From interview at http://grogheads.com/interviews/15577
- Any of John McManus’s books! – For example he covers the general experience of war for the soldier in Grunts: Inside the American Infantry Combat Experience, World War II Through Iraq. Also The Dead and Those About to Die which gives the gritty details of leadership on the Omaha beach at Normandy. Truth is stranger than fiction. Finally, American Courage, American Carnage which is our bible for the Cottonbalers’s journey.
- Band of Brothers (HBO) –for their tone of respect, narrative quality, and desire for authenticity.
- This War of Mine (game) – for treating war as a psychological experience not just a shooter.
- Closing with the Enemy – for the battlefield tactics the US army learned the hard way in WWII
- What It is Like to Go to War – war as a spiritual journey not simply bad nor simply good. But self defining.
- Rommel’s Infantry Attacks – he was a small unit [commander] in WWI. You learn a lot about tactical command.
- We Were Soldiers Once…and Young – movie and book. Great at conveying the chaos of war.
- There are a lot more classics like Company Commander, and If You Survive which get across small company command in WW2 for the US