Steven Pressfield's THE WARRIOR ETHOS: One Marine Officer's Critique & Counterpoint [Kindle Edition]

Edward Carpenter

Edward Carpenter (Author)

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Book Description

STEVEN PRESSFIELD IS WRONG - not everyone is a warrior. But those of us who are can indeed benefit from developing a strong Warrior Ethos; one that acknowledges diversity and is based on solid principles of firmness, fairness, and dignity towards our fellow warriors - and our adversaries. 

Written by a Marine officer, this alternative Warrior Ethos is intended primarily for men and women in uniform, but its core principles can be applied by leaders from all walks of life, and anyone who wants to develop in themselves the qualities of Experience, Empathy, Example, Education, and Empowerment. 

This book calls upon historical wisdom of Herodotus, Plutarch and Thucydides along with the modern observations of John Keegan, Michael Ignatieff, Lieutenant General Victor "Brute" Krulak, and others to debunk the misogynistic and backwards-looking nature of Pressfield's 2011 book, and to provide a better moral compass than the honor-bound, shame-based relic of dead cultures that he has offered up as a template for our young women and men in uniform.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Edward Carpenter's The Warrior Ethos: One Marine Officer's Critique & Counterpoint not only quickly demolishes Pressfield's sloppy, silly tome--it succeeds in neatly proposing a definition of a warrior that's far wiser than Pressfield's."

- War Is Boring

"I highly recommend Major Carpenter's book as both a needed critique of The Warrior Ethos, but also as a look into how professional military officers have been trained to see the profession of arms." 

- Battles & Book Reviews

From the Back Cover

WARS CHANGE... WARRIORS MUST EVOLVE AS WELL... Not everyone is a warrior, but those of us who are must embrace a new Warrior Ethos, one that is distinct from earlier and contemporary codes that equate honor with vengeance and stoicism, and seek to instill it through shame and the use of gender-based insults. Today's warriors need a modern Warrior Ethos that acknowledges diversity and is based on solid principles of firmness, fairness, and dignity towards our fellow warriors, and our adversaries.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 560 KB
• Print Length: 82 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Umbrella Books; First edition (June 21, 2014)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00L774AG0
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray:
  Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #534,991 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Short book should have been shorter... September 15, 2014

By fluwoebers

Format:Kindle Edition

"not everyone is a warrior. But those of us who are..."
From the first line in the book's description, the book goes awry and it only goes downhill from there. Carpenter is not a "warrior" by any common understanding of the term; he's an aviation logistics support pougue. He's never been in a unit for which "warrior ethos" has any relevance.
Equally damning, this self styled "warrior" never been in combat. Despite the fact that our nation has continuously been at war for over 13 years, he's managed to never find himself in harm's way. It typically takes special effort to achieve such a safe military career. You would be hard pressed to find a less qualified author on the topic.
He uses almost every logical fallacy available to critique Pressfield and then recycles the same worn-out, PC cliches to guide us toward a more enlightened view.
I do give him credit though for cleverly featuring Pressfield's name more prominently than his own on the cover. Great way to sell books!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars That a Marine Corps Major has written this crap is truly alarming September 19, 2014

By Herpules

Format:Kindle Edition

I'd be willing to be that your understanding of the phrase "The Suck" is very different from the generally accepted average Jarhead's definition. Kudos to you, though, for having the stones to write about (and get paid for) something that your own official bio says you are more than clueless about.

I must also thank you for showing the current (other than GO) watermark for how high up the chain of command the cancer has risen. That a Marine Corps Major has written this crap is truly alarming.

I have no doubt that Hillary Clinton and or Elizabeth Warren are now eyeballing you for at least ACMC.

You should be professionally embarrassed by this bit of writing, but somehow I don't think you are. Forward, Comrade!

6 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Achieves it goals admirably July 11, 2014

By Patrick J. Shrier

Format:Kindle Edition

Steven Pressfield's "The Warrior Ethos": One Marine Officer's Critique and Counterpoint by Edward Carpenter is not very large at only 124 pages. That is mainly because it does not require a lot of space to destroy what are the patently absurd ideas contained within Pressfield’s book. Edward Carpenter is a currently serving Marine Major and as he states in the foreword of his book, he felt compelled to write a critique after reading it. MAJ Carpenter divides his book into two parts; part I is the critique of Pressfield and part II is his counter-proposal for what a Warrior Ethos should consist of.
In part I he takes Pressfield’s assertions about warriors and warrior-hood and does an outstanding job of debunking them one by one often using text from Pressfield’s own book to do so. I don’t think I have seen a better job of hoisting someone on their own petard in good long while.
Part II is the answer part to Pressfield’s assertions. It essentially goes through Pressfield’s book point by point and offers a countervailing view of what a warrior is and what a warrior ethos should contain. This part is likewise well written but I have personally have many issues with the points he makes. That is probably due to my background as a combat arms soldier with combat under my belt and 23 years of experience.
If I have any issues with part II it is because from my perspective it is written from the PC point of view enforced by the modern military. He likes to toss out the overused and now essentially meaningless adjective of something or someone being misogynistic. That is a sop to the modern military fetish for ignoring the differences between men and women and heaping derision on those that point out such differences. There are observable and quantifiable differences between men and women and they cannot be put into the same box. That is not to say that men and women cannot be part of the same team, just that men and women largely cannot do all of the same things. Men and women complement each other, but do not replace each other. The modern military ignores this aspect at their peril.
I also enjoy the traditional disdain of the line soldier for support troops. I acknowledge that without the clerks and jerks in the rear I would not have been able to engage in my passion for blowing things up and breaking stuff. However, there is are attitude, mental, and motivational differences between somebody sitting in an ambush position waiting for the enemy and the guy running a fuel point on a secure FOB. I don’t think you can truthfully say that everyone wearing a uniform in the modern military is a warrior. That is just as much new age garbage as Pressfield’s ostensible claim that the only warrior is some bloodthirsty brute with veins in their teeth looking to kill. I don’t buy the notion that “fobbit” and guys going out the gate on a daily basis are equivalent. I disagree with Carpenters definition of a warrior as “a person who willing to subordinate themselves to the demands of a country or a cause, and is willing to aid other members of their organization to engage in violence, and to kill or die or risk severe injury themselves to advance the interest of that cause.” That broad definition includes terrorists but I don’t have a problem with that. I have a problem that that definition equates the clerk working in the finance office with the spear thrower on the firing line. I would submit that the two activities are categorically different and the warrior is in fact the person on the line engaging in combat in the effort to “close with and destroy the enemy through the use of fire, maneuver, and shock effect” as my last Cavalry squadron’s mission statement put it.
He goes on in this vein through the rest of pat ii attempting to craft a definition of warrior that is all-encompassing and therefore allows every person wearing a uniform in the modern military to style themselves a warrior. I understand the logic behind the effort having seen it at work during my last decade of service, I just disagree with it. A freedom I have now that I am retired and no longer required to toe the party line in my words and actions.
I find that MAJ Carpenter’s book is well worth reading, especially his counterpoint, which gives some perspective on the way modern US military leadership is expected to think and the mental hoops they have to jump through to do so. As I state above, I understand the necessity for support troops. Some support troops have inherently dangerous jobs such as EOD teams, fuel handlers, ammo handlers, and truck driver’s. That those jobs are inherently dangerous does not the people performing those jobs warriors though. A fuel line I not actively trying to kill you. That is why I firmly believe that the warrior is still and will always be the front line combat arms soldier.
I highly recommend MAJ carpenters book as both a needed critique of The Warrior Ethos, but also as a look into how professional military officers have been trained to see the profession of arms. In order to fully understand the work though, you need to read Pressfield’s book first. The greater hope is that MAJ Carpenters erudite destruction of Pressfield’s garbage will cause the powers that be to rethink including Pressfield’s book on the professional reading list and will prompt its removal. Read more ›