I think what turned me off to it was that it was thrown at us as a must read two months before a BDE LPD, right in the middle of gunnery ops.
I tried my best as a Company CO, but only made it halfway. Then during the LPD, it was never brought up and the teach session was basically a celebration of how cool the BDE CO was.
I haven’t picked it back up since, though maybe I should.
You make an important note in terms of framing--easy to see why you might be resistant to reading a 1,300+ page book for an LPD. I probably would be, too.
Though it's completely anecdotal, none of the officers that I've spoken to over the years who outright refuse to read the book were assigned/force to read it.
Somewhat ironically, though I just wrote a whole 1,000 word blog post about how officers should read Once an Eagle, I have never (and probably would never) make a entire book the centerpiece of an LPD series. I love the voluntary book club-style discussions, but my experience is that the mandatory collective learning sessions seem to do better with a handful of shorter works or excerpts. I think it's hard to maintain enthusiasm on a single book over a longer period of time when the boss is making you read it.
Well said. I read Once an Eagle as a lieutenant and my perspective on it has changed as I’ve continued my career and talked about it with others.
The Army is a profession, an addiction, a network of family and friends, a grueling test and so much more. This book provides a frame of reference or lens for deeper discussion and argument. It’s one of many, but it’s among the deepest, hence us value for individual development by thoughtful colleagues.
I applaud you, sir, for identifying some of the officers who inspired Myrer to create his composites. There are more, but bravo. Myrer was himself a complex person who, sometimes I’m unsure if he knew what he believed himself. The war was incredibly disorienting to him. This comes out in the inner dialogue of many of Myrer’s characters in his other books — and if you don’t read them, there’s a lot you can miss in Once an Eagle. The Big War, Eagle, and the Last Convertible are integrated.
I put it off for years but am glad I finally read it. Faster read than I expected and worth the time…it’s a book to chew on and to think about it. What conclusions and insights we draw belong to us but it’s even better when we can discuss them with our cohorts and grow from them. The book shouldn’t be ignored.
Thanks for bringing this book up. It is interesting to me that it is still getting attention today among Army officers. I'm an old guy and remember when this book was first published. I was gifted a first edition, which remains mostly unread (one thing that put me off was the appearance of a really awful TV miniseries starring, of course, Sam Elliott as Sam Damon). As a company grade Infantry officer in the late 1970s - early 1980s I don't recall any of my peers reading it. However, we all referenced the "Damon vs Massengale" labels so it must have somehow penetrated our consciousness. I might now take it on now in my golden years but would alternatively recommend some other leadership works of fiction.
At the time I Josiah Bunting's "The Lionheads" was more relevant to me personally. The novel is a thinly fictional account of officers conducting riverine operations during the Vietnam war, which had just ended (luckily for me) as I commissioned. The profiles of the senior officers portrayed were all very visible to me in my first two infantry assignments. The Army did not like this book...
Although a Brit, Evelyn Waugh's "Sword of Honour" trilogy, spanning WW2, is a masterpiece of describing combat leadership, military bureaucracy, and it is also beautifully written.
I may be guilty as charged of "intellectual laziness" for not completely reading it during my 31 years of active duty. I think I got the gist of the novel. Hopefully the Army's junior officers are curiously exploring a wide military literature.
I think what turned me off to it was that it was thrown at us as a must read two months before a BDE LPD, right in the middle of gunnery ops.
I tried my best as a Company CO, but only made it halfway. Then during the LPD, it was never brought up and the teach session was basically a celebration of how cool the BDE CO was.
I haven’t picked it back up since, though maybe I should.
You make an important note in terms of framing--easy to see why you might be resistant to reading a 1,300+ page book for an LPD. I probably would be, too.
Though it's completely anecdotal, none of the officers that I've spoken to over the years who outright refuse to read the book were assigned/force to read it.
I am contemplating a book club for my LT’s to read the Caine Mutiny but my experience makes me pause lol
Good article thanks for posting
Theo Lipsky (https://substack.com/@theolipsky) is also a Caine Mutiny enthusiast.
Somewhat ironically, though I just wrote a whole 1,000 word blog post about how officers should read Once an Eagle, I have never (and probably would never) make a entire book the centerpiece of an LPD series. I love the voluntary book club-style discussions, but my experience is that the mandatory collective learning sessions seem to do better with a handful of shorter works or excerpts. I think it's hard to maintain enthusiasm on a single book over a longer period of time when the boss is making you read it.
If you pull it off, I'd love to hear about it!
Well said. I read Once an Eagle as a lieutenant and my perspective on it has changed as I’ve continued my career and talked about it with others.
The Army is a profession, an addiction, a network of family and friends, a grueling test and so much more. This book provides a frame of reference or lens for deeper discussion and argument. It’s one of many, but it’s among the deepest, hence us value for individual development by thoughtful colleagues.
Thanks, Gordon.
I applaud you, sir, for identifying some of the officers who inspired Myrer to create his composites. There are more, but bravo. Myrer was himself a complex person who, sometimes I’m unsure if he knew what he believed himself. The war was incredibly disorienting to him. This comes out in the inner dialogue of many of Myrer’s characters in his other books — and if you don’t read them, there’s a lot you can miss in Once an Eagle. The Big War, Eagle, and the Last Convertible are integrated.
I put it off for years but am glad I finally read it. Faster read than I expected and worth the time…it’s a book to chew on and to think about it. What conclusions and insights we draw belong to us but it’s even better when we can discuss them with our cohorts and grow from them. The book shouldn’t be ignored.
Thank you for this column! Not only is this required reading, but one of the few books that must be re-read over the years.
Thanks for bringing this book up. It is interesting to me that it is still getting attention today among Army officers. I'm an old guy and remember when this book was first published. I was gifted a first edition, which remains mostly unread (one thing that put me off was the appearance of a really awful TV miniseries starring, of course, Sam Elliott as Sam Damon). As a company grade Infantry officer in the late 1970s - early 1980s I don't recall any of my peers reading it. However, we all referenced the "Damon vs Massengale" labels so it must have somehow penetrated our consciousness. I might now take it on now in my golden years but would alternatively recommend some other leadership works of fiction.
At the time I Josiah Bunting's "The Lionheads" was more relevant to me personally. The novel is a thinly fictional account of officers conducting riverine operations during the Vietnam war, which had just ended (luckily for me) as I commissioned. The profiles of the senior officers portrayed were all very visible to me in my first two infantry assignments. The Army did not like this book...
Although a Brit, Evelyn Waugh's "Sword of Honour" trilogy, spanning WW2, is a masterpiece of describing combat leadership, military bureaucracy, and it is also beautifully written.
I may be guilty as charged of "intellectual laziness" for not completely reading it during my 31 years of active duty. I think I got the gist of the novel. Hopefully the Army's junior officers are curiously exploring a wide military literature.
It is a great read if you can look at things objectively. Every leader will have good and bad traits and the book allows us to see that.