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What is the proper usmc book report format.

While there is no official book report format for PME in the Marine Corps, there is a concise and easy to understand book report format available via the Manpower and Reserve Affairs website (available for download at https://www.manpower.usmc.mil/wordpress/ ).

For the sake of convenience, the text of that document is included below:

BOOK REPORT FORMAT

Introduction: Here you want to provide basic information about the book, and a sense of what your report will be about. You should include:

• Title (underlined)/Author
• A brief (1-2 sentences) introduction to the book and the report/review.

Body: There are two main sections for this part. The first is an explanation of what the book is about. The second is your opinions about the book and how successful it is. There are some differences between reports on fiction or other imaginative writing and reports on non-fiction books. But for both, a good place to start is to explain the author's purpose and/or the main themes of the book. Then you can summarize.

• For fiction or other creative writing : Provide brief descriptions of the setting, the point of view (who tells the story), the protagonist, and other major characters. If there is a distinct mood or tone, discuss that as well. Give a concise plot summary. Along with the sequence of major events, you may want to discuss the book's climax and resolution, and/or literary devices such as foreshadowing.
• For non-fiction : Provide a general overview of the author's topic, main points, and argument. What is the thesis? What are the important conclusions? Don't try to summarize each chapter or every angle. Choose the ones that are most significant and interesting to you.

Analysis and Evaluation: In this section you analyze or critique the book. You can write about your own opinions; just be sure that you explain and support them with examples. Some questions you might want to consider:

• Did the author achieve his or her purpose?
• Is the writing effective, powerful, difficult, beautiful?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the book?
• For non-fiction, what are the author's qualifications to write about the subject? Do you agree with the author's arguments and conclusions?
• What is your overall response to the book? Did you find it interesting, moving, dull?
• Would you recommend it to others? Why or why not?

Conclusion: Briefly conclude by pulling your thoughts together. You may want to say what impression the book left you with or emphasize what you want your reader to know about it.

• Book report
• Last Updated Feb 21, 2024
• Answered By Chris Ellis

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Commandant's Reading List - A Complete List

Commandant 's Choice

Entry level enlisted: recruit/poolee, entry level officer: candidate/midshipman, primary level enlisted: pvt.-cpl., primary level officer: wo, 2nd lt., 1st lt., career level enlisted: sgt., ssgt., career level officer: cwo-2, cwo-3, capt., intermediate level enlisted: gysgt., msgt., 1st sgt., intermediate level officer: cwo-4, cwo-5, maj., lt.col., senior level enlisted: mgysgt., sgtmaj., senior level officer: col.-gen., counterinsurgency, roots of maneuver warfare, wounded warrior, strategic thinking, regional and cultural studies.

The Commandant's Reading List is a list of books that Marines are recommended and often required to read. They are meant to help Marines develop their personal and professional character. The comprised list is what was published by the Commandant of the Marines Corps. If any changes have been made through a MARADMIN or ALMAR and it is not reflected here, please leave a comment and I will make the necessary corrections.

Leave comments for any books you would recommend to other Marines. Also see the CNO Reading List .

It is about attaining a "30 Year Old Body and 5000 Year Old Mind"as General Amos put it in his 2012 white letter:

In 1989, General Al Gray promulgated the first Commandant' s Reading List and challenged Marines of every rank to re-dedicate themselves to the study of their profession. Our twenty-ninth Commandant clearly understood that the development and broadening of the mind is a critical aspect of the true warrior 's preparation for battle. General Gray viewed reading as a means of preparing for the future, and combat in particular. He ensured that his Marines knew he considered mental preparation as important as physical conditioning or even MOS training.

The introduction of that first list was a milestone in the history of our Corps. It represented an important and useful manifestation of the professional study that has always characterized us as Marines. The idea of Marines diligently pursuing the profession of arms by reading on their own has resonated inside and outside the Corps. Comparing themselves to the most professional military organizations throughout history, Marines take great pride in being part of a thinking and learning organization. The emphasis on thoughtful reading has stood us in good stead over the last 11 years. The adaptation and flexibility shown by Marines faced with a variety of different situations and challenges was anchored in many years of mental preparation for combat.

Over recent years I have become increasingly concerned that Marines are not reading enough anymore. Many are not reading at all. This has happened for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, the last 11 years of continuous combat in Iraq and Afghanistan have been characterized by a high operational tempo that made extraordinary demands on time. Under the pressure of competing requirements, reading was one of the first things to go. For all practical purposes it has been gone for years. Our senior leaders have not emphasized the importance of reading.

Faced with a period of fiscal austerity and an uncertain world, it's more important now than ever before to dedicate time to read and to think. As we prepare ourselves for whatever is to come, the study of military history offers the inexpensive chance to learn from the hard-won experience of others, find a template for solving existing challenges, and avoid making the same mistakes twice. As it was once wisely put, reading provides a "better way to do business.. it doesn't always provide all the answers.. but it lights what is often a dark path ahead." Any book thoughtfully read sharpens the mind and improves on an individual's professional potential.

Whatever has caused our emphasis on reading to atrophy, we as Marines and as leaders, need to restore its preeminence at every level. The Marine Corps will return to its roots as an organization that studies and applies the lessons of history. The attached Commandant' s Professional Reading List represents an updated version of those books most pertinent to the development of professional skills at each level. I have personally reviewed it, and made both deletions and additions. It forms the core of an expanded professional military education program that I expect to be overseen by Commanding Officers and unit leaders at every level. Every Marine will read at least three books from the list each year. All books listed at each level of rank are required, while the books listed under categories are recommended readings to expand understanding in specific areas. The list represents only a starting point, and will ideally whet the appetite for further reading and study. Commanders and senior enlisted will reinvigorate the critical emphasis on reading in their units and develop a unit reading program. Books will be selected for reading and discussion, with time set aside in the schedule to that end. The idea that true professionals study their profession all the time not just in PME schools - will continue to be a strongly emphasized theme in all of our professional schools..officer and enlisted.

This letter represents only the first installment in this effort. On 1 January, a follow-on ALMAR will be published that provides further detail. I have also directed that specific guidance be promulgated that ensures that item G-1 (Professional Military Education) in the fitness report is being used to accurately describe a Marine ' s dedication to the pursuit of life- long learning .

Let me end by saying that I am well aware that much has been asked of our leadership in recent years - some may see this as yet another requirement. I ask that this white letter not be taken in that light. Reading is a critical continuing action. We need to find the time for it just as we find time weekly for individual and unit physical conditioning. What I am calling for is nothing less than a renewal of a critical aspect of our commitment to the profession of arms.

• James F. Amos "Marines … the study of our profession is what we do - it tells all … who we are!"

All of the links in this list are affiliate links . The "free audiobook" links are valid for those who have not tried Audible.com and would like to signup for a FREE trial. Currently, Amazon is offering two free audiobooks with a free trial membership

" A Message to Garcia " by E. Hubbard "Leading Marines (MCWP 6-11)" by the United States Marine Corps. " The Warrior Ethos " by S. Pressfield "Warfighting (MCDP 1)" by the United States Marine Corps

" Battle Cry " by L. Uris " Corps Values " by Z. Miller " Making the Corps " by T. Ricks (free audiobook) " The Red Badge of Courage " by S. Crane (free audiobook)

" Battle Cry " by L. Uris " Corps Values " by Z. Miller " I'm Staying With My Boys " J. Proser and J. Cutter " Making the Corps " by T. Ricks (free audiobook) " My Men Are My Heroes " by N. Helms " The Killer Angels " by M. Shaara (free audiobook)

" Ender's Game " by O. Card (free audiobook) " Gates of Fire " by S. Pressfield (free audiobook) " Marine! The Life of Chesty Puller " by B. Davis " My Men Are My Heroes " by N. Helms " Rifleman Dodd " by C.S. Forester " The Last Stand of Fox Company " by B. Drury and T. Clavin (free audiobook) " The Marines of Montford Point: America's First Black Marines " by M. McLaurin

" All Quiet on the Western Front " by E. Remarque (free audiobook) " Battle Leadership " by A. Von Schell " Gates of Fire " by S. Pressfield (free audiobook) " Marine! The Life of Chesty Puller " by B. Davis " Matterhorn: a Novel of the Vietnam War " by K. Marlantes (free audiobook) " The Defense of Duffer's Drift " by E. Swinton " The Forgotten Soldier " by G. Sajer " The Last Stand of Fox Company " by B. Drury and T. Clavin (free audiobook) " The Marines of Montford Point: America's First Black Marines " by M. McLaurin "U.S. Constitution" " With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa " by E. Sledge (free audiobook)

" First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps " by V. Krulak " Islands of the Damned " by R. Burgin and B. Marvel (free audiobook) " Outliers " by M. Gladwell (free audiobook) " Quartered Safe Out Here " by G. Fraserl (free audiobook) " Soldiers of God " by R. Kaplan " Storm of Steel " by E. Junger (free audiobook) " The Defense of Duffer's Drift " by E. Swinton " The Forgotten Soldier " by G. Sajer " The Killer Angels " by M. Shaara (free audiobook) "U.S. Constitution" " With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa " by E. Sledge (free audiobook)

" Attacks " by E. Rommel " Black Hearts " by J. Frederick (free audiobook) " First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps " by V. Krulak "Infantry in Battle (FMFRP 12-2)" by the United States Marine Corps " Into the Tiger's Jaw " by F. Petersen " Islands of the Damned " by R. Burgin and B. Marvel (free audiobook) " On Killing " by D. Grossman (free audiobook) " Outliers " by M. Gladwell (free audiobook) " Quartered Safe Out Here " by G. Fraser (free audiobook) " Sources of Power " by G. Klein " The Virtues of War " by S. Pressfield (free audiobook) "U.S. Constitution" " War Made New " by M. Boot

" All Quiet on the Western Front " by E. Remarque (free audiobook) " American Spartan " by J. Warren (free audiobook) " Fields of Fire " by J. Webb (free audiobook) " Flags of Our Fathers " by J. Bradley (free audiobook) " Helmet For My Pillow " by R. Leckie " On Killing " by D. Grossman (free audiobook) " The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It " by J. Ramo (free audiobook) " The Changing Face of War " by M. Van Creveld " This Kind of War " by T. Fehrenbach (free audiobook) "U.S. Constitution" " We Were Soldiers Once…And Young " by H. Moore and J. Galloway

" Battle Cry of Freedom " by J. McPherson (free audiobook) " Blink " by M. Gladwell (free audiobook) " Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War " by R. Coram (free audiobook) " Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak " by R. Coram (free audiobook) " Carnage and Culture " by V. Hanson " Command Culture " by J. Muth " Defeat into Victory " by W. Slim " Forgotten Warriors " by T. Hammes " Hot, Flat, and Crowded " by T. Freidman (free audiobook) " Just and Unjust Wars " by M. Walzer (free audiobook) " Military Innovation in the Interwar Period " by W. Murray and A. Millett " Ripples of Battle " by V. Hanson " The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It " by J. Ramo (free audiobook) " The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle " by J. Gray " This Kind of War " by T. Fehrenbach (free audiobook)

" Achilles in Vietnam " by J. Shay " Assignment Pentagon: How to Excel in a Bureaucracy " by P. Smith and D. Gerstein " Command Culture " by J. Muth " Forgotten Warriors " by T. Hammes " Hot, Flat, and Crowded " by T. Freidman (free audiobook) " Just and Unjust Wars " by M. Walzer (free audiobook) " No Bended Knee " by M. Twining " The Face of Battle " by J. Keegan (free audiobook) " The Mask of Command " by J. Keegan

" Another Bloody Century " by C. Gray " Assignment Pentagon: How to Excel in a Bureaucracy " by P. Smith and D. Gerstein " Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Lies that Led to Vietnam " by H. McMaster " Diplomacy " by H. Kissinger " How Wars End " by G. Rose (free audiobook) " Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past " by J. Gaddis " Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World " by G. Ip " Military Power: Explaining Victory and Defeat in Modern Battle " by S. Biddle " Modern Strategy " by C. Gray " Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen and Leadership in Wartime " by E. Cohen " Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln " by D. Goodwin (free audiobook) " The Federalist Papers " by A. Hamilton " The Guns of August " by B. Tuchman (free audiobook) " The Landmark of Thucydides " by R. Strassler " The Revenge of Geography " by R. Kaplan (free audiobook)

" 100 Years of Marine Corps Aviation: An Illustrated History " by R. Kaufman " Hammer From Above: Marine Air Combat Over Iraq " by J. Stout " Marine Air: The History of the Flying Leathernecks in Words and Photos " by R. Dorr " On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War over Vietnam " by J. Nichols and B. Tillman "The Art of Airpower, Sun Tzu Revisited" by S. Kainikara " The Naval Air War in Korea " by R. Hallion " U.S. Marine Corps Aviation Since 1912 " by P. Mersky

" Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army " by D. Engels " Clockspeed " by C. Fine " Feeding Mars: Logistics in Western Warfare from the Middle Ages to the Present " by J. Lynn " Keep from All Thoughtful Men: How U.S. Economists Won WWII " by J. Lacey " Pacific Express: The Critical Role of Military Logistics In WWII " by W. McGee " Recurring Logistic Problems as I Have Observed Them " by C. Magruder " Supplying War " by M. van Creveld

" Counterinsurgency Warfare " by D. Galula " Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife " by J. Nagl and P. Schoomaker (free audiobook) " Street Without Joy " by B. Fall (free audiobook) " The Accidental Guerilla " by D. Kilcullen (free audiobook) " The Village " by B. West " War Comes to Long An " by J. Race

" Airpower and Maneuver Warfare " by M. van Creveld " Assault from the Sea: Essays on the History of Amphibious Warfare " by M. Bartlett " Maneuver Warfare " by G. Galvin and R. Hooker " Maneuver Warfare Handbook " by W. Lind " The U.S. Marines and Amphibious War: Its Theory and Practice in the Pacific " by J. Isley and P. Crowl

" Ascent " by B. McGhie " Courage After Fire: Coping Strategies for Troops Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and Their families " by K. Armstrong, S. Best, and P. Domenici " Down Range: To Iraq and Back " by B. Cantrell and C. Dean " Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming " by J. Shay " Once a Warrior Always a Warrior: Navigating the Transition from Combat to Home " by C. Hoge (free audiobook) " Once a Warrior: Wired for Life " by B. Cantrell and C. Dean " Overcoming Post-Deployment Syndrome: A Six Step Mission to Health " by D. Cifu and C. Blake " Shadow of the Sword " by J. Workman " Soft Spots: A Marine's Memoir of Combat and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder " by C. Van Winkle " Unbroken: A WWII Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption " by L. Hillenbrand (free audiobook) " War and the Soul: Healing Our Nation's Veterans from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder " by E. Tick " Warrior Mindset " by M. Asken, L. Christensen, D. Grossman " What It Is Like to Go to War " by K. Marlantes (free audiobook)

" Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Professional and Personal Life " by R. Paul and L. Elder " General System Theory " by L. Von Bartalanffy " Harnessing Complexity " by R. Axelrod and M. Cohen " Rethinking the Principles of War " by A. McIvor " The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable " by N. Taleb (free audiobook) " The Copernican Revolution " by T. Kuhn " Thinking Fast and Slow " by D. Kahneman (free audiobook) " Thinking in Time: The uses of Histry for Decision Makers " by R. Neustadt and E. May

" Angry Wind: Through Muslim Black Africa by Truck, Bus, Boat, and Camel " by J. Tayler " Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus " by R. Kaplan " Monsoon " by R. Kaplan " Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea " by B. Demick (free audiobook) " The Great Arab Conquests " by H. Kennedy " Understanding Arabs: A Contemporary Guide to Arab Society " by M. Nydell " What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in he Middle East " by B. Lewis (free audiobook)

" Developing the Leaders Around You " by J. Maxwell (free audiobook) " Heoric Leadership " by C. Lowney (free audiobook) " Leadership and the New Science " by M. Wheatly " Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times " by D. Phillips (free audiobook) " Once a Marine " by N. Popaditch and M. Steere (free audiobook) " Start With Why " by S. Sinek (free audiobook) " The Power of Communication " by H. Garcia " The Starfish and the Spider " by O. Brafman and R. Beckstrom (free audiobook)

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The Warrior Ethos - Book Report

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Reading List

The Marine Corps has a long history of encouraging its servicemembers to educate themselves on not just the history of the Corps but about the larger world around them. In 1989, the reading list was codified, and since then, each Commandant has issued their Commandant’s Professional Reading List to improve Marines’ understanding of the military profession, the nature of warfare, and develop decision-making and critical-thinking skills. To support the endeavor for lifelong learning, the list is divided into subtopics: Commandant's Choice, Profession of Arms, Innovation, Leadership, Strategy, Foundational, Podcasts, and Periodicals.

Marine Corps University Press is proud to be included in this program with the following titles currently on the list. As an open access publisher, these MCUP titles are freely available upon request. Please visit our shopping cart to submit your order.

The entire list of titles on the CMC's Professional Reading List are available HERE .

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2024 Elections

55 Things to Know About JD Vance, Trump’s VP Pick

Donald Trump’s pick for vice president made a 180-degree turn from fierce critic to bulldog surrogate for the former president.

Illustration by Bill Kuchman/POLITICO (source images via Getty Images, AP, Netflix)

By Ian Ward

07/15/2024 03:31 PM EDT

Ian Ward is a reporter at POLITICO.

Who is JD Vance really ?

That is the question that has dogged the 39-year-old senator from Ohio along his peculiar path to power, which began in 2016 with the publication of his bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy and culminated this week when former President Donald Trump selected him as a running mate for the 2024 election.

During those eight years, Vance has undergone a dramatic — and, in the eyes of his critics, highly dubious — political transformation: from blue-collar bard and self-described “Never Trump” conservative to hard-edged MAGA loyalist and dogged defender of the former president. Vance says he’s had a genuine change of heart about Trump; his critics say he’s cynically molded himself to the times .

Now, Vance is stepping into a role that has at times seemed unfillable: the political partner to a man who considers himself to be politically peerless. In the Senate, Vance has cultivated a dual identity as key Trump ally and leader of the GOP’s populist-national wing. But who will he be as a vice presidential candidate?

Here — culled from his memoir, his writing and public remarks, his voluminous tweets and an extensive series of interviews he conducted with POLITICO Magazine earlier this year — are some clues.

“I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve accomplished nothing great in my life,” Vance wrote in the introduction to Hillbilly Elegy, his bestselling 2016 memoir about his life growing up in a working-class family in post-industrial Ohio. “I am not a senator, a governor, or a former cabinet secretary. I haven’t started a billion-dollar company or a world-changing non-profit.”

In 2015, two years after graduating from Yale Law School, Vance joined Mithril Capital, a venture capital firm run by the Silicon Valley scion Peter Thiel.

In 2016, he announced his plans to move back to Ohio from California to start Our Ohio Renewal , a nonprofit dedicated to “mak[ing] it easier for disadvantaged children to achieve their dreams.”

In November 2022, he was elected to the United States Senate from Ohio with the help of over $10 million in donations from Thiel. It was his first public office.

On Monday, he was named Trump’s running mate .

Reflecting on his first encounter with Thiel in 2011, Vance wrote : “[Thiel] articulated a feeling … that I was obsessed with achievement in [itself] not as an end to something meaningful, but to win a social competition. My worry that I had prioritized striving over character took on a heightened significance: striving for what?”

He was born James Donald Bowman on Aug. 2, 1984, in Middletown, Ohio, an industrial city 30 miles north of Cincinnati and 20 miles south of Dayton.

His maternal grandparents, Jim and Bonnie Vance — known as “Papaw “and “Mamaw” — moved to Middletown in the late 1940s from Jackson, Kentucky, a town in the heart of southeastern Kentucky’s coal region. Jim was 16; Bonnie was 13 — and pregnant with Jim’s child. They were unmarried at the time.

Vance is descended from “hillbilly royalty” on his father’s side: His grandfather’s distant cousin — also named Jim Vance — married into the Hatfield family and is rumored to have committed the murder that instigated the legendary Hatfield-McCoy feud.

Vance’s biological parents, Donald Bowman and Bev Vance, divorced when he was a toddler. He was later adopted by his mother’s new husband, Bob Hamel, and changed his name to James David Hamel. The name change preserved his nickname, JD

Bev and Bob later divorced, and Bev struggled with drug addiction . Vance was raised primarily by his grandparents — who were, he wrote in Hillbilly Elegy, “without question or qualification, the best things that ever happened to me.”

Mamaw and Papaw were union Democrats (except in 1984, when Papaw voted for Ronald Reagan). In Hillbilly Elegy , Vance described their political outlook as: “All politicians might be crooks, but if there were any exceptions, they were undoubtedly members of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal coalition.”

Growing up, Vance spent his summer vacations visiting his great-grandmother and extended family in Jackson. “I always distinguished ‘my address’ from ‘my home,’” he wrote in Hillbilly Elegy . “My address was where I spent most of my time with my mother and sister, wherever that might be. But my home never changed: my great-grandmother’s house, in the holler, in Jackson, Kentucky.”

“To understand me, you must understand that I am a Scots-Irish hillbilly at heart,” he wrote in Hillbilly Elegy . This Scots-Irish legacy entailed “many good traits … but also many bad ones. We do not like outsiders or people who are different from us, whether the difference lies in how they look, how they act, or, most importantly, how they talk.”

After graduating from Middletown High School in 2003, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in Iraq as a corporal with the Public Affairs section of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. “I served my country honorably, and I saw when I went to Iraq that I had been lied to — that the promises of the foreign policy establishment were a complete joke,” he has said .

He graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in political science and philosophy, before enrolling at Yale Law School in 2010.

While at Yale, he attended a talk by Thiel about technological stagnation and the decline of American elites: “He saw these two trends … as connected,” Vance later recalled of his first encounter with Thiel. “If technological innovation were actually driving real prosperity, our elites wouldn’t feel increasingly competitive with one another over a dwindling number of prestigious outcomes.” Vance has called Thiel’s talk “the most significant moment” of his time at Yale.

Vance began working on a memoir while at Yale at the suggestion of his mentor and Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother author Amy Chua. “I thought the idea that I could write a meaningful book was kind of arrogant and presumptuous. But then I started writing little things here and there,” he has said .

Another significant moment of his time at Yale: meeting Usha Chilukuri, his future wife and the mother of his three children. The couple married in 2014 and held a separate ceremony where they were blessed by a Hindu pundit.

Chilukuri went on to clerk for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and then-D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh. She is now a litigator at the white-shoe firm Munger, Tolles & Olson. “I joked with a buddy that if she had possessed a terrible personality, she would have made an excellent heroine in an Ayn Rand novel, but she had a great sense of humor,” Vance wrote in his memoir. Despite her conservative clerkships, colleagues described her as “ liberal or moderate .”

Vance’s memoir, Hillbilly Elegy was published on June 28, 2016. The book argued that the decline of post-industrial America was due in large part to the social pathologies of the white working class, rather than the decline of the industrial economy in the U.S. “There is a lack of agency here [in Middletown] — a feeling that you have little control over your life and a willingness to blame everyone but yourself,” Vance wrote.

In a review, the New York Times called the book “a compassionate, discerning sociological analysis of the white underclass that has helped drive the politics of rebellion, particularly the ascent of Donald J. Trump.”

The American Conservative praised it as “a powerful new memoir [that] uncovers an America many do not see.”

The New Republic trashed it as “little more than a list of myths about welfare queens repackaged as a primer on the white working class.”

During the 2016 election, Vance emerged as a vocal critic of Donald Trump: “I’m a Never Trump guy,” he told Charlie Rose in October 2016.

“My god what an idiot,” he tweeted about Trump that same month.

“Trump is cultural heroin,” he wrote in a story in The Atlantic . “I think that he’s noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place,” he said on NPR .

“I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler,” he wrote to a friend in February 2016. He ended up voting for independent Evan McMullin .

In 2019, Vance founded his own venture firm , Narya, based in Ohio. Like Thiel’s firm, Palantir, Narya was named after a fictional object from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books.

During the Trump years, Vance says, he came to support Trump’s policies — and was radicalized by liberals’ angry reaction to Trump. “If you even acknowledged that there were reasonable things that Donald Trump was saying, there was this complete overreaction,” he has said .

He was baptized into the Catholic church in August 2019. At the time, he credited his conversion to his exposure — via Thiel — to the writings of the French philosopher René Girard, whom Thiel studied under at Stanford University. Girard is most famous for his theory of “ mimetic desire ”: that human beings imitate the desires of their peers, ultimately giving rise to rivalries and violent conflicts that are resolved by “ scapegoating” a common enemy .

Among his other current intellectual influences, Vance has cited the conservative localist Rod Dreher , the reactionary blogger Curtis Yarvin and the “postliberal” Catholic philosopher Patrick Deneen .

“He is thoroughgoingly illiberal in his instincts,” a friend of Vance’s from Yale has said . “I don’t mean it as a slur. I mean it in a technical sense. He is skeptical of the political project of enlightenment liberalism, like, We’re all just autonomous individuals trying to self-actualize and maximize our own interests .”

He voted for Trump in 2020.

In November 2020, one week after the presidential election, Netflix released a film adaptation of Hillbilly Elegy , directed by Ron Howard and starring Gabriel Basso as Vance, Glenn Close as Mamaw and Amy Adams as Bev Vance. The movie was widely panned, with the New Yorker calling it “ a libertarian’s fantasy .” Friends of Vance have said that the negative reaction to the film was the “ last straw ” of Vance’s estrangement from elite liberal society.

On July 1, 2021, Vance announced his Senate campaign in Ohio.

“I regret being wrong about the guy,” Vance said about Trump several days later on the campaign trail. “I think he was a good president, I think he made a lot of good decisions for people, and I think he took a lot of flak.” He later added : “He’s the best president of my lifetime.”

In April 2022, Trump endorsed Vance . “JD is kissing my ass he wants my support so bad,” Trump later said .

Vance’s primary supporter inside Trump world was Donald Trump Jr . His most prominent supporter in the conservative media: Tucker Carlson . His biggest donor: Peter Thiel (to the tune of $10 million).

“I don’t know that I can disrespect someone more than JD Vance,” Mitt Romney told his biographer in 2022, as Vance was running for the Senate.

On Nov. 8, 2022, Vance beat Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan 53 percent to 47 percent, underperforming other state-wide Republicans by 11 points.

In his victory speech, he thanked his Mamaw: “You’re not always going to agree with every vote that I take, and you’re not going to agree with every single amendment that I offer in the United States Senate, but I will never forget the woman who raised me,” he told the audience.

In the Senate, he has emerged as a dogged defender of Trump and the standard-bearer of the “New Right,” a loose movement of young conservatives trying to push the Republican Party in a more populist, nationalist and culturally conservative direction.

His most ambitious legislative initiatives have arisen from partnerships with progressive Democrats: a sweeping railway safety reform bill co-authored by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and an executive pay claw-back provision drafted with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Neither bill has received a vote on the Senate floor.

He is a leading critic of U.S. support for Ukraine. “I got to be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,” Vance told Steve Bannon in an interview in 2022.

He has suggested that the Biden administration is allowing fentanyl to cross the Southern border as part of a deliberate strategy to kill Republican voters: “If you wanted to kill a bunch of MAGA voters in the middle of the heartland, how better than to target them and their kids with this deadly fentanyl. . . . It does look intentional. It’s like Joe Biden wants to punish the people who didn’t vote for him.”

In June 2023, he put a hold on all Biden administration appointments to the Justice Department to protest the indictments of Donald Trump. He has called Trump’s hush-money trial in New York a “threat to American democracy.”

He believes that “the culture war is class war” — that pushing back against the cultural values of progressive elites is necessary to advance the economic and political interests of the working class. In the Senate, his culture war initiatives include a bill criminalizing gender-affirming care for transgender kids, a ban on federal mask mandates , and crack-down on affirmative action policies at colleges and universities. He publicly supports a 15-week abortion ban with exceptions for rape, incest and threats to the life of the mother.

He opposes the PRO Act, the “ holy grail of pro-union labor reform .”

He has compared the current moment in American history to the end of the Roman Republic. “We are in a late republican period” in America he said on a podcast appearance in 2022. “If we’re going to push back against it, we’re going to have to get pretty wild, and pretty far out there, and go in directions that a lot of conservatives right now are uncomfortable with.”

He has said that if he had been in Mike Pence’s shoes in 2021, he would not have certified the results of the 2020 election: “If I had been vice president, I would have told the states, like Pennsylvania, Georgia and so many others, that we needed to have multiple slates of electors and I think the U.S. Congress should have fought over it from there,” he said in February .

He has encouraged Trump to defy the Supreme Court if the justices prevent him from firing executive branch officials.

“He’s by far the smartest and the deepest of any [senator] I’ve ever met,” Tucker Carlson has said .

“I’m sure he’ll run for the presidency one day,” said Bannon.

“Trump will, at most, serve four years in the White House,” Vance has said. “There is a big question about what comes after him.”

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Trending topics, report to congress on ssn(x) next-generation attack submarine, from the report.

Program Designation

In the designation SSN(X), the “X” means that the exact design of the boat has not yet been determined.

Procurement Schedule

The Navy’s FY2024 budget submission envisaged procuring the first SSN(X) in FY2035. The Navy’s FY2025 budget submission defers the envisaged procurement of the first SSN(X) from FY2035 to FY2040. The Navy’s FY2025 30-year (FY2035-FY2054) shipbuilding plan states: “The delay of SSN(X) construction start from the mid-2030s to the early 2040s presents a significant challenge to the submarine design industrial base associated with the extended gap between the Columbia class and SSN(X) design programs, which the Navy will manage.”

Design of the SSN(X)

The Navy states that the SSN(X) “will be designed to counter the growing threat posed by near peer adversary competition for undersea supremacy. It will provide greater speed, increased horizontal [i.e., torpedo-room] payload capacity, improved acoustic superiority and non-acoustic signatures, and higher operational availability. SSN(X) will conduct full spectrum undersea warfare and be able to coordinate with a larger contingent of off-hull vehicles, sensors, and friendly forces.” (Budget-justification book for FY2025 Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation, Navy account, Vol. 3 [Budget Activity 5], p. 1299.) Navy officials have stated that the Navy wants the SSN(X) to incorporate the speed and payload of the Navy’s fast and heavily armed Seawolf (SSN-21) class SSN design, the acoustic quietness and sensors of the Virginia-class design, and the operational availability and service life of the Columbia-class design. These requirements will likely result in an SSN(X) design that is larger than the original Virginia-class design, which has a submerged displacement of about 7,800 tons, and possibly larger than the original SSN-21 design, which has a submerged displacement of 9,138 tons. Due to technological changes over the years for improved quieting and other purposes, the designs of U.S. Navy submarines with similar payloads have generally been growing in displacement from one generation to the next.

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U.S. Naval Institute Staff

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Why did JD Vance change his name?

Jd vance's name changes tie back to his maternal grandparents, and the ohio background that spawned hillbilly elegy and an eventual vp nomination.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance has gone through numerous changes − from comparing former Donald Trump to Hitler to accepting a place on Trump's ticket, from bestselling author to Silicon Valley to the stage of the Republican National Convention.

It's not just Vance's beliefs or career trajectory that has changed, but his name as well.

Vance was born James Donald Bowman in Middletown, Ohio, a town halfway between Dayton and Cincinnati. Following his parents' divorce, Bowman's middle name was changed David.

James adopted his stepfather's last name for some of his teenage years, with his 2003 senior yearbook identifying him as James Hamel. This was also the name used during James' military service from 2003 to 2007, where he served as a Corporal in the Marines.

Marriage to JD Vance's wife Usha

In 2014, Vance married his wife, Usha , and decided to take on his maternal grandparents' surname. In his bestselling novel Hillbilly Elegy , and in his congressional bio , Vance has repeatedly emphasized their importance in his upbringing, and thanked his grandmother in his Senate victory speech, and in his vice presidential acceptance speech , causing the RNC audience to chant "Mamaw! Mamaw!"

Vance's family history is central to his name change, and equally critical to his selection as vice president.

Vance's association with blue-collar, rust-belt America, a place he characterizes as "cast aside and forgotten by America's ruling class in Washington," could prove pivotal in helping Trump flip back crucial states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Cy Neff reports on Wyoming politics for USA TODAY. You can reach him at [email protected] or on X, formerly known as Twitter,  @CyNeffNews

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