Following on from my very well-received list of Top Five War Movies (if you did, in fact, read that, please let me know), I decided to list the five best war novels I have read. To be fair, I find I don’t read a lot of fiction anymore, so these are all from my past, but I still regularly revisit them, and they never disappoint.
 

1. 1. Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer. Fiction works best when it communicates a larger truth. Myrer’s epic tome demonstrates the conflict between duty and ambition, embodied by the protagonist, Sam Damon, and his antagonist, Courtney Massengale. To professional officers, those names carry connotations to this day.

    

   2. Something to Die For by James Webb. Fields of Fire is Webb’s more popular novel (and it too is excellent), but I like this one because he captures the political machinations that result in US forces being deployed as well as the challenges and actions of the troops once they get there. Webb had served as Secretary of the Navy in addition to his combat experience as a Marine Corps officer when he wrote this, so he captures both sides of conflict with equal authority.

    

   3. Iron Bravo by Carsten Stroud. This is somewhat obscure, but the author does a great job of showing the reader what being an infantry NCO between the two Iraq wars was like. Authenticity drips from every page.

    

   4. Sharkman Six by Owen West. This is a novel by a former Marine Force Recon platoon commander, and it does the best job I’ve ever seen of describing the challenges junior officers face when placed in positions of responsibility. I used to run a book club with my lieutenants when I was a battery commander and discussed the challenges West’s protagonist deals with. The one I used to emphasize is the need by twenty-something leaders “to be liked.”

    

   5. Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield. This book is about the battle of Thermopylae, more famously depicted in the movie The 300. Although I have never participated in hoplite combat, Pressfield does a remarkable job portraying it. It is all the more noteworthy when you consider that he has never served in the military himself. If you’re a soldier and you don’t come away from this book with, to paraphrase Rommel, the need to “go find something and kill it,” you’re probably in the wrong line of work.