The Colonels

Rating:
Summary: A Solid Mid-Series Book
Review: Following a dozen major characters and twice that many supporting players through an eventful a quarter century is an impressive literary achievement. Griffin's "Brotherhood of War" series does just that: always competently, sometimes brilliantly. The flashes of brilliance are fewer and farther between in _The Colonels_ than they were in _The Lieutenants_ and _The Captains_, but they're definitely *there* in a way that they weren't in _The Majors_.

The action in _The Colonels_ takes place in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The central thread of the plot is the establishment of the Green Berets, and most of the book's best scenes revolve around the shaping of the Green Beret program. The book ends with the disastrous US-backed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro by landing a force of Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs--an operation in which many of the characters play peripheral roles. Griffin keeps old plotlines in play, but also takes the time to service a number of characters who were in danger of slipping out of the story: notably Barbara Bellmon, Paul Jiggs, and Phil Parker IV.

Griffin's ear for soldiers' voices and his familiarity with military routine comes through in many individual scenes: several training exercises, an unauthorized visit to an aircraft graveyard, Mac Macmillan's chance encounter with a young lieutenant, and a running subplot about the Green Berets' distinctive headgear. The bureaucratic guerilla warfare that took up much of _The Majors_ is back, but it works better in _The Colonels_, perhaps because the outcome will affect the lives, not just the careers, of people we care about.

_The Colonels_ ultimately fails, however, to hit the same heights that _The Lieutentants_ and _The Captains_ reached. Part of the problem may be the time frame it covers. _The Lieutenants_ had the shift from WWII to the Cold War; _The Captains_ had Korea; _The Colonels_ has the Bay of Pigs, but not yet Vietnam. Especially when it strays from the "building the Green Berets" thread, it often feels like it's just marking time.

Rating:
Summary: Understanding Viet Nam
Review: I enjoyed all of Griffin's Brotherhood of War and Corps books; however, the first part of this one helped me to understand some of the build up to the Viet Nam conflict. I grew up during the pre-Viet Nam conflict era but wasn't old enough or interested enough at the time to pay attention to the causes. This book (along with Tom Dooley's [spelling?]) filled in a lot of the holes.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book!
Review: I had found this book used, and I read through it. I've known from previous books of his that I have read that he takes military life down to the smallest detail. I'm an active duty US Marine and its refreshing to see him break down the most mundane things in military life down, because I not only find that kind of stuff funny to be broken down the way he does it, but it really helps me identify with the characters in his books, even if his books that I've read generally cover the WWII era through early Vietnam Era, although I'm sure Vets would appreciate his writing even more than I do. I have about 10 of his books, and it also helps that some of the characters are reused between books as they get promoted and move on with their careers and their interpersonal relationships.

If your a first time reader of these types of books, welcome to his world, but if you like military books, you'll like this one, especially if you are military, and even more so if you are a veteran.

Rating:
Summary: SPC4 USA ARMY 95Bravo MDW
Review: Really a fantastic series (this is book 4) that not only entertains the reader with great characters but also walks us through the history of the Army's development from WWII to the present. For those military history buffs or any ex-GI, this is a must read.