Written by MTI Athlete Joe Hampton
Once an Eagle is a novel of epic proportions that is on almost every military leadership development reading list. However, despite the ubiquity of the book and its common recognition as a pillar novel for leadership development, few people have actually taken the time to read it cover to cover. For many, the 1300 pages is too intimidating to face. This is a mistake, and for people that deploy, it makes the top of my list for must-reads on deployment. Rather than catching up on every season of The Office for the tenth time, grab yourself a copy and get after it.
Once an Eagle was written by Anton Myrer who served in World War II as an enlisted Marine, and he later graduated from Harvard. With this resume, he is previous generation’s Karl Marlantes—famed military novelist and writer of the epic Matterhorn. As a person of clear intellect but with the experience and perspectives of an enlisted Marine, Myrer is in the perfect position to tell the story of the two dichotomies in military leadership.
I often say that the military is home to the most fantastic people you will ever meet—for their courage, selflessness, humor, and grit—but it is also home to the absolute scum of the earth—government leaches who are cowards, selfish bureaucrats. Once an Eagle tells this story through the characters of Sam Damon and Courtney Massengale over the course of World War I, the interwar period, World War II, and Vietnam.
Sam Damon at the outset is an idealistic boy with endless potential who enlists in the army, and eventually who earns a battlefield commission and medal of honor for his heroism in World War I. Over the course of the novel he exemplifies honor, character, integrity, and demonstrates both enormous moral and physical courage. We follow his career during the interwar period where he is demoted due to a downsizing of the military and spends over a decade as a lieutenant dedicated to serving his platoon. During World War II, he fights in the Pacific campaign, and his greatness is recognized and rewarded with rapid promotions. He does not perform these heroics for recognition but because it is right and good. Throughout the book, he has several quips that are worth living by. Most notably, he says sums up life:
“That’s the whole challenge of life – to act with honor and hope and generosity, no matter what you’ve drawn. You can’t help when or what you were born, you may not be able to help how you die; but you can – and you should – try to pass the days between as a good man.”
Sam Damon is the ultimate soldier, yet throughout the book, women and others reference his “sad eyes.” Because he bears the burden of leading men into combat, knowing they will suffer under his direction. It is partially this human response to such great weight that also makes Damon so admirable. He does not take his role lightly, and he prays to not fail his men.
Meanwhile, concurrently, we follow Courtney Massengale. He is everything that Damon is not. He aspires to be a general and to be the Secretary of the Army. He carefully selects positions to enhance his career, and he seems to desire influence for the sole purpose of having influence. He shies away from combat, and he seeks staff positions. Massengale, like many of the men and women he represents, is not a terrible person. He is the human you would expect to thrive in a bureaucracy–competent enough, sycophantic, lacking moral courage, but also not intentionally malevolent.
This is seminal novel for all leaders to read because it describes the two extremes of leaders that we can be. Unfortunately, it is all too easy to become very much like Massengale-simply another cog in the grind of a large corporation of bureaucracy. It is something we should all actively fight against. If not, our organizations quickly become something lacking honor, purpose, and unworthy of our efforts which in turn can only lead to more Massengales.
On the other hand, no one could match Sam Damon in real life. He is larger than life, but we can aspire to be more like him. We can bring moral and physical courage alongside integrity, character, and genuine compassion to the workplace. In doing so, we can tip the scale of the culture of our organizations closer to being one we are proud to serve.
A final quip from the book:
“If it comes to a choice between being a good soldier and a good human being — try to be a good human being.”
This book serves as a model in the ways we can strive to be good humans. The depth of how Myrer portrays what being a good human can look like goes beyond a simple book review. Do yourself, your family, and your teams a favor and read it.