Bob Bateman, U.S. Army, Office of Net Assessment; author or editor or two books, including No Gun Ri: A Military History of the Korean War Incident
John Keegan, The Face of Battle
Anton Myrer, Once An Eagle
Lieutenant Commander David Bonfili, U.S. Navy Reserve, intelligence analyst
Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict
Max Boot, senior fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; author of three books, including War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today
Evelyn Waugh, Sword of Honor
Lieutenant Colonel Don Bowman, U.S. Army (Retired), former deputy commander, Ranger Department, U.S. Army Infantry School
Ardant du Picq, Battle Studies
General Art Brown, U.S. Army (Retired), former vice chief of staff, U.S. Army
Douglas Pike, Viet Cong: The Organization and Technique of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam
Lieutenant General Bruce Brown, U.S. Air Force (Retired), former commander,
Alaskan Air Command
Clayton M. Christensen, The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail
Colonel Ed Bruner, U.S. Army (Retired), defense specialist, Congressional Research Service
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, August 1914
Caleb Carr, military historian and novelist; author of five novels and three military histories, including The Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians
Harold Nicolson, The Congress of Vienna: A Study in Allied Unity
Commander Ward Carroll, U.S. Navy (Retired), novelist and editor, military.com; author of five novels, including Punk's War
William Manchester, American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964
Captain Philip Carter, U.S. Army, former Iraqi police advisor
Samantha Power, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide
Colonel (Chaplain) Robert Certain, U.S. Air Force Reserve (Retired), officiated at President Ford's funerals
William Lee Miller, Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography
Dean Cheng, Chinese military analyst, CNA Corporation
Martin van Creveld, Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton
Ty Cobb, former special assistant to the President for national security affairs
Mikhail Yurevich Lermontov, Hero of Our Times
Colonel Joseph Collins, U.S. Army (Retired), professor of strategy, National War College; author or editor of three books, including American Military Culture in the Twenty-first Century
Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy
Colonel John Collins, U.S. Army (Retired), conceived, recruited, and steers the Warlord Loop; author of 12 books, including Military Geography: For Professionals and the Public
J. C. Wylie, Military Strategy: A General Theory of Power Control
Colonel Scot Crerar, U.S. Army (Retired), authority on Army Special Forces
Robert Rogers, Journals of Robert Rogers of the Rangers
Audrey Kurth Cronin, director of studies program on the changing character of war, Oxford University
Phillip Bobbitt, The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace, and the Course of History
Patrick Cronin, director of studies, International Institute for Strategic Studies
William Woodruff, Impact of Western Man: A Study of Europe's Role in the World Economy, 1750-1960
Catherine Dale, speechwriter, Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense
George Orwell, 1984
Lieutenant Colonel Terry Daly, U.S. Army Reserve (Retired), counterinsurgency strategist
Lucian Truscott, Command Missions: A Personal Story
Lieutenant General Dave Deptula, U.S. Air Force, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, U.S. Air Force
Jack Broughton, Thud Ridge
John Dickert, resource specialist, Defense Technical Information Center
Powel Monat with John Dille, Spy in the U.S.
Barry Dwyer, military historian; author of four books, including Scouts and Raiders: The Navy's First Special Warfare Commandos
John Lord, Duty, Honor, Country: The Life and Times of Col. Richard Meinertzhagen
Janice Elmore, foreign service officer, U.S. Department of State (Retired), Africa/Middle East specialist
Lawrence Harrison and Samuel Huntington (eds.), Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress
Captain Andy Exum, U.S. Army, fellow, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy; author of This Man's Army: A Soldier's Story from the Frontlines of the War on Terrorism
Bernard Fall, Street Without Joy
Steve Fainaru, staff writer/Baghdad bureau, The Washington Post
Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam
Evelyn Farkas, professional staff member, Senate Armed Services Committee
Donald L. Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict
Andy Feickert, covers Army/Special Forces issues for Congressional Research Service
Carl von Clausewitz, On War
Captain Nate Fick, U.S. Marine Corps, student, Harvard Business School; author of One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer
Anton Myrer, Once An Eagle
Ben Frank, former chief historian, U.S. Marine Corps
John W. Thomason, Fix Bayonets!
Lieutenant Colonel Paul Friedrichs, U.S. Air Force, chief of medical operations, U.S. Space Command
Anton Myrer, Once An Eagle
Joe Galloway, military correspondent and author
William Manchester, Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War
Colonel Greg Gardner, U.S. Army (Retired), vice president/homeland security, Oracle Corporation
Anton Myrer, Once An Eagle
Colleen Getz, director/politico-military programs, National Intelligence Council
Richard E. Neustadt, Presidential Power: The Politics of Leadership
Lieutenant General Bill Ginn, U.S. Air Force (Retired), former commander, U.S. Forces Japan/Fifth Air Force
Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr., In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies
Tommy Glakas, education specialist, Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War
Philip Gold, defense writer; author of The Coming Draft: The Crisis in Our Military and Why Selective Service Is Wrong for America
Marc Bloch, Strange Defeat
Bob Goldich, former military personnel specialist, Congressional Research Service
John Terraine, Smoke and the Fire: Myths and Anti-Myths of War, 1861-1945
Lieutenant Colonel Rob Greenway, U.S. Army, Office of the Secretary of Defense/SOLIC
John Bagot Glubb, A Soldier with the Arabs
Lieutenant General Chip Gregson, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), former commander, Marine Forces Pacific
George H. Kerr, Okinawa: The History of An Island People
Richard Grimmett, defense specialist, Congressional Research Service
Paul Fussell, Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War
Jamie Hailer, founder, Hailer Publishing
Simon Murray, Legionnaire: An Englishman in the French Foreign Legion
Richard Halloran, former military correspondent, The New York Times; author of To Arm a Nation: Rebuilding America's Endangered Defenses
Sam R. Watkins, "Co. Aytch": A Confederate Soldier's Memoirs
Colonel T. X. Hammes, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), counterinsurgency/homeland defense consultant; author of The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century
Mao Tse Tung, On Guerrilla War
Colonel Glenn Harned, U.S. Army (Retired), Booz Allen Hamilton; supports OSD/JCS/USSOCOM
Jean Larteguy, The Centurions
Colonel Derek Harvey, U.S. Army, Middle East specialist, DoD
Alan Clark, Barbarossa: The Russian-German Conflict, 1941-45
Lieutenant Colonel Mark Haselton, U.S. Army (Retired), former chief/strategic concepts, Joint Staff
Stephen P. Lambert, Y: The Sources of Islamic Revolutionary Conduct
Stanley Heginbotham, former chief, foreign affairs and national defense division, Congressional Research Service
Thomas E. Ricks, Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq
Timothy Hoyt, professor, Naval War College; author of Military Industry and Regional Power: India, Iraq, and Israel
Julian Corbett, Some Principles of Maritime Strategy
Colonel Bob Killebrew, U.S. Army (Retired), politico-military strategist, author, and consultant
Viscount [William] Slim, Defeat Into Victory
General Bob Kingston, U.S. Army (Retired), first commander-in-chief, U.S. Central Command
Viscount [William] Slim, Defeat Into Victory
James Kiras, professor, School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, Air University
J. C. Wylie, Military Strategy: A General Theory of Power Control
Noel Koch, chief executive officer, TranSecur
Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace: Algeria, 1954-1962
David Koplow, professor, Georgetown University Law Center; author of four books, including Non-Lethal Weapons: The Law and Policy of Revolutionary Technologies for the Military and Law Enforcement
Thomas Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict
Colonel Cliff Krieger, U.S. Air Force (Retired), former chief, strategy division, Joint Staff
Jean Larteguy, The Praetorians
Lieutenant Colonel Charles Krohn, U.S. Army (Retired), former deputy chief of public affairs, Department of the Army; author of The Lost Battalion: Controversy and Casualties In the Battle of Hue
Rick Atkinson, An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943
Rear Admiral Ron Kurth, U.S. Navy (Retired), former president, Naval War College
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
Colonel Jim Lacey, U.S. Army Reserve, Institute for Defense Analyses; author of Takedown: The 3rd Infantry Division's Twenty-One Day Assault on Baghdad
Ludwig von Mises, Human Action: A Treatise on Economics
Colonel Richard Lacquement, U.S. Army, Chief, J5 Plans, U.S. Forces Korea; author of Shaping American Military Capabilities after the Cold War
David Hackett Fischer, Washington's Crossing
Jon Lellenberg, former section head, Office of the Secretary of Defense/SOLIC
Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Lieutenant Colonel Bob Mackey, U.S. Army, strategic planner, Joint Staff; author of The Uncivil War: Irregular Warfare in the Upper South
Thomas Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree
Carter Malkasian, Center for Naval Analyses
Jeffrey Race, War Comes to Long An: Revolutionary Conflict in a Vietnamese Province
Major General Jim McInerney, U.S. Air Force (Retired), Vice President, National Defense Industrial Association
Edward Creasy, Fifteen Decisive Battles of the Western World
Colonel John Meyer, U.S. Army (Retired), former staff officer, U.S. Special Operations Command
Winston S. Churchill, The American Civil War
Carson Morris, director, Association for Intelligence Officers
Max Boot, War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today
Williamson Murray, military/diplomatic historian, Institute for Defense Analyses; author or co-author of 14 books, including The Making of Strategy: Rulers, States, and War
Evelyn Waugh, Sword of Honor
Lieutenant Colonel John Nagl, U.S. Army, counterinsurgency strategist and practitioner; author of Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Lessons in Counterinsurgency from Malaya and Vietnam
Russell Weigley, The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy
Sean Naylor, senior investigative reporter, Army Times Publishing Company; author of Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda
Anton Myrer, Once An Eagle
Lieutenant Colonel Scott Nestler, U.S. Army, operations research analyst
David Donovan, Once a Warrior King: Memories of an Officer in Vietnam
Callie Rucker Oettinger, free-lance writer and military public relations specialist
Army Field Manual 22-100—Leadership
Major General Marné Peterson, U.S. Air Force, commandant, National War College
Donald Kagan, On the Origins of War: And the Preservation of Peace
General Pete Piotrowski, U.S. Air Force (Retired), former commander, North American Air Defense Command/U.S. Space Command
Frederick C. Blesse, No Guts, No Glory
Colonel Mark Pizzo, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), chief of staff/dean of students, National War College
Anton Myrer, Once An Eagle
Colonel Alfred Prados, U.S. Army (Retired), Middle East Specialist, Congressional Research Service
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, It Doesn't Take a Hero
Tom Ricks, senior Pentagon correspondent, The Washington Post; author of three books, including Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq
William Shakespeare, Tragedies
Nina Serafino, international relations specialist, Congressional Research Service
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Colonel Dave Shanahan, U.S. Army (Retired), deputy dean, Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, August 1914
Bob Silano, founding editor, Joint Force Quarterly
Evelyn Waugh, Sword of Honour
Erin Simpson, doctoral candidate, Harvard University
Graham Greene, The Quiet American
Stan Sloan, former senior specialist, Congressional Research Service
Loren C. Eiseley, The Immense Journey
Erin Solaro, defense writer; author of Women in the Line of Fire: What You Should Know About Women in the Military
Erwin Rommel, Infantry Attacks
Mark Smith, political scientist, University of Chicago
Stathis N. Kalyvas, The Logic of Violence in Civil War
David Southworth, terrorism/defense analyst, SAIC
Richard Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It
Heather Ruland Staines, editorial director, Praeger Security International
John A. Nagl, Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam
Lieutenant Colonel Ken Steadman, U.S. Army (Retired), congressional staff member, House Armed Services Committee
Richard Trefry, How the Army Runs
Bill Stearman, former member, National Security Council Staff
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Andrew Strike, public diplomacist, Foreign Press Center, Department of State
Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
Captain Tom Taylor, U.S Navy Reserve (Retired), former deputy director/operations, safety and security, United Nations
Deneys Reitz, Commando: A Boer Journal of the Boer War
Captain Kyle Teamey, U.S. Army Reserve, consults for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; co-author of the Army-Marine Corps Counterinsurgency manual
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Captain Robert Timberg, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), editor-in-chief, U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings; author of three books, including The Nightingale's Song
Brigadier General Bob Titus, U.S. Air Force (Retired), former inspector general, North American Air Defense Command
Morris Janowitz, The Professional Soldier: A Social and Political Portrait
Lin Todd, intelligence/counterterrorism/counterinsurgency specialist
J. F. C. Fuller, Generalship: Its Diseases and Their Cure
Lieutenant General Bernard "Mick" Trainor, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), former director of plans, policies, and operations, U.S. Marine Corps; coauthor of two books, including The Generals' War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf
Morris Janowitz, The Professional Soldier: A Social and Political Portrait
Lieutenant General Dick Trefry, U.S. Army (Retired), first vice president, Army Force Management School
Viscount [William] Slim, Defeat Into Victory
Lieutenant General Paul Van Riper, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), former commanding general, Marine Corps Combat Development Command
Martin van Creveld, Command in War
Brigadier General Jim Warner, U.S. Army (Retired), former director of strategy, plans, and policy, U.S. Joint Forces Command
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
General Volney Warner, U.S. Army (Retired), former commander-in-chief, U.S. Readiness Command
Stephen Ambrose, Band of Brothers
Lieutenant Colonel Shawn Welch, U.S. Army, student, Joint Advanced Warfighting School
Anton Myrer, Once An Eagle
Major General Tom Wilkerson, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), CEO, U.S. Naval Institute
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince
Lieutenant General Sam Wilson, U.S. Army (Retired), former director, Defense Intelligence Agency
Leonard C. J. Mosley, Marshall: Hero for Our Times
Captain Rick Woolard, U.S. Navy (Retired), commanded several SEAL teams
Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War
Rear Admiral George Worthington, U.S. Navy (Retired), former commander, Naval Special Warfare Command
William H. McRaven, Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare, Theory and Practice