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Guided Tour
Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit
They are the very best America has to offer --- the few and the proud. The Marine Corps has served our nation with distinction, and achieved an almost mythical status among America's defenders. Now, Tom Clancy tells us the real story of the men and women who serves in this most hallowed branch of the Armed Forces. With the same compelling style and eye for detail that marked his bestselling nonfiction works Submarine, Armored Cav, and Fighter Wing, Clancy paints fascinating picture of the Corps as only he could.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
97 people are currently reading
921 people want to read
About the author
Tom Clancy
977 books9,072 followersThomas Leo Clancy Jr. was an American novelist and military-political thriller pioneer. Raised in a middle-class Irish-American family, he developed an early fascination with military history. Despite initially studying physics at Loyola College, he switched to English literature, graduating in 1969 with a modest GPA. His aspirations of serving in the military were dashed due to severe myopia, leading him instead to a career in the insurance business.
While working at a small insurance agency, Clancy spent his spare time writing what would become The Hunt for Red October (1984). Published by the Naval Institute Press for an advance of $5,000, the book received an unexpected boost when President Ronald Reagan praised it as “the best yarn.” This propelled Clancy to national fame, selling millions of copies and establishing his reputation for technical accuracy in military and intelligence matters. His meticulous research and storytelling ability granted him access to high-ranking U.S. military officials, further enriching his novels.
Clancy’s works often featured heroic protagonists such as Jack Ryan and John Clark, emphasizing themes of patriotism, military expertise, and political intrigue. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, he became one of the best-selling authors in America, with titles like Red Storm Rising (1986), Patriot Games (1987), Clear and Present Danger (1989), and The Sum of All Fears (1991) dominating bestseller lists. Several of these were adapted into commercially successful films.
In addition to novels, Clancy co-authored nonfiction works on military topics and lent his name to numerous book series and video game franchises, including Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, and Splinter Cell. His influence extended beyond literature, as he became a part-owner of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team and was involved in various business ventures, including a failed attempt to purchase the Minnesota Vikings.
Politically, Clancy was a staunch conservative, often weaving his views into his books and publicly criticizing left-leaning policies. He gained further attention after the September 11 attacks, discussing intelligence failures and counterterrorism strategies on news platforms.
Clancy’s financial success was immense. By the late 1990s, his publishing deals were worth tens of millions of dollars. He lived on an expansive Maryland estate featuring a World War II Sherman tank and later purchased a luxury penthouse in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
He was married twice, first to Wanda Thomas King, with whom he had four children, and later to journalist Alexandra Marie Llewellyn, with whom he had one daughter.
Tom Clancy passed away on October 1, 2013, at the age of 66 due to heart failure. His legacy endures through his novels, their adaptations, and the continuation of the Jack Ryan series by other writers.
While working at a small insurance agency, Clancy spent his spare time writing what would become The Hunt for Red October (1984). Published by the Naval Institute Press for an advance of $5,000, the book received an unexpected boost when President Ronald Reagan praised it as “the best yarn.” This propelled Clancy to national fame, selling millions of copies and establishing his reputation for technical accuracy in military and intelligence matters. His meticulous research and storytelling ability granted him access to high-ranking U.S. military officials, further enriching his novels.
Clancy’s works often featured heroic protagonists such as Jack Ryan and John Clark, emphasizing themes of patriotism, military expertise, and political intrigue. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, he became one of the best-selling authors in America, with titles like Red Storm Rising (1986), Patriot Games (1987), Clear and Present Danger (1989), and The Sum of All Fears (1991) dominating bestseller lists. Several of these were adapted into commercially successful films.
In addition to novels, Clancy co-authored nonfiction works on military topics and lent his name to numerous book series and video game franchises, including Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, and Splinter Cell. His influence extended beyond literature, as he became a part-owner of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team and was involved in various business ventures, including a failed attempt to purchase the Minnesota Vikings.
Politically, Clancy was a staunch conservative, often weaving his views into his books and publicly criticizing left-leaning policies. He gained further attention after the September 11 attacks, discussing intelligence failures and counterterrorism strategies on news platforms.
Clancy’s financial success was immense. By the late 1990s, his publishing deals were worth tens of millions of dollars. He lived on an expansive Maryland estate featuring a World War II Sherman tank and later purchased a luxury penthouse in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
He was married twice, first to Wanda Thomas King, with whom he had four children, and later to journalist Alexandra Marie Llewellyn, with whom he had one daughter.
Tom Clancy passed away on October 1, 2013, at the age of 66 due to heart failure. His legacy endures through his novels, their adaptations, and the continuation of the Jack Ryan series by other writers.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 26, 2022
eponymous sentence:
p17: Do we actually have to learn who the men and women of the United States Marine Corps are?
spelling:
p141: In FY-1994, Hellfire had a unit cost of abut $35,000.00
p172: Top speed is 110 kt/204 kph, but the normal cursing speed is 65 kt/120 kph.
construction:
p146: The Marine Corps a small of armor, which is designed to provide support to the rifle units that are at the core of its being.
space:
p235: The LCU is a ship, with full crew accommodations (galley, berthing, heads, etc.) for its crew often (fourteen in wartime).
p301: Bump plans and the procedures for rearming and refueling the Cobras (aboard Shreveportif required) were laid out.
period:
p284: As it turned out, organizing this force took longer than expected, causing the TRAP force to remain airborne over the ARG until just before daybreak
Down in the 24th's LFOC, the decision to use the "D"-size TRAP package was reaffirmed, and the final steps necessary to ready the force were under way.
I've only heard the hymn in one movie before.
The alternative futures are entertaining, at the least.
Always faithful!
p17: Do we actually have to learn who the men and women of the United States Marine Corps are?
spelling:
p141: In FY-1994, Hellfire had a unit cost of abut $35,000.00
p172: Top speed is 110 kt/204 kph, but the normal cursing speed is 65 kt/120 kph.
construction:
p146: The Marine Corps a small of armor, which is designed to provide support to the rifle units that are at the core of its being.
space:
p235: The LCU is a ship, with full crew accommodations (galley, berthing, heads, etc.) for its crew often (fourteen in wartime).
p301: Bump plans and the procedures for rearming and refueling the Cobras (aboard Shreveportif required) were laid out.
period:
p284: As it turned out, organizing this force took longer than expected, causing the TRAP force to remain airborne over the ARG until just before daybreak
Down in the 24th's LFOC, the decision to use the "D"-size TRAP package was reaffirmed, and the final steps necessary to ready the force were under way.
I've only heard the hymn in one movie before.
The alternative futures are entertaining, at the least.
Always faithful!
October 26, 2016
Though Clancy's knowledge of the MEU is impressive, the onslaught of technical information makes it nearly impossible for the average reader (young marine or aged civilian) to keep up with the overall mission of depicting the function and components of the MEU. Clancy would do well to use more examples of the MAGTF (Marine Air-Ground Task Force) integration to demonstrate the lethality of our MEU's ever on station across the globe. Even as a reference tool, the book is now too old to be of technical use to a current marine and therefore fails to serve even its informational purpose.
September 17, 2016
Great overview of the key Marine unit.
For anyone considering military service or the parent of a Marine this is the one book to show you how the USMC works and it will make you proud.
For anyone considering military service or the parent of a Marine this is the one book to show you how the USMC works and it will make you proud.
April 3, 2019
“Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit” is Tom Clancy providing the reader with an insight into the training, equipment and structure of a MEU with enthusiastically described technical details and much pathos but little analysis or tactical insight.
When written back in 1996 it was the author wanted to provide readers without any military knowledge with an interesting an easily understandable and accessible description of what a MEU was. Therefore the book is indeed to be taken like a guided tour of a military installation where you see lots of hardware and static displays but here little about shortcomings or problems. Like the other books in the series this one starts out with a short introduction of historical development of the ethos and tradition of the Corps. This is followed by a lengthy interview with the Commandant of the Corps at the time General Krulak. While this makes for interesting oral history it is also semi-official propaganda for the Marine Corps, which has always been very good at presenting itself to the public, as it was threatened with dissolution more than once.
Instead of getting on the equipment tour, like he did with “Armored Cav” Clancy now writes about the near-mythical training of the Marine Corps. Putting facts against myths is a good thing here, although the reader will again recognize a near official version of how enlisted and officer training in the Corps are conducted. Having described the most important aspect of any military organization, which is training in less than 20 pages, Clancy devotes the next 140 pages to what he likes best: cool weapons, weapon systems and equipment. With much attention to detail the eager guide leads the reader through one static weapons display after another from small arms and weapons training to cold weather gear, tanks and helicopters. All these systems are described nicely and good drawings are included to provide the reader with an actual understanding of the systems. In a separate chapter Clancy describes the ships and vehicles used by the Navy to provide the MEU with transport to its destination, which is commendable, as it underlines the integration of the two services. Although the reader at this point has an understanding of the individual capabilities of vehicles, aircraft and ships, he still does not know, how they would be tactically used in concert to support a mission.
It is this focus on cool equipment, which makes the book interesting for the average reader but less interesting for someone knowledgeable about tactics, as Clancy does not have much to say on this topic and does not try. After over 200 pages the reader finally gets introduced to the MEU and this again feels like a guided tour, when the tour guide leads you from the static display to the headquarters building where some schematics of the structure, personnel and equipment are shown, but not much is said about missions, capabilities and coordination. The overview is okay but the fixation with allocating equipment to the organizational charts is obvious. The chapter “Getting Ready” describes the training and certification process an MEU has to go through before deploying with an Amphibious Ready Group and this is an interesting point, as it describes the routine training and exercise schedule of the unit. The only truly fictional part of the book is Clancy’s nearly real world scenario, in which he tries to describe how an MEU would have to be used completely on its own.
Although the book provides much interesting and useful information on the equipment and the unit at the time, it is neither integrated into a systematic treatise nor is it in any form analytical or critical. The reader is indeed on a guided tour of military equipment with an over enthusiastic tour guide providing hardly any tactical information. Luckily this may be one of the least outdated books of Clancy’s military series, as MEU are still organized much like Clancy describes, although the changes concerning the equipment and vehicles are quite far reaching.
Therefore this partially outdated book still provides good insights into a currently deployed military organization and is of interest to average readers as well as for military enthusiasts although the information on much of the equipment is outdated by now.
When written back in 1996 it was the author wanted to provide readers without any military knowledge with an interesting an easily understandable and accessible description of what a MEU was. Therefore the book is indeed to be taken like a guided tour of a military installation where you see lots of hardware and static displays but here little about shortcomings or problems. Like the other books in the series this one starts out with a short introduction of historical development of the ethos and tradition of the Corps. This is followed by a lengthy interview with the Commandant of the Corps at the time General Krulak. While this makes for interesting oral history it is also semi-official propaganda for the Marine Corps, which has always been very good at presenting itself to the public, as it was threatened with dissolution more than once.
Instead of getting on the equipment tour, like he did with “Armored Cav” Clancy now writes about the near-mythical training of the Marine Corps. Putting facts against myths is a good thing here, although the reader will again recognize a near official version of how enlisted and officer training in the Corps are conducted. Having described the most important aspect of any military organization, which is training in less than 20 pages, Clancy devotes the next 140 pages to what he likes best: cool weapons, weapon systems and equipment. With much attention to detail the eager guide leads the reader through one static weapons display after another from small arms and weapons training to cold weather gear, tanks and helicopters. All these systems are described nicely and good drawings are included to provide the reader with an actual understanding of the systems. In a separate chapter Clancy describes the ships and vehicles used by the Navy to provide the MEU with transport to its destination, which is commendable, as it underlines the integration of the two services. Although the reader at this point has an understanding of the individual capabilities of vehicles, aircraft and ships, he still does not know, how they would be tactically used in concert to support a mission.
It is this focus on cool equipment, which makes the book interesting for the average reader but less interesting for someone knowledgeable about tactics, as Clancy does not have much to say on this topic and does not try. After over 200 pages the reader finally gets introduced to the MEU and this again feels like a guided tour, when the tour guide leads you from the static display to the headquarters building where some schematics of the structure, personnel and equipment are shown, but not much is said about missions, capabilities and coordination. The overview is okay but the fixation with allocating equipment to the organizational charts is obvious. The chapter “Getting Ready” describes the training and certification process an MEU has to go through before deploying with an Amphibious Ready Group and this is an interesting point, as it describes the routine training and exercise schedule of the unit. The only truly fictional part of the book is Clancy’s nearly real world scenario, in which he tries to describe how an MEU would have to be used completely on its own.
Although the book provides much interesting and useful information on the equipment and the unit at the time, it is neither integrated into a systematic treatise nor is it in any form analytical or critical. The reader is indeed on a guided tour of military equipment with an over enthusiastic tour guide providing hardly any tactical information. Luckily this may be one of the least outdated books of Clancy’s military series, as MEU are still organized much like Clancy describes, although the changes concerning the equipment and vehicles are quite far reaching.
Therefore this partially outdated book still provides good insights into a currently deployed military organization and is of interest to average readers as well as for military enthusiasts although the information on much of the equipment is outdated by now.
January 25, 2024
The book was amazing but the thing involving the Malaysians and Bruneians bothers me a lot, I don't remember we had conflict over that not even in our school history textbooks, news, or biography.
December 5, 2025
This book was written in 1996. Twenty two years have passed since publication and my reading it. A LOT has changed in the world and that's an understatement. 9/11, GWOT, Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), ISIS, Arab Spring, rise of Iran, China, and North Korea's constant saber rattling has kept the US military on a higher tempo than ever. The Marines are busier than ever.
On the plus side, all the cool new tech that Tom Clancy and John Gresham highlighted as "coming down the pipeline" in 1996 are now accepted fact. There are now 8 Wasp class LHD. There is the America class LHA, the follow-on to the Wasp. MV-22 Ospreys have gotten past their teething problems and people are already thinking of ways to upgrade the Ospreys. How times have changed. And that's just the beginning.
The MEU (SOC) is getting better communications tools. Even the CD-ROMs that the mock scenarios are so 1996. People are using 1 Terabyte external hard drives that are much, much smaller. GPS devices can be issued to not just the squad leaders but down to the rifleman.
In many areas, the book is outdated. What is not outdated is how hard the Marines train, and the desire to pass down "tribal wisdom," the desire to win, and to make every Marine as lethal as possible.
On the plus side, all the cool new tech that Tom Clancy and John Gresham highlighted as "coming down the pipeline" in 1996 are now accepted fact. There are now 8 Wasp class LHD. There is the America class LHA, the follow-on to the Wasp. MV-22 Ospreys have gotten past their teething problems and people are already thinking of ways to upgrade the Ospreys. How times have changed. And that's just the beginning.
The MEU (SOC) is getting better communications tools. Even the CD-ROMs that the mock scenarios are so 1996. People are using 1 Terabyte external hard drives that are much, much smaller. GPS devices can be issued to not just the squad leaders but down to the rifleman.
In many areas, the book is outdated. What is not outdated is how hard the Marines train, and the desire to pass down "tribal wisdom," the desire to win, and to make every Marine as lethal as possible.
December 22, 2013
Not a bad book by any means, but the technical material is too long and too dry. The last sections of the book, describing first-hand accounts of exercises, were very interesting and informative as were the two hypothetical conflicts written as short stories. These focused on what Clancy did best-- tell stories from the technical standpoints... characters and people were never his strong suit. Also, although I bought this book when it came out in late 1996 (and should have read it years ago), much of it is history now... the USMC of today is different, in some instances considerably, from the one of the peaceful and plentiful 1990s. All that said, is it worth reading today? Yes, certainly, but with limitations.
March 31, 2015
If you have any interests in joining the Marine Corps but are not yet sure, The Marine by Tom Clancy will make your answer clear. Giving maximum details of what it takes and what it is like being a Marine, the novel takes you through boot camp and on field action. Handing out details in between as how long it takes to earn a title or what weapons and vehicles the marines use are exactly what Tom Clancy gives you in this book, The Marine.
October 30, 2015
AT this point, about 20 years after original publication, very dated. But salient points about Marine history and ethos still valid. And it's certainly not the author's fault that he's been unable to write an update!
July 18, 2007
I'm a marine and this book was highly accurate in the details it had.
May 15, 2012
Not my style of writing but this book is well worth it to understand the processing of a Marine. i learned a lot about how and why they work the way they do.
Read
July 4, 2013While it's a bit outdated, it delivers good knowledge about USMC and why it's exceptional among other corps.
December 10, 2013
This was very informational for me, though it is a bit outdated. As a student looking for possible jobs, i found this informational and quite useful. it's also an interesting read.
January 14, 2016
Meh didn't bother finishing this one.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews