Crafting the Marine Corps Mystique

Dr. Heather Venable is an Associate Professor of Military and Security Studies in the Department of Airpower at the U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College. As a visiting professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, she taught naval and Marine Corps history. She graduated with a BA in History from Texas A&M University and a MA in American History from the University of Hawai’i. She received her PhD in military history from Duke University. She is the author of How the Few Became the Proud: Crafting the Marine Corps Mystique, 1874-1918 (Naval Institute Press, 2019). She is also a non-resident fellow at Marine Corps University’s Krulak Center, and she has contributed many articles about airpower and the current Air Force to online publications including War on the Rocks and the Modern War Institute, and she serves as a Managing Editor for the online journal Strategy Bridge. Dr. Venable also serves as Chair of the Program Committee for the Society for Military History. Her current research centers on intersections between theory and pre-war thinking and the application of airpower in combat.

*Originally recorded July 20, 2022.