This is the Capstone Essay Contest winner in the Marine Corps category
In his 2018 Message to the Force, Marine Corps Commandant General Robert Neller tells Marines, “Hone your warfighter mind-set. . . . We must think, innovate, and prepare for the battlefields of the future. Complacency kills, both tactically and intellectually.” In last year’s message, he had similar advice, writing, “Become smarter, because your mind is your most important weapon.” The Naval Academy would be wise to heed this counsel. To produce better Marine officers, the Academy should implement a professional reading program, change course requirements for graduation, and add more discussion-based seminars to analyze ideas about leadership and current affairs.
While both the Commandant of the Marine Corps and the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) have professional reading lists, the Naval Academy does not. In fact, the Academy requires midshipmen to read only a single book from either list over all four years—and even then, most midshipmen fail to do so. During the 2017 academic year, then-Commandant of the Naval Academy Colonel Stephen Liszewski mandated that the brigade read the novel Gates of Fire, which is on the Commandant’s list. Within my company of 148 midshipmen, I know of only three who read the book. The opportunity to discuss valuable lessons from the book was squandered as the Academy has no program for reading for professional development. Thus, the assignment was almost entirely ineffective.
Reading for professional development is vital to the training of quality officers. When asked about its importance, Secretary of Defense James Mattis (then General Mattis) wrote:
The problem with being too busy to read is that you learn by experience (or by your men’s experience), i.e., the hard way. By reading, you learn through others’ experiences, generally a better way to do business, especially in our line of work where the consequences of incompetence are so final for young men. . . . We have been fighting on this planet for 5,000 years, and we should take advantage of their experience.1
General Neller echoed this wisdom in his 2017 Message to the Force:
True military professionals study and write. Commit to reading more. Read at least five books from the Commandant’s Professional Reading List this year. Find other subjects you are interested in, whether it’s fiction, history, or news. Fiction builds creativity; history helps us learn from the past; and news keeps us up to date with the world around us. Just like it takes practice, repetition, and dedication to get to 20+ pull-ups, it takes hard work to sharpen our minds and think critically.2
There is a common message here: The purpose of reading is to learn, to apply lessons, and to think more critically using the wisdom gained.
To get midshipmen engaged in reading for professional development, discussion groups could be established in each company. Some sports teams already have adopted this practice: the men’s rugby team, heavyweight crew team, and wrestling team all have groups that meet regularly to discuss books as they read them together. This same practice should be brought to the company level throughout the brigade.
The training or character officers in each company could organize and lead discussion groups for books on the Commandant’s and CNO’s professional reading lists, as well as current military operations, foreign policy, and world news.
Within my own company, I started a professional reading discussion group, and I know it has benefited the midshipmen involved. We discussed world news every week, followed by a group member leading a discussion about a book or article he or she read. Thanks to this group, we learned about not only military history, but also topics such as Chinese anti-ship missiles, the automation of warfare, and the business model of Chick-fil-A and how its practices can be applied to military leadership. In addition, we discussed a wide range of books from the professional reading lists, including Gates of Fire, Ghost Fleet, On Killing, The Last Stand of Fox Company, Matterhorn, and Black Hearts. Establishing discussion groups like this one across the brigade would directly support the Commandant’s intent of honing the warfighter mind-set.
To leverage reading discussion groups, seminars similar to the existing first-class character capstone could be scheduled for midshipmen to discuss world events, history, and leadership with officers and senior enlisted leaders on the Yard. These men and women have been deployed around the world and have years of experience they could pass on. Rather than having only one seminar during a midshipman’s senior year, the Academy should schedule seminars throughout a mid’s four years. This would further develop midshipmen’s understanding of foreign policy, military operations, and leadership within the Department of the Navy.
In addition to increasing its focus on reading for professional development, the Naval Academy could improve its preparation of future officers by changing the courses required for midshipmen. As a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)–focused school, it requires all midshipmen—regardless of academic major—to take a number of STEM classes to graduate. The intent is to give all midshipmen a technical background, but most of the information taught in these classes isn’t retained. Ask any graduate of the Academy (including engineers) what they learned in these technical classes and it will be clear the intended goal is rarely met.
Rather than focusing so heavily on STEM-related courses, the Academy should adapt its curriculum to better develop midshipmen as future combat leaders. Many of the existing courses could be reorganized or omitted to make room in a mid’s schedule for classes already offered: jihadist theology, formulation of U.S. policy, politics of irregular warfare, history of the Middle East, law of armed conflict, ethics and irregular warfare, recent naval and military history, and foreign language courses including Chinese, Arabic, and Russian. Modifying course requirements at the Naval Academy to include such classes also would support the Commandant’s goal of developing a warfighter’s mind-set.
While some classes should be replaced, others could be modified to include an emphasis on reading for professional development. Classes such as leadership, which all plebes must take, could require midshipmen to read a biography or autobiography of a historical military leader. Books such as It Doesn’t Take a Hero, One Bullet Away, Devotion, My American Journey, Chesty, The Last Stand of Fox Company, and Colder Than Hell will help midshipmen connect lessons learned in the classroom to leaders who have gone before them.
This practice could be applied to technical classes as well. While I was taking my second semester of cybersecurity, I read Countdown to Zero Day, which is on the Commandant’s professional reading list. Because of what I was learning in class, I did not struggle to understand the technical details of the book, which allowed me to have a deeper understanding of the history, practical applications, potential for future use, and uncertain legal and ethical ramifications of cyber warfare, which weren’t being taught in the classroom.
Even practicum classes, taught during midshipmen’s last semester to prepare them for their service assignment, lack a common curriculum. One way to help remedy this as well as improve professional development could be to include reading assignments specific to each service community. Submarine selects could be required to read The Terrible Hours or Blind Man’s Bluff. Aviation selects could be required to read Boyd, I’m No Hero, or A Higher Call. Marine selects could read I Will Hold, Infantry Attacks, or Matterhorn. Regardless of service assignment, reading to learn from the experience of those who have gone before would be beneficial to the development of future officers.
To produce better Marine officers, the Naval Academy should emphasize reading for professional development and provide opportunities for midshipmen to discuss lessons learned from their reading, share new ideas and perspectives, and learn from the experience of the officers and senior enlisted leaders stationed here. As General Neller noted, “your mind is your most important weapon.” Shifting the Naval Academy’s focus toward reading for professional development will help develop the minds of future Marine officers and better prepare them for the day they may have to lead Marines into harm’s way.
1. Geoffrey Ingersoll, “General James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis Email about Being ‘Too Busy to Read’ Is a Must-Read,” Business Insider, 9 May 2013.
2. GEN Robert Neller, USMC, “Message to the Force 2017: ‘Seize the Initiative,’” 7 February 2017.
Second Lieutenant Flynn, Naval Academy Class of 2018, majored in naval architecture and marine engineering with a minor in German. He will report to The Basic School on 11 June as part of Echo Company.