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The Expendables by Leonard B. Scott
"Military fiction buffs looking for immersion in authentic renderings of infantry combat will appreciate Scott's latest Vietnam war story."PUBLISHERS WEEKLYFour men who had nothing in common -- except the raw courage that was their greatest weapon during the fierce thirty-five-day conflict of the Ia Drang. This is the story of the men who fought with them -- and the 304 who didn't return.
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First published January 1, 1991
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About the author
Leonard B. Scott
12 books57 followersLeonard B. Scott (Col. USA ret.) is also the author of the acclaimed novels Charlie Mike, The Last Run, The Hill, The Expendables, The Iron Men, and Forged in Honor. Scott retired in 1994 as a full colonel after a twenty-seven-year career in the United States Army, with assignments throughout the world. A veteran of Vietnam, he earned the Silver Star and Purple Heart. Colonel Scott devotes all his time to researching and writing his novels. He and his wife have returned to their home state of Oklahoma, bought their dream house, and declare they're never moving again.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 14, 2015
This is a fictional re-telling of the battle of Ia Drang, one of the bloodiest of the Viet Nam conflict. It also tells the story of the the formation of the First Air Cavalry and the innovative tactics they employed. We watch the development of an Air Cav division through the eyes of a squad and culminates with Ia Drang, the first time in the war that a U. S. Army division faces a regular North Vietnamese Army division as opposed to the less professional Viet Cong. Once again you can tell that Mr. Scott has been there and knows what he is writing about.
December 9, 2015
Personal Response:
I really enjoyed reading this book. I probably enjoyed this book a lot because I know a lot about military stuff. I also enjoyed this book because it was about the Vietnam War. I like learning about the Vietnam War because my grandpa was actually in the war.
Plot Summary:
The book starts out when Shawn Flynn(then a private) jumps out of an Army truck in the Korean War. He then was told to deliver radio batteries up to John Quail, who was stationed on a hill with the Colombians. While Shawn is up there, the Chinese decide to attack the hill. In the end, Shawn gets injured, and survives. He gains the respect of John. Flynn decides to make the Army his career.
Then the book jumps to a bunch of boys who are about 8 years old. It takes a while to establish the characters of Blake, Vinny, Eugene, and Lee. The major part of this was when Eugene’s dad(a WWII veteran) takes him to the Veterans Day parade in town. They are told to leave because they are African-American.
It fast forwards and Flynn is is in the Special Forces. He goes to Vietnam, and survives. He comes back home and finds out that his German born wife, Gretchen, dumped him for another soldier. Shawn flips out and punches Gretchen and the other guy(it doesn’t give the name). Shawn gets thrown out of the Special Forces and is given a job as a range target supervisor.
Shawn does his job, but gets himself blasted drunk every night after work in a bar by his shabby trailer house. One night Cindy, the bar owner’s sister-in-law, annoys Shawn so much, he tries to kill himself with his motorcycle. He survives. Cindy and Shawn then come really good friends.
After all getting mad/angry about different situations, Blake, Vinny and Lee enlist in the U.S. Army. Eugene gets drafted. They all get to be wonderful friends.
John(who now works for the Pentagon) finds out about how Shawn is living, and pulls strings to get him into the new airmobile division as a platoon leader. Shawn offers a marriage proposal to Cindy, but she turns it down. The platoon trains and eventually gets shipped to Vietnam. Right before they leave, John convinces Cindy to reconsider the marriage proposal, and she agrees. Shawn and Cindy get married.
The team goes into Vietnam. Blake is made the squad leader and they end up going into the 35 day battle of the Ia Drang. The Ia Drang was the first battle were the U.S. went up against regular North Vietnamese troops. The squad does really good on their first patrol, killing 8 North Vietnamese. They receive many awards when they get back to camp. They enter a couple more fire fights before the big battle.
John gets sent to Vietnam to check on the new division, and ends up in Blake’s squad. The squad goes into the big battle as reinforcements and ends up going on a mission to find the other squads. The other squads are all dead. They then get entrenched during the night, and Blake, John, and other members of the squad get killed. Shawn, Vinny, Lee, and Eugene somehow are able to pull through until the morning, but all get wounded. They all get sent home.
The book ends when Shawn, Vinny, Lee, Eugene, Blake’s Dad(in his honor), and Eugene’s Dad all walk to the Veteran’s Day Parade in Eugene’s hometown, the same one near the beginning. The only difference though is that Eugene and his Dad can stay because segregation is illegal.
Recommendation:
I would recommend this book to middle or high schoolers because it is pretty big and has a few inappropriate scenes. There is also a lot of swearing(it is the Army) said by the characters. Also during the battles, it gets a little gory. If you want a good book that mixes fiction and real events, this is the book to read.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I probably enjoyed this book a lot because I know a lot about military stuff. I also enjoyed this book because it was about the Vietnam War. I like learning about the Vietnam War because my grandpa was actually in the war.
Plot Summary:
The book starts out when Shawn Flynn(then a private) jumps out of an Army truck in the Korean War. He then was told to deliver radio batteries up to John Quail, who was stationed on a hill with the Colombians. While Shawn is up there, the Chinese decide to attack the hill. In the end, Shawn gets injured, and survives. He gains the respect of John. Flynn decides to make the Army his career.
Then the book jumps to a bunch of boys who are about 8 years old. It takes a while to establish the characters of Blake, Vinny, Eugene, and Lee. The major part of this was when Eugene’s dad(a WWII veteran) takes him to the Veterans Day parade in town. They are told to leave because they are African-American.
It fast forwards and Flynn is is in the Special Forces. He goes to Vietnam, and survives. He comes back home and finds out that his German born wife, Gretchen, dumped him for another soldier. Shawn flips out and punches Gretchen and the other guy(it doesn’t give the name). Shawn gets thrown out of the Special Forces and is given a job as a range target supervisor.
Shawn does his job, but gets himself blasted drunk every night after work in a bar by his shabby trailer house. One night Cindy, the bar owner’s sister-in-law, annoys Shawn so much, he tries to kill himself with his motorcycle. He survives. Cindy and Shawn then come really good friends.
After all getting mad/angry about different situations, Blake, Vinny and Lee enlist in the U.S. Army. Eugene gets drafted. They all get to be wonderful friends.
John(who now works for the Pentagon) finds out about how Shawn is living, and pulls strings to get him into the new airmobile division as a platoon leader. Shawn offers a marriage proposal to Cindy, but she turns it down. The platoon trains and eventually gets shipped to Vietnam. Right before they leave, John convinces Cindy to reconsider the marriage proposal, and she agrees. Shawn and Cindy get married.
The team goes into Vietnam. Blake is made the squad leader and they end up going into the 35 day battle of the Ia Drang. The Ia Drang was the first battle were the U.S. went up against regular North Vietnamese troops. The squad does really good on their first patrol, killing 8 North Vietnamese. They receive many awards when they get back to camp. They enter a couple more fire fights before the big battle.
John gets sent to Vietnam to check on the new division, and ends up in Blake’s squad. The squad goes into the big battle as reinforcements and ends up going on a mission to find the other squads. The other squads are all dead. They then get entrenched during the night, and Blake, John, and other members of the squad get killed. Shawn, Vinny, Lee, and Eugene somehow are able to pull through until the morning, but all get wounded. They all get sent home.
The book ends when Shawn, Vinny, Lee, Eugene, Blake’s Dad(in his honor), and Eugene’s Dad all walk to the Veteran’s Day Parade in Eugene’s hometown, the same one near the beginning. The only difference though is that Eugene and his Dad can stay because segregation is illegal.
Recommendation:
I would recommend this book to middle or high schoolers because it is pretty big and has a few inappropriate scenes. There is also a lot of swearing(it is the Army) said by the characters. Also during the battles, it gets a little gory. If you want a good book that mixes fiction and real events, this is the book to read.
March 15, 2012
The Expendables
By: Leonard B. Scott
When you were drafted it didn’t matter if you were black, white, rich, or even poor. You went and did your country a service. The story of "The Expendables" is just that. A band of very different people, all from very different back grounds, and all drafted to service their country.
Charcters: Vinny: An Italian beat em up boy with a serious case of racism.
Blake: A rich boy who got tired of being pushed around by his dad.
` Eugene: An African American, and courageous but stubborn boy.
Cindy: A strong-willed women who had her baby boy die in a crib next to her still believes in love.
Shawn: The sarge. A tough grizzled old man who has had and seen a lot of horrors in his life but still believes.
Plot: The plot of the book "the Expendables" is about how a band of people from totally different backgrounds were all thrown together in a single place, the training ground of soldiers, considered hell, all managed to survive and yet still made it out alive and soldiers. Then went into combat as boys and came back men.
Opinion: although the book had a kind of a jumping type of quality about it I personally thought it was written quite well. Truthfully it would have been a better read if the print wasn’t quite so small but you must understand that was done to save paper, but otherwise I must say quite a good read. It has both a sense of brotherhood and togetherness but yet a morbid type of sense you will gather from the very descriptive book.
By: Leonard B. Scott
When you were drafted it didn’t matter if you were black, white, rich, or even poor. You went and did your country a service. The story of "The Expendables" is just that. A band of very different people, all from very different back grounds, and all drafted to service their country.
Charcters: Vinny: An Italian beat em up boy with a serious case of racism.
Blake: A rich boy who got tired of being pushed around by his dad.
` Eugene: An African American, and courageous but stubborn boy.
Cindy: A strong-willed women who had her baby boy die in a crib next to her still believes in love.
Shawn: The sarge. A tough grizzled old man who has had and seen a lot of horrors in his life but still believes.
Plot: The plot of the book "the Expendables" is about how a band of people from totally different backgrounds were all thrown together in a single place, the training ground of soldiers, considered hell, all managed to survive and yet still made it out alive and soldiers. Then went into combat as boys and came back men.
Opinion: although the book had a kind of a jumping type of quality about it I personally thought it was written quite well. Truthfully it would have been a better read if the print wasn’t quite so small but you must understand that was done to save paper, but otherwise I must say quite a good read. It has both a sense of brotherhood and togetherness but yet a morbid type of sense you will gather from the very descriptive book.
April 14, 2008
What did I love about this book? Like Leonard B. Scott books he doesn't dwell on the politics on the time, but the people on the ground. These boys weren't trying to bring freedom to some oppressed country they were just trying to bring themselves and their buddies home alive.
Their Sgt whose main message was not to die stupid. His motto for the enemy was simple, respect them, then hate em, Then kill em.He respected the enemy, he knew them to be hard dedicated people just trying to make their way in a country that has been at war for generations. He didn't permit his troopers to use the words 'gook' in his ear shot, which made it impossible, because he just seem to pop up when least expected. He knew the village on the outskirts of the base probably had sons that were fighting the americans. He never held that against them, it was just the nature of the thing.
Their Sgt whose main message was not to die stupid. His motto for the enemy was simple, respect them, then hate em, Then kill em.He respected the enemy, he knew them to be hard dedicated people just trying to make their way in a country that has been at war for generations. He didn't permit his troopers to use the words 'gook' in his ear shot, which made it impossible, because he just seem to pop up when least expected. He knew the village on the outskirts of the base probably had sons that were fighting the americans. He never held that against them, it was just the nature of the thing.
September 17, 2012
One of the first war novels I ever read and still one of my favorites!
November 6, 2022
Blake Alexander comes from old Virginia money. Lee Calhoun is a poor Georgia farm boy who dreams of education, becoming the first person in his family to go to college, but sacrificed that to keep his family fed. Eugene Day attends a Veterans Day celebration with his father, a decorated veteran of World War II, and is horrified when he is driven away by a white man who claimed no black man should be honored. Vincent Martino quit school and was better known for fighting than for anything else.
When these men are thrown together in Vietnam, they forge lifetime friendships that transcend all the barriers of color, geography, class, and religion.
When these men are thrown together in Vietnam, they forge lifetime friendships that transcend all the barriers of color, geography, class, and religion.
January 28, 2024
This book was so good! The author does a great job building the characters and also did a really good job getting you to understand what it was like in war for these young guys.
I laughed and I cried but ultimately I feel like this is a must read. Really made me appreciate our US soldiers and all they go through on behalf of the US. I highly recommend and honestly, I feel like this should be a must read for all US history classes. I 100% would read again.
I laughed and I cried but ultimately I feel like this is a must read. Really made me appreciate our US soldiers and all they go through on behalf of the US. I highly recommend and honestly, I feel like this should be a must read for all US history classes. I 100% would read again.
January 24, 2020
Several unruly soldiers are commissioned to some dangerous missions in Vietnam. There are fights about race, religion and prostitution. They do a good job, but this book wasn't my favorite. I much preferred We Were Soldiers.
May 11, 2020
I'm usually not into war stories, but this one had me turning pages. I couldn't put it down! I got emotionally invested in the characters, and there is a serious tissue warning for the last few chapters!
September 30, 2021
A classic war story. Decent character development.
August 24, 2016
I read this book nearly 20 years ago and I still remember how much I loved it. Got my friends to read it.... And unfortunately never got it back. One of my all time favourites. Glad that I can download it!
January 16, 2008
This one isn't really connected to the other three, but some of the characters are the same. Another good one!
November 22, 2008
Excellent book.
June 10, 2009
Excellent war novel.
February 22, 2019
Not the same quality of Matterhorn or things they carried - it is more formulaic in the lay out of the story and outcome
It was not as good as I remember when I read it 25 years ago
It was not as good as I remember when I read it 25 years ago
July 6, 2015
The most outstanding War Novel that I have ever read!
April 26, 2009
i love this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews