The Chief of Army’s Professional Study Guide, by my count, has 266 different study resources. 236 are books and 30 are ‘moving pictures’ of some description. For the most studious amongst us, it may be possible to eat the whole elephant; but for those of us who like to do other things, that’s multiple lifetimes of reading. If I focused only on the Chief’s Study Guide, I’m not sure where I could possibly fit in my wonderful collection of Gideon Haigh cricket books, none of which appear on the previous Chief’s list.

Surely it would have been more sensible to choose a handful of high-value books that we all need to read early in our careers; intellectual spines that form the basis of our professional discussion. Maybe there could have been one cracking book in each of The Cove’s superseded five learning clusters (seen on the top tabs of the website).

But, if approached as a menu not a task list, the 266-item guide makes sense. Through our ab initio training, in many ways we’re all reshaped into a similar mould. If we look at some of our numerically superior potential adversaries, it is our intellectual diversity and agility that can claw back some combat advantage. I think we are more valuable if everyone in our team has read five different books from the guide than if we all read the same five.

With that in mind, I chose a couple of books from the list that are in my local mess library and relate to my role. I’ve always been interested in our battles and campaigns of the past and have thoroughly enjoyed The Cove’s Battle Honours Series animated videos.

After seeing WGCDR Michael Veitch’s Cove Talk on his book Borneo: The Last Campaign, I thought I’d give it a read. Borneo isn’t on the Chief’s list, and while I enjoyed its stories of the Oboe Campaign, I found myself wondering about the more professional aspects of the operation: the strategic, operational, and tactical concepts, and how the staff processes managed to achieve the Army’s largest-ever amphibious campaign without one ACMS request at least 12 months prior.

I then read COL Dayton McCarthy’s Campaigns Series book on the Oboe Landings. It is logically laid out in four sections of three chapters each, with plenty of maps, wire diagrams, and pictures to help illustrate the equipment, conditions, key individuals, political strategy, and three separate landings: Tarakan, Labuan/Brunei Bay, and Balikpapan.

Although brief, the publication draws extensively on primary sources, including excerpts and images of original landing diagrams, gunfire support schedules, map overlays, and organisational charts. It is both fascinating and easy to read.

As a Defence Force, we are rebuilding our amphibious capability. Looking back at the 1945 Oboe Campaign shows that Australia has conducted amphibious operations before and provides an opportunity to examine the steps we took to plan coordinate and conduct them effectively. We can draw from those lessons as we develop our new capabilities. This is essential reading for anyone with ‘amphib’ in their job or unit title.

The Australian Army History Unit’s Campaigns Series books are all like this. They are short enough to read in a day, have lots of pictures for truckies like me, and dive into the history of the strategy, planning, and execution. They are logically laid out and presented in a way that is relevant to military professionals. They are designed for us.

If you approach the Chief’s Study Guide as a list of recommendations for good professional reading, rather than a task list, I think you’ll find it much more accommodating. You don’t need to read all 266. If you’re not a big reader, look at one of the Army History Unit Campaigns Series books first. Pick one that interests you and give it a read. Oboe was fantastic. Milne Bay is next on the list for me.