When I was a boot lieutenant, Fields of Fire by James Webb was considered one of the quintessential books for new officers to read but I had heard it was out of print and I didn’t look for it. I remember discussing it briefly with my friend Matt, a Marine tanker and insatiable reader. He had praised it but with a condition, if I recall correctly. In Marines’ terms, it wasn’t moto- slang for motivating or inspiring. It was real, he said, and dark.

James Webb, once a Marine officer (decorated Vietnam Vet), Secretary of the Navy, counsel to Congress, novelist, and screenwriter, is now best known as the freshman democratic senator from Virginia. I finally got around to reading the book last month and I wish I had read it back when I’d first heard about it.

Webb wrote Fields of Fire in 1978 and it’s as relevant as ever today. An historical fiction about a platoon of Marines in the An Hoa valley during 1969, the novel is well crafted, completely authentic, and built on page after page of lean narration and sumptuous dialogue. The book makes you believe the unbelievable- the mysterious, the magical- the incomprehensible events of war. In some ways it’s a reportage that integrates a fairy tale.

Indeed there are countless lessons for young officers (as I was promised) but there are broader insights about war and the warrior class in America that are still timely even after the implementation of the all-volunteer force- from commentary about who’s fighting our wars to why they fight them and how that experience separates them from regular Americans. The book masterfully balances a discussion of what draws young Americans to serve and fight, and how they reconcile war’s meaning.