It is with great pleasure that Puzzle Palace has been permitted to publish the recommended reading of the RSM for the Commando Training Centre. As the symbolic home of the Royal Marines and the maker of every single UK Commando, this list gives a credible insight into what is driving the thinking of one of its key leaders. We hope you enjoy – Merry Christmas (and happy shopping).
Puzzle Palace Team
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Regimental Sergeant Major Commando Training Centre Royal Marines Reading List |
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“Thanks to my reading, I have never been caught flat-footed by any situation, never at a loss for how any problem has been addressed before. It doesn’t give me all the answers, but it lights what is often a dark path ahead,”
Major General James Mattis USMC 2003
The purpose of the RSM’s reading list is to highlight books, predominantly for enlisted ranks, that will help support their continued career development.
| Title: Commando Men – The Story of a Royal Marine Commando in WWII | Author: Bryan Samain |
| This book tells the story of the men of General Section 45 Royal Marine Commando in N.W. Europe. Samain was the Intelligence Officer of No. 45 Royal Marine Commando, in this revised edition the book gives a complete yet concise account of their operations from D-Day until VE-Day, through Northern France to the Baltic.
Buy Here: |
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| Title: Green Berets in Korea: The Story of 41 Independent Commando Royal Marines 1950-52 | Author: Fred Hayhurst |
| This is the story of a small amphibious raiding force especially raised for service during the Korean War. They were deployed from a US submarine and US ships for raids onto the enemy coast. At the onset of an atrocious winter, the Commando joined the US Marines operating in mountainous terrain in North Korea; . “it was there that hell indeed froze over”. They took part in the Chosin Reservoir Campaign, which has been described as “a battle unparalleled in US military history, an epic of great suffering and great valour”. Following this action, the Commando returned to its amphibious role. It was based and operated many miles behind the enemy lines, harassing them in a series of clandestine raids.
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| Title: Rifleman Dodd | Author: C.S. Forester |
| Rifleman Dodd is a remarkable story of one man’s willingness to serve his country and carry out his duties despite the odds. Dodd knows he does not stand much of a chance against the French, especially being cut off from the rest of the British forces. Despite this overwhelming setback, he does not run, surrender or comes off as scared. Instead, he continues to do his duty by putting his training as a soldier to good use. Dodd’s tenacity and stolid character show just how important it is to remain faithful to commitments despite the possible outcomes. Dodd’s actions highlight how strength, mental agility and determination are just as important to winning battles as weapons and brute strength.
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| Title:The Forgotten Soldier | Author: Guy Sajer |
| When Guy Sajer joins the infantry full of ideals in the summer of 1942, the German army is enjoying unparalleled success in Russia. However, he quickly finds that for the foot soldier the glory of military success hides a much harsher reality of hunger, fatigue and constant deprivation. Posted to the crack Grosse Deutschland division, with its sadistic instructors who shoot down those who fail to make the grade, he enters a violent and remorseless world where all youthful hope is gradually ground down, and all that matters is the brute will to survive. As the biting cold of the Russian winter sets in, and the tide begins to turn against the Germans, life becomes an endless round of pounding artillery attacks and vicious combat against a relentless and merciless Red Army. A book of stunning force, this is an unforgettable reminder of the horrors of war
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| Title: The Ranger Way: Living the Code on and off the Battlefield | Author: Kris Paronto |
| Kris ‘Tanto’ Paronto took his life of hard-earned experience, which ranges from long days as an aspiring Ranger to the cauldron of combat as a CIA contractor, and boiled it down into invaluable life and leadership principles. Whether you are in the boardroom or on the battlefield, this memoir will provide you a master class in how to succeed no matter how harrowing the situation may be
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| Title: Lead On – A Practical Approach to Leadership | Author: Rear Admiral Dave Oliver Jr USN |
| A warm yet specific book which cuts to the heart of leadership issues. Informal, even conversational in style, Lead On! is nevertheless a serious handbook from which aspiring leaders can learn how to achieve seemingly impossible goals. The book is replete with examples from the author’s experience and from the history of the nuclear navy, where the price of failure can be death.
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| Title: The Code of the Warrior | Author: Shannon E. French |
| Warrior cultures throughout history have developed unique codes that restrict their behaviour and set them apart from the rest of society. But what possible reason could a warrior have for accepting such restraints? Why should those whose profession can force them into hellish kill-or-be-killed conditions care about such lofty concepts as honour, courage, nobility, duty, and sacrifice? And why should it matter so much to the warriors themselves that they be something more than mere murderers? The Code of the Warrior tackles these timely issues and takes the reader on a tour of warrior cultures and their values, from the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ‘barbaric’ Vikings and Celts, from legendary chivalric knights to Native American tribesmen, from Chinese warrior monks pursuing enlightenment to Japanese samurai practicing death. Drawing these rich traditions up to the present, the author quests for a code for the warriors of today, as they do battle in asymmetric conflicts against unconventional forces and the scourge of global terrorism
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| Title: The Hunting of Man – A History of the Sniper | Author: Andy Douglas |
| A cultural and military history of the sniper since 1643, when the first shot was fired by a sniper during the battle for Litchfield in the English Civil War, to the present day, when the sniper has become the embodiment of contemporary military strategy and technology. Since Robert Greville, Lord Brooke, commander of the Parliamentarian forces, was struck in the eye by a marksman positioned on the spire of Litchfield cathedral, the story of the sniper has been one of the gradual empowerment of the individual soldier over the massed battalions. As military technology evolved to produce lighter, and quieter firearms that could strike with accuracy over longer and longer distances, so the role of the talented individual marksman has become more central to the outcome of military conflicts. Andy Dougan tells the story of the sniper as seen in the wars of Vietnam, the first and Second World Wars, the American Civil War, the Boer War and European conflicts and up to the present day when the sniper is not only a battlefield phenomenon but a terrorist in civilian society of almost phantom-like elusiveness.
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| Title: Behind the Colours – Where NCO Leadership Lives | Author: Scott C. Schroeder |
| A book about practical NCO leadership and the importance of presence—no doctrine, no philosophy, no war stories. Behind the Colours is based on the premise that NCOs should master specific skills at each level of Leadership. It includes practical stories of success and failure to highlight the importance of mastering these skills, which will carry an NCO through their career.
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| Title: Left of Bang | Author: Patrick VanHorne & Jason A. Riley |
| The book details a program that has been developed over the past decade or so for the Marine Corp to help them identify threats. Â Specifically, the program was developed to help Marines get “left of bang”, i.e. make better observations and decisions before shots are fired.
For anyone interested in going beyond the Cooper colour codes of situational awareness, the system laid out in Left of Bang answers the “how” question – how do you systematically asses your environment. Buy Here: |
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| Title: Team of Teams | Author: General Stanley McChrystal |
| This is a book about unlearning and unleashing.
In Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, General Stanley McChrystal (U.S. Army Retired) and his co-authors, Tantum Collins, David Silverman and Chris Fussell, argue that we must unlearn much of what we know about leadership and organizational structures. Only then can we unleash the power of new, resilient organisms that can adapt at the speed that’s required. Buy Here: |
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| Title: Gates of Fire | Author: Steven Pressfield |
| The book was written by the author to explore the Greek mythology surrounding Sparta and the legacy of their warriors who were extremely adept at fighting, Many of the principles hold true today. The book was also written to revisit the infamous battle that has been told in Greek mythology many times, that is the battle between the small Greek forces led by Spartans and the impending Persian army led by King Xerxes.
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| Title: The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL | Author: Eric Greitens |
| This book, by Greitens, a senior fellow at the University of Missouri and founder of the Mission Continues charity, confronts the same dilemma as the American military, which strives to be a strong deterrent against the evils of the world while protecting the sick and powerless. The concept of a mighty warrior with a good heart is not an original one, but the humanitarian soldier epiphany comes to an idealistic Greitens after stints in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Gaza, and Calcutta where he sees unspeakable carnage and suffering without end. He takes the words of philosopher John Stuart Mill as his credo: “The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature.” The rigors of his Navy SEAL training are intensely depicted, as are his deployments in Kenya, Afghanistan, and Iraq, with Greitens slowly evolving into a balanced man with equal parts of compassion and warrior spirit. A glorious tale of humanity, resolve, and strength, Greitens’s book reminds us of how many things we take for granted in our well-ordered lives
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| Title: Resilience, Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life | Author: Eric Greitens |
| You cannot bounce back from hardship. You can only move through it. There is a path through pain to wisdom, through suffering to strength, and through fear to courage if we have the virtue of resilience. In 2012, Eric Greitens unexpectedly heard from a former SEAL comrade, a brother-in-arms he hadn’t seen in a decade. Zach Walker had been one of the toughest of the tough. But ever since he returned home from war to his young family in a small logging town, he’d been struggling. Without a sense of purpose, plagued by PTSD, and masking his pain with heavy drinking, he needed help. Zach and Eric started writing and talking nearly every day, as Eric set down his thoughts on what it takes to build resilience in our lives.
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| Title: Marine! The Life of Chesty Puller | Author: Burke Davis |
| The biography of the US Marine Corps most decorated man. He was a great leader and those who he pulled aside and corrected would later claim that Puller inspired them to be better Marines. Puller believed in leadership by example. The senior men should always be last. Juniors were always first to the chow line, first to receive medical treatment and Puller was not shy in enforcing this to all those in his command. He was a rare officer that was respected and liked by all those who served under him. When the troops were sleeping in the mud, Puller was sleeping in the mud too. When the men marched, Puller marched with them rather than ride. Although serving under Puller was physically challenging, he believed that the harder his people trained the more effective they would be in combat and success in combat was the Marine Corps’ goal.
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| Title: A Tactical Ethic – Moral Conduct in the Insurgent Battlespace | Author: Dick Cough |
| The book is focused on the ethical challenges of ground combat forces fighting insurgents on today’s battlefields. Providing background on how the training institutions of the USMC, US Army, and Special Operations ground forces train and prepare their forces for these challenges and offers advice and perspective on what training methodologies seem to work best, and what is ineffective.
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| Title: Extreme Ownership How U.S Navy SEALS Lead & Win | Author: Jocko Willink & Leif Babin |
| Reading this book crystalized that leadership is a valuable quality in any arena. Heads of State, CEO’s, business owners, both large and small, department heads, coaches of teams, team captains, the list is limitless, all must have leadership qualities.
Navy SEALs, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, took their leadership skills to battle and have shared their stories and lessons. The book is a raw, reflective and vulnerable look at the skills needed to move forward, take responsibility, learn from losses and to recognize what went right. Buy Here: |
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| Title: The Jungle is Neutral | Author: F. Spencer Chapman |
| An account of one mans life living in the Malayan Jungle, for three years fighting the Japanese forces of WWII. During this time he trained Chinese Guerrillas, undertook the most arduous marches, capture and escaped twice.
He gives a soldiers detailed account of operations but also a naturalist’s minute observation of the jungle. How to live and fight in it. Buy Here: |
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| Title: Natural Born Heroes | Author: Christopher McDougall |
| One of the most daring, madcap episodes of the Second World War was the kidnapping by Patrick Leigh Fermor, dirty trickster supreme, and his band of British eccentrics and Cretan hard men, of the German general Heinrich Kreipe.
The Kreipe caper involved an insane trek across the murderous Cretan terrain, which by then should already have done for the motley crew of poets and classicists who had been tasked with detaining on the island German soldiers who would otherwise have been marching on Stalingrad. Had they failed, the progress of the war may have been very different, as Winston Churchill would later acknowledge. Few of the Special Operations Executive men who joined Leigh Fermor in the Mediterranean could be described as hero material, however: they tended to be, like him, romantic misfits, many of whom might not even have got into the regular army. They proceeded by brain-power and imagination, but on the rugged island of Crete they also needed to hack it physically. Buy Here: |
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In addition to books the following web sites offer informative articles for professional military development.
https://fromthegreennotebook.com/
http://companyleader.themilitaryleader.com/
https://thearmyleader.co.uk/category/snco-leadership/
https://thestrategybridge.org/
https://www.puzzle-palace.com/
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