What are the best books to read before attending Army OCS?

PO3 Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 03 Jun 2018 21:14:20 -0400

Looking for the best books to read before ARMY OCS. Interested to hear what everyone thinks. (Doesn't have to be OCS related.. Leadership etc..)

Response by SPC Joseph Wojcik made Jun 3 at 2018 9:36 PM

SPC Joseph Wojcik — Sun, 03 Jun 2018 21:36:11 -0400

Slaughterhouse-Five.

You didn't specify whether they had to be OCS related.

Response by 2LT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 4 at 2018 1:00 AM

2LT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 01:00:40 -0400

What will help you out tremendously at OCS is reading FM 3.21.8 Infantry Platoon and Squad Tactics and the OCS SOP which you can find on the US Army MCOE site. Learn those two things and you will be in great shape. You will be light years ahead of other students you are competing with. Also, skim over all of America's conflicts. Notice I said skim. When you get to history Doc Campbell has a very unique way of teaching it so keep an open mind. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. I just left the course 2 weeks ago.

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 2:42 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 02:42:52 -0400

http://www.ocsfoumdation.org

You'll fine this useful, of doesn't have everything, however, it does have a good deal....

www.ocsfoumdation.org

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 2:43 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 02:43:48 -0400

Get the autobiography of Gen Colin Powell, you'd find it most instructive, esp about how he got his masters, and became a White House Fellow, trust !e, get it, OK?

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:09 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:09:14 -0400

Your question is quite astutemamd perceptive, as well as forward thinking, however, to answer you properly, and optimally, more info is needed, OK?

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:09 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:09:35 -0400

Thismtanlet conks out a lot, so I'll he typing mult short answers, OK?

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:10 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:10:16 -0400

Elaborate considerably....associates? Bachelors? Major or majors? GPA? Grades?

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:10 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:10:53 -0400

Ambitions? Objectives? Must you go Navy? Are you already committed to Navy? I saw AOCS, I'm assuming flight....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:11 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:11:20 -0400

Have you looked at other svcs? Could you? Would you care to consider others?

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:11 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:11:43 -0400

USCG OCS with aviation after that?

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:13 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:13:00 -0400

NOAA Commissioned Corps? Their OCS is called BOTC, it's at USMMA Kings Point on LI in NY, I walked through there once, my next younger brother was USMMA, I commissioned Jim, the BOTC is a tenant organization there....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:19 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:19:18 -0400

Look up NOAA Corps marine and aviation operations, I think they have a 5-yr term if you're flight trained, plus they must have a STEM bachelors, I'm unsure what majors would suffice....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:29 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:29:02 -0400

Sorry, I missed you'd said Army, I only caught the AOCS, I thoght you'd meant aviation....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:29 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:29:57 -0400

There are also numerous YouYibe videos on all OCS programs, by students as well as the svcs....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:31 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:31:01 -0400

Look up the officer guides by Stackpole Books, I read the one for USAF while at USAF OTS, I'd switched from Army ROTC....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:32 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:32:55 -0400

Elaborate as to hobbies, reading interests, technical, literary, also sports, incl any martial arts...look esp at aikiod and iaido, I think you'd find them to your tastes, maybe also judo and jujitsu, I prefer the first two....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:34 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:34:06 -0400

Get the Encyclopedia Great Books series, read the first called The great Conversation, on the growth of Western thought, trust me....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:34 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:34:40 -0400

Sorry Encyclopedia Britannica I'd left that out....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:36 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:36:10 -0400

Also, what major are you on your bachelor's? Grades? GPA? You're gonna need to start a masters even of only part time from day one after you'd be commissioned, expect it, also PME from all svcs, not just your own, I assure you....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:37 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:37:53 -0400

Look up USAF AFIT, and USN Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), all senior enlisted, as well as all warrant and commissioned of any grade can apply, even from other svcs, also civil servants and contractors, though you'd likely need to have to wait a cpl of tours to be taken seriously...

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:47 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:47:28 -0400

Also, any flight interests? I may not have sent this, which branch or range of branches?

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:48 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:48:26 -0400

Have you considered Army WOCS, as an alternate, as only high school is needed, at minimum, as an alternate to a regular

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:50 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:50:03 -0400

Also, have you considered Army direct commission cyber, USCH direct commission engineer? USPHS Commissiomed Cross as an engineer? Other OIS indpc program!s, like NOAA BOTC, apart from OCS type program!s?

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:52 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:52:31 -0400

As to literature, classics are always good to start for mil history, Thucydides history of the Peloponnesian War, Caesar's Pumoc War, Clausewitz On War, Nicolo amachiavelli, then later !material, incl biography and autobiography, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, also get Nimitz by E N Potter...also a book on pre WW1 called The Rpod Tower....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 3:58 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 03:58:52 -0400

Sorry, The Proud Tower....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:03 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:03:21 -0400

Then, the complete works of Churchill his post WW2 collection, William Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, and The Nightmare Years, all the works of Sir Hugh Trevor Roper of the UK, the British mil historian..get Al's The Bridge at Remagen, by a former or possibly late US Congressman Ken Hechler, he may Stoll be alive I'm unsure, superb book...all the volumes of Stephen Ambrose...the PBS Ken Burns Civill War TV series on video....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:05 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:05:38 -0400

I can suggest more ifmyoud want, elaborate as I'd said, if you want more, just ask, OK? Also Gorshkov from the Cold War, the Soviet Admiral, and all the biographical stuff on Adm Hyman Rickover you can get...he autobio of Gen Schwarzkopf It Doesn't Take a Hero is also quite good of course....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:07 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:07:05 -0400

Oh, also, the complete works of Alfred Thayer Mahan of Naval War College 19th century....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:07 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:07:20 -0400

http://www.ausa.org

Get this....

Association of the United States Army

Voice for the Army – Support for the Soldier

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:07 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:07:42 -0400

http://www.usni.org

This should be reqd reading all svcs....

U.S. Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:08 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:08:03 -0400

http://www.afa.org

And this....

Home - Air Force Association

The site home page

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:08 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:08:22 -0400

http://www.afcea.org

Look at this....

www.afcea.org

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:08 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:08:38 -0400

http://www.aoc.org

And this....

Home

Helping people living with or at risk for HIV to Live With Dignity & Respect Get Tested

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:09 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:09:33 -0400

http://www.mors.org

This is also quite good, ops research is often neglected, integral to wargaming....

Military Operations Research Society

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:10 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:10:28 -0400

http://www.ieee.org

Look at their transactions on aerospace and electronic systems....

IEEE - The world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology...

Now is a perfect time to give the gift of IEEE membership, a great graduation gift idea and way to share in the experience of IEEE.

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:10 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:10:51 -0400

http://www.acm.org

Also very necessary.

Association for Computing Machinery

ACM, the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, delivers resources that advance computing as a science and a profession. ACM provides the computing field's premier Digital Library and serves its members and the computing profession with leading-edge publications, conferences, and career resources.

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:11 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:11:08 -0400

http://www.same.org

This too....

www.same.org

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:11 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:11:33 -0400

http://www.roa.org

And this....

www.roa.org

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:11 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:11:56 -0400

http://www.moaa.org

And them....

www.moaa.org

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:12 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:12:22 -0400

http://www.arxiv.org

Learn to use that...

arXiv.org e-Print archive

Open access to 1,377,332 e-prints in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative Finance, Statistics, Electrical Engineering and Systems Science, and Economics

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:13 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:13:06 -0400

http://www.vixra.prg

And that....

www.vixra.prg

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:13 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:13:39 -0400

http://www.vixra.org

Sorry, typo....

viXra.org open e-Print archive

ViXra.org is an e-print archive set up as an alternative to the popular arXiv.org service owned by Cornell University. It has been founded by scientists who find they are unable to submit their articles to arXiv.org because of Cornell University's policy of endorsements and moderation designed to filter out e-prints that they consider inappropriate. ViXra is an open repository for new scientific articles. It does not endorse e-prints accepted...

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:13 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:13:59 -0400

http://www.researchgate.net

And this....

ResearchGate | Share and discover research

Find 100+ million publication pages, 15+ million researchers, and 700k+ projects. ResearchGate is where you discover scientific knowledge and share your work.

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:14 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:14:32 -0400

http://www.aiaa.org

This is quite good....

www.aiaa.org

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:15 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:15:14 -0400

http://www.asme.org

And them....

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers

ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) promotes the art, science & practice of multidisciplinary engineering around the globe.

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:17 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:17:33 -0400

http://www.nape.org

This also, of you're engrg, a PE license is a very good credential to have, I assure yoacceptable....u, or in Amy STEM field that might be acceptable, e.g., comp sci (CS), maybe IT....

www.nape.org

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 4:18 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 04:18:16 -0400

I'll wait now, digest all that, I'd be most eager gormyour thoughts, hope was of at least some use, enjoy....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jun 4 at 2018 6:13 AM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 06:13:57 -0400

Also, Reminiscences by Douglas MacArthur, the autobiography of Edward Rickenbacker, and American Caesar and The Arms of Krupp bymWilliam Manchester on MacArthur, as well as the German Krupp dynasty through WW2....

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 4 at 2018 6:48 AM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 06:48:01 -0400

OCS is not a grad school level course. You should be more concerned about leadership at the tactical level. Concentrate on what LT Tolliver said plus FM 5-0 (Operations Process). Also memorize your required OCS knowledge. You should read the above over and over again and use the rest of your time to workout/run. You will be quizzed and tested on tactics and operations. You will also be tested on land navigation (make sure you know how to use a map and MGRS) and lots of physical stuff (running and road marching). The other books are great but a waste of time in prep for ocs...

Response by 2LT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 9 at 2018 12:41 PM

2LT Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 12:41:32 -0400

The Ranger handbook is your best friend. Trust me!

Response by LTC Charles T Dalbec made Dec 24 at 2018 8:05 AM

LTC Charles T Dalbec — Mon, 24 Dec 2018 08:05:52 -0500

I would recommend you google the topic and then go to the various DA publications and regulations and become familiar with what you read.

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 20 at 2020 9:24 PM

1LT Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 20 Jun 2020 21:24:35 -0400

Book-reading doesn't really apply to actual OCS prep, other than the FM as 2LT Private RallyPoint Member mentioned. Training your body and your basic soldier skills is more appropriate to the success of the actual course.

But for general preparedness as an officer I recommend: Dereliction of Duty, Black Hearts, The Three Meter Zone, About Face, Tribe, and The American Military Tradition.