I'm always in the market for good reading lists, and a few months ago I became aware that each of the branches of the US military puts out a reading list for its officers and enlisted. The updated reading list for the Army, recently by Army Chief of Staff General Schoomaker, is both fascinating and useful. The previous list was produced by General Shinseki in 2000. This Boston Globe article provides some interesting background.

I hadn't gone hunting for Schoomaker's list until I wanted to follow up to an important comment made by Irving in a discussion over at Tacitus. The topic was where operational decisions for Iraq are being taken. In explaining that decisions are being made in the field, not in Washington, Irving pointed out:

Military folks aren't single-minded, but strategic thinkers with quite a bit of extensive training. Plus they don't just read the papers while doing some other job, this is their job and they read voraciously and study continually day in and day out. It's the local commanders who are getting the immediate feedback and crafting the local stratgies. They aren't waiting for a think-tank on high to tell them that Najaf is different from Fallujah--they already know that.

It's unfortunate that too much of the civilian population works from monolithic stereotypes -- both left and right are guilty. At least in the part of the military with which I'm more familiar, the Army, there's a high value placed on continuing to educate the officer corps in a wide range of post-graduate fields at the best schools. Stellar academic credentials are valued by the organization and pointed to with pride. It's also a diverse crowd, with a wide range of interests, perspectives, and yes, even political opinions. The Army reading list is at least an indication of what sort of level of sophistication is expected of Army leaders at all levels.

The reading list is well worth exploring. Phil Carter at IntelDump gives a fuller assessment of the books on the lists as well as reads the tea leaves re the reasons for some of Schoomaker's changes. Carter is both engaging and very informative, as usual. He adds a few recommendations of his own.