Customer Reviews

Duty First: West Point and the Making of American Leaders

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Really didn't grab me. The author takes us on a whirlwind tour of West Point, but I was never really captivated. Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't recommend this book

While vacationing in Florida this past March, I walked into a book store and came face to face with this book. It caught my attention because it was referencing the year my brother was supposed to graduate from West Point. Mr. Ruggero felt comfortable writing about my brother's death. He felt comfortable enough to describe my brother as a "thrill seeker". He felt comfortable enough about this issue to put it into print for the entire nation to read without every letting anyone in Eric's family know.

While Mr.Ruggero's book was very informative he seems to have left some important information out. He didn't write about Eric's trip to the Dominican Republic to do volunteer work. He didn't write about how Eric said goodnight to every cadet in his room before he fell asleep. He didn't write about how Eric wanted to become a doctor to help people in underprivleged areas get adequate health care. He didn't write about the brothers, sisters, and friends that were so proud of Eric's accolmplishments it made them try harder to be better people. He didn't write alot.

No one knows why Eric jumped off that bridge. No one can fathum how he didn't consider that he might die. But did they ever think that becoming a officer that was trained at West Point carried alot of responsibility? Did they ever think that in times of war people really do die-it's not like the exercises at West Point? Did Mr. Ruggero know that Eric would never ask anyone to do something that he wasn't willing to do himself?

I'm sorry I forgot, There were a few nice things said about Eric. That did seem to raise the drama factor when Mr.Ruggero wrote about his death. Next book- keep our family in mind. Eric has a younger brother who just joined the Air Force. I'm sure we can work something out.

Sincerely,

Amy Roderick

The book is well written/edited, probably a tribute to our West Point education. But unfortunately, like too many other fellow West Pointers, the author was grasping at straws to come up with what resulted in a conspicuously unnecessary, unimportant book to make money off the backs of our alma mater, cadets, and college applicants. It is 10% substance that has been stretched into book length using 90% boring minutia that would discourage any applicant from considering attending West Point. And it all is immediately becoming obsolete as West Point continually evolves and improves. Good effort, bad, bad idea.

The structure of this book was absolutely awful. The content even worse. This book has no storyline and jumps around from "heavy" army discussion to daily West Point tripe. The photos look like they were taken by a 1st grader. In summary, this book offers nothing of value.

Really didn't grab me. The author takes us on a whirlwind tour of West Point, but I was never really cartivated. Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't recommend this book.

Every school seems to need this kind of book - so the "Makers of Leaders" story gets a bit tiresome even if there are good reasons to study USMA. But better look elsewhere.

One of the central characters of this book is MAJ Rob Olson. He is the TAC officer for the company that Mr. Roggero follows through a year at West Point. After the events of this book, MAJ Olson was promoted early, went to the Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. He then went to Hawaii to serve with the 25th Infantry Division (Light).

I worked for MAJ Olson when he assumed duties as the Operations Officer at 2-11 Field Artillery, 25 ID(L), Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. About two months after he assumed this duty position, he was killed in a tragic helicopter accident which also killed six others and wounded scores more.

He had told me about this book, in passing, soon before his death and, after his death, I got and read the book. It is a wonderful tribute to him and his leadership style. He believed in empowering his subordinates and letting leaders grow by doing. I think it is great that his children, when they are older, will be able to read this book and see what a great officer their father was.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what a leader really is.

Books about leadership are big sellers today, from the 'leadership secrets' of some historical figure to the experiences and opinions of industry bigwigs. In most cases, these books seem to have the common approach of taking questionable insights and reducing them to trite slogans.

This book isn't like that. As an in-depth view of 'America's premier leadership school' (if it does say so itself), this book not only contains valuable lessons on leadership, but is also probably the best and most comprehensive book I've ever read on any of the federal service academies -- and I've read a few.

When the Army prepared to write a report on how leaders are developed at the US Military Academy (aka West Point), they discovered that, in fact, there wasn't any formal training doctrine at all. The lessons of leadership, and the means of transmitting them, had developed informally over time.

As a result, West Point cadets are not spoon-fed maxims and 'principles.' Instead, they're put in positions where they can draw conclusions and learn lessons via their own experiences. Ed Ruggero follows the same course: In telling us the stories of a handful of cadets during their journey through the Academy, he doesn't bludgeon us with 'The point of that was...' We learn as the cadets do -- and if we, or they, don't pick up some insights about leadership from this, maybe we, like they, aren't paying close enough attention.

As I said, this book isn't just about leadership. It's also an extremely good guide to the life of a cadet at the USMA.

Having recently read a book about The Citadel ('In Glory's Shadow' by Catherine Manegold), I was struck -- and hard -- by the vast difference between that school's 'adversarial' approach to cadet training, and West Point's team-based, but still rigorous, method. Of course, West Point used to be 'adversarial' too. But, as Ruggero explains, that approach has been abandoned, in part because it was judged a failure in preparing cadets for the 'real world' of commanding soldiers in the field. This book doesn't settle the Old Way Versus New Way debate by any means, but is a strong argument in favor of a training regime based on a desire to succeed, instead of fear of failure and (what some would call) abuse.

I would strongly encourage any young person interested in attending a service academy, or any parent of a current or prospective cadet, to buy this book and read it closely. MBA students and business leaders looking for leadership lessons from a school that has been training leaders for two centuries will find a lot to profit from too.

The Author has done a magnificent job of what it is like to be a cadet at the modern US Military Academy. From Cadet Basic Training to Graduation, the reader gets to understand how West Points turns mainly teenagers into Army Officers. The author also profiles the Officers stationed at the Academy and their many different opinions on what it takes to make a leader in the American Army. I also enjoyed the highs and lows of the cadets as they struggled with their new lives and the problems of cadets who are not much older training them.

All in all, the best book on West Point since "the Long Gray Line" and essential for anyone interested in how the US military is run.

Ed Ruggero's book "Duty First" is a very useful contribution to the ongoing debate about leadership: what works and what doesn't. The books reads well as a narrative as well as a primer on real-life leadership in perhaps the country's best-known "factory" for producing leaders.

And it is not only for the military - as an executive in civilian business, questions of leadership methods and practices arise every day, and I found the book very relevant to my own everyday management issues.

The book also works well for those interested in a current "behind the scenes" view of West Point. It's a fascinating place and Ruggero knows it well and describes it well.