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Echo Company #3
'Tis the Season
Since arriving in Vietnam, the only things that have helped Lt. Rebecca Phillips have been her sense of humor and dedication to saving lives. When a Christmas Day medevac run goes awry, Rebecca must depend on her wits to survive in the jungle.
Michael, Snoopy, Sarge and the rest of the squad wouldn't have chosen to spend Christmas patrolling the jungles of Vietnam -- if they'd had the choice, that is. So what was an Army nurse doing wandering hurt and frightened in those same jungles? She wasn't supposed to be there -- not in the middle of a war. They certainly couldn't have imagined the harrowing story she had to tell.
*Originally published under the name Zack Emerson*
Michael, Snoopy, Sarge and the rest of the squad wouldn't have chosen to spend Christmas patrolling the jungles of Vietnam -- if they'd had the choice, that is. So what was an Army nurse doing wandering hurt and frightened in those same jungles? She wasn't supposed to be there -- not in the middle of a war. They certainly couldn't have imagined the harrowing story she had to tell.
*Originally published under the name Zack Emerson*
254 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 24, 2015
This third book in the Echo Company series goes in a different direction, with the main character being Lieutenant Rebecca Phillips, a nurse in Vietnam. She's cheerful, friendly, a little goofy, and lovable, and I was interested in her immediately. After some establishing scenes, however, everything goes wrong when she illicitly goes along on a rescue mission when no military corpsman is around. What happens next changes Rebecca forever.
I wouldn't have been so easy-going about not seeing more of the adventures of PFC Michael Jennings and crew if I didn't already know that Rebecca is the main character in the fifth book, The Road Home, and therefore important. And by the end, when the two characters are brought together, it's very interesting to see Echo Company through someone else's eyes. Rebecca is tough as well as kind, as soft-hearted in her way as Michael is in his, and I loved reading about her.
Most of this book is worthy of a spoiler tag, which I will now provide:
Again, this was an exciting read, and I really want to know what happens next--particularly if Michael and Rebecca ever meet again.
I wouldn't have been so easy-going about not seeing more of the adventures of PFC Michael Jennings and crew if I didn't already know that Rebecca is the main character in the fifth book, The Road Home, and therefore important. And by the end, when the two characters are brought together, it's very interesting to see Echo Company through someone else's eyes. Rebecca is tough as well as kind, as soft-hearted in her way as Michael is in his, and I loved reading about her.
Most of this book is worthy of a spoiler tag, which I will now provide:
Again, this was an exciting read, and I really want to know what happens next--particularly if Michael and Rebecca ever meet again.
July 4, 2022
Rebecca is the singing nurse, with a green ribbon in one braid, a red ribbon in the other. Too much Christmas spirit to be able to suppress it. Even in Vietnam.
At least that’s the part she plays, for the boys who come into the ER tent bleeding and shot apart and asking what happened to their squad members.
But at night she’s the one counting needles or numbing her mind with alcohol. And trying not to remember the guy who confessed he loved her, then came home in a coffin.
Three months. She’s been a nurse in Vietnam three months. And already she knows she’s losing the ability to ever go home.
’Tis the Season is the third novel in a five book YA series by Ellen Emerson White (pseudonym Zack Emerson). This episode introduces Rebecca and is entirely in her point of view—though Michael, the main character in the first two books, does get a few not-so-shining moments:) I’m loving this series. The author lures you in, lets you get comfortable, gives the characters a sense of humor . . . and then rips their lives apart. Fabulous.
At least that’s the part she plays, for the boys who come into the ER tent bleeding and shot apart and asking what happened to their squad members.
But at night she’s the one counting needles or numbing her mind with alcohol. And trying not to remember the guy who confessed he loved her, then came home in a coffin.
Three months. She’s been a nurse in Vietnam three months. And already she knows she’s losing the ability to ever go home.
’Tis the Season is the third novel in a five book YA series by Ellen Emerson White (pseudonym Zack Emerson). This episode introduces Rebecca and is entirely in her point of view—though Michael, the main character in the first two books, does get a few not-so-shining moments:) I’m loving this series. The author lures you in, lets you get comfortable, gives the characters a sense of humor . . . and then rips their lives apart. Fabulous.
August 18, 2013
This is Rebecca's backstory, what you miss in The Road Home. Solid characters in an untenable situation, doing the best they can. So achingly true, so well written. I need to have this whole series of books. They surely do pass the 3 a.m. test.
Rebecca is such a wonderful person, complicated and fierce and devoted and broken. I think there needs to be a sixth book. And maybe a seventh.
Rebecca is such a wonderful person, complicated and fierce and devoted and broken. I think there needs to be a sixth book. And maybe a seventh.
June 4, 2014
I am loving this series. The books aren't long and are easy to read, but man, they transport me to another place and time.
April 8, 2016
Christmas in Vietnam. Perspective switches to nurse Rebecca, and gives much-needed backstory for anyone who read The Road Home first.
August 3, 2016
Nursing in Vietnam during the war and the horrors that can entail. Riveting and engaging!
October 28, 2022
This book was a little bit jarring just because I expected it to be from the perspective of Michael and about the boys again, but they play a very small role. Like it's still a fantastic book (obviously, I gave it 5 stars), it just took me sometime to adjust. I feel like maybe the synopsis was a little bit misleading in that regard.
But once I got over that, this book was fantastic. We're following Rebecca who's a nurse at the rear and mistakenly winds up on her own in the jungle. She's such a wonderful character and I adore her perspective. She's so fake cheerful for the people around her, but the trauma she witnesses every day leaves a huge impact.
This book, once again, made me cry, so Ellen Emerson White is three for three here. Apparently, Rebecca is also the main character of The Road Home so I am especially stoked for that now.
I continue to highly recommend this series because it's probably my favorite thing that I've read all year.
But once I got over that, this book was fantastic. We're following Rebecca who's a nurse at the rear and mistakenly winds up on her own in the jungle. She's such a wonderful character and I adore her perspective. She's so fake cheerful for the people around her, but the trauma she witnesses every day leaves a huge impact.
This book, once again, made me cry, so Ellen Emerson White is three for three here. Apparently, Rebecca is also the main character of The Road Home so I am especially stoked for that now.
I continue to highly recommend this series because it's probably my favorite thing that I've read all year.
August 22, 2009
Coming off the mentally and physically exhausting battle from 'Hill 568,' the narrative switches from Michael to follow Lt. Rebecca Phillips in 'Tis the Season. Rebecca is in Vietnam for many personal reasons, one being the army paid for her nursing degree so she's agreed to spend one year as a nurse in a field hospital in Vietnam. Full of sass herself, Rebecca impulsively jumps on a medi-vac helicopter which then crashes in the jungle and kills her friends. Bad enough right? To her horror, some of the Vietnamese rebels heard the crash which leads to one unforgettable encounter with a young solider. Later, she stumbles through the jungle on a broken ankle until coming across Michael's squad - who are just as surprised to find her as she is them. Let's just say Michael is more than a little smitten with the ballsy Lieutenant.
January 1, 2015
I read The Road Home over and over and over in middle and high school - and college and grad school and beyond. I love Rebecca madly. And this, finally, is her introduction. Finally, I see the Rebecca that everyone referenced as lost throughout her sequel. It's heartbreaking to finally see what happened in the jungle. It's pretty much exactly what I imagined from hints and discussions in The Road Home, but it's still different to experience it as it happens. Excellent characters and storytelling, pragmatic and awful look at the reality of war.
July 8, 2009
It's all Rebecca! Now I need to own this one, too.
June 30, 2016
The backstory for Rebecca. If you've read The Road Home already, this is fascinating!
October 22, 2022
Yep, five shining stars! For real!
So far I've given three five-star rating this year, but it's true two of them were mostly nostalgia driven. This is a five-star rating for its own merit.
Jeez, I cried like a baby while I was reading this in the middle of the night. I was in Vietnam with Becky and not in my warm bed. I was singing with her in the OR, even if I missed most of the cultural references.
This book surprised me to no end. The central scene was unexpected and so fricking good. And when Becky and Michael finally meet, he shows a tender side of him we readers knew it was there, but we were never shown.
I also adored the final scene, where the other nurses try to protect poor Becky.
Jeez, I want to have a hardcopy of this book so bad!
So far I've given three five-star rating this year, but it's true two of them were mostly nostalgia driven. This is a five-star rating for its own merit.
Jeez, I cried like a baby while I was reading this in the middle of the night. I was in Vietnam with Becky and not in my warm bed. I was singing with her in the OR, even if I missed most of the cultural references.
This book surprised me to no end. The central scene was unexpected and so fricking good. And when Becky and Michael finally meet, he shows a tender side of him we readers knew it was there, but we were never shown.
I also adored the final scene, where the other nurses try to protect poor Becky.
Jeez, I want to have a hardcopy of this book so bad!
February 28, 2018
I relate to Rebecca more than is reasonable. I am not a nurse, an extrovert(ish), a party girl, nor do I make terrible snap decisions. And yet I recognized her.The research and accuracy of a Vietnam hospital are notable for such a short book and for how seamless they blend into the narrative. Rebecca encounters Vietnamese people, but because of the language barrier, she is still very much disconnected. She does question her own internalized racism but ultimately lacks the energy and motivation needed to change. Her man conflict is fairly unrealistic (or at least I am pretty sure that it is), but it reads as probable.
February 20, 2025
Fantastic book for all!
Rebecca is 21, fresh out of nursing school, and full of life when she decides to go to Vietnam, to help the war effort. After one terrible Christmas, she meets Mike and the gang in the third installment of the Vietnam War series.
This is a fantastic book on the life of an army nurse, and one of my favorites in the series. These are must reads in the classroom and the home as you get a raw view of life of the soldiers in Vietnam.
Rebecca is 21, fresh out of nursing school, and full of life when she decides to go to Vietnam, to help the war effort. After one terrible Christmas, she meets Mike and the gang in the third installment of the Vietnam War series.
This is a fantastic book on the life of an army nurse, and one of my favorites in the series. These are must reads in the classroom and the home as you get a raw view of life of the soldiers in Vietnam.
January 16, 2023
The Long Road Home is an excellent book that tells the story of Rebecca’s return to the States. Being able to read about what happened in Vietnam is amazing. I enjoy her story so much as she is such a real character.
January 3, 2022
Focus turns from Michael and his squad to Rebecca, a nurse working at a hospital in Vietnam where the casualties are sent. While life is difficult enough for her, not to mention the work she has to do, she can't imagine what it's like out in the jungle. In the combat zone. Until she ends up out there, all by herself, just trying to survive.
I was really confused as I read this book, because the official synopsis makes it sound like the story still centers around the guys in Michael's squad. They're barely in it, and the entire thing is from Rebecca's perspective. This might not have bothered me so much if I knew to expect it. Lots of readers seem to have already read the last book in the series, The Road Home, which was apparently originally marketed as a complete stand alone and wasn't connected to the series until years later. That book seems to be solely about Rebecca as well. So, then, leaving aside my disappointment at not seeing the guys much, the book was good in its own right.
Rebecca was a strange mix of different than Michael, and yet similar. She shares at least a mild belligerence toward authority with him, but she's really upbeat and whimsical. Plus, she volunteered to go to Vietnam. She's got such a heart to help, it makes her the kind of person who could so easily be too emotionally invested in all of the injured people who come through the emergency room. While it's difficult for those of us who have never been in this kind of situation to understand just how dangerous that can be, I can understand enough to feel for her.
Also because of the official synopsis, which talked about the guys finding Rebecca in the jungle, I was a little frustrated when it took so long for that whole scenario to start. And there was a scene out in the jungle that went on a lot longer than I understood. Honestly, I think we were supposed to get something out of it that I just didn't. But overall, it's still a decent book, and I tried not to let the disappointment caused by the official synopsis affect my rating (much).
I was really confused as I read this book, because the official synopsis makes it sound like the story still centers around the guys in Michael's squad. They're barely in it, and the entire thing is from Rebecca's perspective. This might not have bothered me so much if I knew to expect it. Lots of readers seem to have already read the last book in the series, The Road Home, which was apparently originally marketed as a complete stand alone and wasn't connected to the series until years later. That book seems to be solely about Rebecca as well. So, then, leaving aside my disappointment at not seeing the guys much, the book was good in its own right.
Rebecca was a strange mix of different than Michael, and yet similar. She shares at least a mild belligerence toward authority with him, but she's really upbeat and whimsical. Plus, she volunteered to go to Vietnam. She's got such a heart to help, it makes her the kind of person who could so easily be too emotionally invested in all of the injured people who come through the emergency room. While it's difficult for those of us who have never been in this kind of situation to understand just how dangerous that can be, I can understand enough to feel for her.
Also because of the official synopsis, which talked about the guys finding Rebecca in the jungle, I was a little frustrated when it took so long for that whole scenario to start. And there was a scene out in the jungle that went on a lot longer than I understood. Honestly, I think we were supposed to get something out of it that I just didn't. But overall, it's still a decent book, and I tried not to let the disappointment caused by the official synopsis affect my rating (much).
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews