Published by: The Marine Corps Association, Quantico, VA, 1999, 2004
...to order, call toll-free: 1-888-237-7683
or write to: MCA Bookservice, Box 1775 Quantico, VA, 22134
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All of McKeldin's profit goes to the private, non-profit charity,
The Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society

"The Horse Speaks"
Review of "FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH: Selected Thoughts on Small-Unit Leadership"
(851 word review)
Reviewed by Capt. Robert S. Peterson, USMC
"Marine Corps Gazette" December, 2000

It has long been recognized that most doctrine, techniques, tactics,
and procedures are written in sterile offices by men in starched uniforms
who go home at the end of the day. Seldom do we consider that these documents
and lessons learned are determined from past battles, commanders who have led
those battles, and soldiers or Marines who have fought those battles.
Seldom do students of the art of war have an opportunity to listen to
the veterans of those battles. When that time arrives and those veterans speak,
we should take the time to listen.

Imagine the perfect classroom, roaring fire, flowing beverages.
A group of warriors are sitting on the edges of their very comfortable chairs,
"leaning into" the knowledge and wisdom of their battle-hardened instructor.
Perhaps we would find this classroom in a university of warriors using
combat veterans as instructors, veterans of any and all conflicts,
and veterans with experience leading men into the face of battle
against some unknown enemy. Perhaps we would call these instructors
"Greybeards," and our classroom the "University of Greybeards,"
and we would call the time spent around the fire "A Preparation for Leading Warriors."
"From the Horse's Mouth", by Maj Ted McKeldin, would be the primer for just such a
class -- a beginner's book on the expectations of the warriors who have been to battle,
returned home, and taken the time to remember and pass on what they have learned.
These warriors reflect in order to prepare us -- the present-day warriors --
for what battles may come.

Maj McKeldin's book is divided into three sections:
"Wisdom from Every Clime and Place";
"Wisdom from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam";
and "Wisdom-Eight Unique Perspectives".
Each chapter in these sections is either the subject of personal interviews with
former small unit leaders, or is the reprinted version of past interviews or articles.
The men represented within these pages are all veterans of conflict from
the rank of corporal through general.

None of these "most important lessons I've learned" is earth-shattering
or keys-to-always-winning, but all of these lessons are reinforced by the terror
and tension of an opposed landing in the Pacific, by rounds in Korea or Vietnam,
or by modern-day battles in Beirut, Iraq, and Somalia. It is the battle,
the cost, the struggle to win, the mistakes made that allows us to transform
what has sometimes become a cliche into the battlefield common sense that today's
small unit leaders must possess.

"From the Horse's Mouth" serves as an incredible desktop reference of
battlefield leadership, written in the style of men speaking around a bonfire,
old leaders to young leaders who say, "listen and learn and don't make these mistakes."
Men like Col John Ripley, who summarized 20 pages of pounding common sense and
stories of battles hard fought: "Resolve that you and your Marines will be standing
when no one else is." The middle section of the book, "Wisdom from World War II,
Korea, and Vietnam," includes the U.S. War Department pamphlet dated 1943 about
fighting on Guadalcanal. This pamphlet contains "lessons learned"
from noncommissioned, junior, and high-ranking officers of the 1st Marine Division.
The 5th Marines commander, Col Merritt A. Edson;
1st Battalion, 7th Marines commanding officer, LtCol Lewis B. Puller;
and others that served in their units teach us lessons from over 50 years ago
that readily apply to right now and the future. These legends of our Corps
reach out from well-earned rests to show the modern-day fighter how to
look at an enemy, see how he fights, find what the unit is doing right and wrong,
and identify a way to win.

Maj McKeldin is not biased in the selection of his contributors.
The importance of a corporal's view is as significant as that of a general.
Col David Hackworth's "Notes from Vietnam" is just as relevant as the submission
from Joseph Thompson, Jr., a combat engineer with the 101st Airborne in World War II,
whose concern centers on the traits of "the best leaders in combat."

The historical lessons gleaned from this book are relevant to the battles
we will fight today and are summarized by SgtMaj Ray Gregg who served from 1962-82.
He writes, "We have a great tendency to either fight and win or to be a 'nice guy'
to everyone. The American tendency to be a 'nice guy' still haunts us."
Repeatedly, the contributors find from 10 to 100 different ways to say train hard
and then harder, train realistically, and always accomplish the mission --
that is what Marines do.

In the introduction, former Commandant of the Marine Corps
Gen Charles C. Krulak states:
There is an abundance of learning here for a student of the art of war.
But some readers, particularly the veterans, will read this book and simply remember.
They will hear again the echoes of battle and the shouts and screams of men locked
in a death struggle. "From the Horse's Mouth" captures the smoke and the noise of the
battlefield and the kind of leadership required to accomplish any mission on that
battlefield and protect the lives of American fighting men who must succeed.


Capt Peterson served with the 3d Bn, 8th Mar from 1994-97
and is currently an instructor at The Basic School,
Marine Corps Combat Development Command,
Quantico, Virginia.

...to order, call toll-free: 1-888-237-7683
All of McKeldin's profit goes to the private, non-profit charity,
The Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society