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Echo Company #4
Stand Down
Echo Company was on stand down in Chu Lai. Big deal. It wasn't like they could really get away from the war or anything. Finnegan was having problems coping with things altogether. Sergeant Hanson had to adjust to a new chain of command. The squad had to break in some new guys and Michael was still reeling from two really obnoxious letters. All in all, stand down was a pretty weird concept to a bunch of grungy guys who had just come in from the jungles of Vietnam. But then the party started . . .
* Originally published under the name Zack Emerson *
* Originally published under the name Zack Emerson *
323 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 1992
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112 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 1, 2015
Wow. I loved this book. It's got everything the first three books had in terms of action and intense storytelling, plus one of the most beautiful relationship developments I've read in a long time. Echo Company gets a new sergeant, one a lot tougher than my beloved Sergeant Hanson, and it's not an easy transition because Hanson is still there and marginalized for being black (the new guy, slangily referred to as Top, actually calls him a "colored boy" and it's infuriating. I don't really care that it's realistic, because the story has done such a good job of showing the company coming together and overcoming racial differences). Fortunately, Top ends up being as competent as they could hope for, and even a little sympathetic. Not much. He's a lifer, and they're tough compared to soldiers like Michael who are desperate to complete their year of service without dying or being permanently crippled.
The first half of the book brings home the horrors of war in a way the previous books haven't, which is saying a lot considering the first three books didn't shy from showing how awful and terrifying it is. In this case, Echo Company has to help establish a camp, and they're constantly under attack. The order for them to "stand down," to go to relative safety at Chu Lai, comes as both a relief and a terror--terror because it seems too good to be true, and the whole time they're traveling I was on edge thinking now would be a good time for the whole convoy to be turned to paste by the NVA. But they make it, and after getting over the shock of returning to "civilization," it's time for the second half: the tentative reaching out that Michael and Rebecca engage in.
After the events of 'Tis the Season, there was really no reason for Michael to expect Rebecca to even remember him as more than the guy who nearly shot her. Their first correspondence when he was still in the field cracked me up, with Rebecca writing a stiffly formal letter of thanks and Michael responding with something snarky as is his wont, only to get back a letter with a single exclamation point in the center. But it's better when the two of them finally meet again, because neither of them is sure what they want, and their meeting begins with awkward hesitations and insecurity as both try to find common ground. She's a lieutenant, he's a private, and they're not supposed to fraternize, but it's clear from the beginning that they each need something more than romance from the other. My heart ached for them, both wounded in different ways. That Rebecca isn't ready to tell him what really happened to her in the jungle made a lot of sense, but what she does tell him sets the next book up for more revelations. The whole thing was just beautiful, and painful, and left me wanting more.
As usual, the secondary characters are brilliant, and one of my favorite parts happens at the end of the book, where we see all the guys relaxing in their different ways: Viper is a comatose drunk, silent even as he relaxes; Finnegan gets into three fights; Snoopy is laid-back and ready to eat as much as he can. I'm intrigued by the Major in charge of the nurses, who is tough but understanding when she catches Michael coming back from Rebecca's room in the morning (yes, they sleep together; no, they don't have sex) and I want to see more of her in the next book. Having read the first few pages of The Road Home before embarking on the whole series, I know she plays an important role, and I'm looking forward to it. As I look back over these four books, I can see how the momentum of the plot has been driving toward this fifth book, and I just hope it's as good as I anticipate.
The first half of the book brings home the horrors of war in a way the previous books haven't, which is saying a lot considering the first three books didn't shy from showing how awful and terrifying it is. In this case, Echo Company has to help establish a camp, and they're constantly under attack. The order for them to "stand down," to go to relative safety at Chu Lai, comes as both a relief and a terror--terror because it seems too good to be true, and the whole time they're traveling I was on edge thinking now would be a good time for the whole convoy to be turned to paste by the NVA. But they make it, and after getting over the shock of returning to "civilization," it's time for the second half: the tentative reaching out that Michael and Rebecca engage in.
After the events of 'Tis the Season, there was really no reason for Michael to expect Rebecca to even remember him as more than the guy who nearly shot her. Their first correspondence when he was still in the field cracked me up, with Rebecca writing a stiffly formal letter of thanks and Michael responding with something snarky as is his wont, only to get back a letter with a single exclamation point in the center. But it's better when the two of them finally meet again, because neither of them is sure what they want, and their meeting begins with awkward hesitations and insecurity as both try to find common ground. She's a lieutenant, he's a private, and they're not supposed to fraternize, but it's clear from the beginning that they each need something more than romance from the other. My heart ached for them, both wounded in different ways. That Rebecca isn't ready to tell him what really happened to her in the jungle made a lot of sense, but what she does tell him sets the next book up for more revelations. The whole thing was just beautiful, and painful, and left me wanting more.
As usual, the secondary characters are brilliant, and one of my favorite parts happens at the end of the book, where we see all the guys relaxing in their different ways: Viper is a comatose drunk, silent even as he relaxes; Finnegan gets into three fights; Snoopy is laid-back and ready to eat as much as he can. I'm intrigued by the Major in charge of the nurses, who is tough but understanding when she catches Michael coming back from Rebecca's room in the morning (yes, they sleep together; no, they don't have sex) and I want to see more of her in the next book. Having read the first few pages of The Road Home before embarking on the whole series, I know she plays an important role, and I'm looking forward to it. As I look back over these four books, I can see how the momentum of the plot has been driving toward this fifth book, and I just hope it's as good as I anticipate.
March 28, 2014
Before I get into anything about this book, I want to reassure anyone who has read The Road Home but not any of the previous books that this review is entirely safe. Or at least it's safe in terms of spoilers - how could it not be? - but I am going to talk about how some of the things I found in it enhanced my already great appreciation for The Road Home.
If you haven't read any of the books, you're still fine UNLESS all you care about is which of the characters make it to the last book (which would be stupid, so I assume nobody will feel that way). Newer friends may not know my feeling about books that end without any hope, and if you/they want to preserve a complete lack of knowledge of how the fifth book ends generally, then you shouldn't read further.
Stand Down starts shortly after 'Tis the Season ends, and is back to Michael's POV. To set a sort of frame, in 'Tis the Season just before Rebecca is medevaced out, Michael asks her if she'll write to them to let them know she's okay. She thinks that she has "no intention of ever establishing another friendship - of any kind - in Vietnam", but agrees, mentally qualifying that she'll send a "quick note. Stay on that line between pleasant and impersonal. She was good at that line." In the beginning of The Road Home, which in turn starts shortly after Stand Down ends, Michael is writing to her almost every day, real letters, and she thinks: "Friendship and romance - in no particular order - were the absolute last things on her mind these days - but - well." Stand Down is in part the story of how they got from one place to another. It's also much more about Michael and the rest of the squad in the jungle before they finally get the stand down they've not dared to hope for.
Reading Stand Down after having started with The Road Home is slightly strange for a few reasons. For one, you know already that Michael has spent time with Rebecca in Chu Lai (where the evacuation hospital Rebecca works in is located) and of course know all that happens before her tour is over. Flipping back to him waiting for the letter Rebecca promised to send to arrive, and seeing how huge the weight of his expectations, still leaves you unprepared for the impersonal quick note she promised herself she'd send; although nothing like as unprepared as poor Michael is. When he gets it the same day he gets a "really obnoxious" (description from cover blurb - accurate for once) letter from Elizabeth, it hits him hard. It's an interesting bit of the story, about which I'm only just beginning to feel a tiny bit of detachment, in that the effect of both letters is of casual cruelty, though for very different reasons. Elizabeth seems to be quite happy to cut Michael down more than she did in the past, contacting him only to use him, while continuing to belittle him, as she's managed even to blame him for getting drafted. Rebecca, on the other hand, is knowingly distancing him to be self-protective, which you'd think a very sensible move, if not the most admirable one, if you weren't in Michael's head quite so firmly. As it is, the scene is devastating. Every day after finishing the book, despite the relatively upbeat ending and despite knowing what happens in the last book, I kept thinking back to this one scene and feeling so bad for Michael I almost ended up in tears too.
What makes the book so powerful, though, is that we see the impact of Rebecca's letter on Mike, we see how it adds to his growing depression, and yet we also see clearly that he’s expected far too much from her. The wonderful (and handsome!) Sergeant Hanson knows how unhappy Michael is - they all do - but he tries to get him to see that writing at all was probably the upper limit of what she could manage. ("Yeah, well, guess I'm just a fucking romantic" is the reply.) There's a lovely touch indicating Michael's continued ability to care for others, despite everything, when he in turn asks if Hanson minds that the Army (with incomprehensible reasoning) has brought in another Sergeant who - kind of - has seniority, though Hanson isn't demoted or anything. (Other Sergeant, Top, is white, comes in making a somewhat derogatory comment about Hanson, who's black, and it seems as if he's likely to be the bad NCO of everyone's nightmares. He isn't, which is yet another example of the strength of this writing.)
Then there's Michael's birthday, which is heartbreaking in another way, as you see his appreciation for the tiny treats the guys in his squad manage to scrounge to share with him. The thing is, though, that you know he absolutely deserves their friendship, however low his belief in himself is at this point. He recognises very quickly that he's being mean to the new guy in the squad which is influencing Snoopy to be mean, and stops; he continues to do everything he can to protect Finnegan, whom they all know to be on the brink of collapse; and he also keeps on caring about and looking out for Snoopy, even though he has the starkest possible picture of the cost of real friendship in front of him in Finnegan. And, leaving chronology aside for a minute here, another indication of his worth is shown when he’s with Rebecca. Utterly smitten with her as he is, he still puts his romantic hopes second to offering her a genuine opportunity to talk to him about what happened when she crashed in the jungle. She can’t do it, but the fact that she shares more with him than she had with anyone else there shows how real - if unusual - their friendship has just become.
When the squad finally - at very long and very overdue last - gets their bit of R&R, Michael sets out to find Rebecca and talk to her, at the least. This is one of the interesting things that you don't see reading the books out of order - all the pushing she has to do against Mike's rejections in The Road Home parallels what he has to do here, with the difference that Rebecca is surrounded by protective colleagues of various sorts who add to her very effective barrier against him, while he is surrounded by family who welcome Rebecca in every way they can. There's a lovely little touch in a scene which shows Michael, having pushed and persevered and despaired and pushed some more (and offered to go away and leave her alone), and he's got Rebecca to let him go back to her room with her (for a few beers ONLY) and he's sitting on the floor beside the bed while she showers, reading her book - Sue Barton, Student Nurse. It's wonderful, and also completely beyond wonderful when linked to the scene in The Road Home, when Rebecca finds it unbelievable that she's in Michael's bed, reading his books.
Finally, I want to quote this one bit - it's so sad, and so right. (They’re in Rebecca’s room, she’s told him about Doug, though he doesn’t know that’s a big deal for her, and she offers to put on music - suggesting the Doors. He suddenly realises that she must have lost close friends in the crash, and sighs, which causes her to ask what's up.)
It matters not only for this book, but because it shows even more clearly than it’s shown in The Road Home how broken Michael would have to be to withdraw from the people he cares about so truly, and so bravely.
If you haven't read any of the books, you're still fine UNLESS all you care about is which of the characters make it to the last book (which would be stupid, so I assume nobody will feel that way). Newer friends may not know my feeling about books that end without any hope, and if you/they want to preserve a complete lack of knowledge of how the fifth book ends generally, then you shouldn't read further.
Stand Down starts shortly after 'Tis the Season ends, and is back to Michael's POV. To set a sort of frame, in 'Tis the Season just before Rebecca is medevaced out, Michael asks her if she'll write to them to let them know she's okay. She thinks that she has "no intention of ever establishing another friendship - of any kind - in Vietnam", but agrees, mentally qualifying that she'll send a "quick note. Stay on that line between pleasant and impersonal. She was good at that line." In the beginning of The Road Home, which in turn starts shortly after Stand Down ends, Michael is writing to her almost every day, real letters, and she thinks: "Friendship and romance - in no particular order - were the absolute last things on her mind these days - but - well." Stand Down is in part the story of how they got from one place to another. It's also much more about Michael and the rest of the squad in the jungle before they finally get the stand down they've not dared to hope for.
Reading Stand Down after having started with The Road Home is slightly strange for a few reasons. For one, you know already that Michael has spent time with Rebecca in Chu Lai (where the evacuation hospital Rebecca works in is located) and of course know all that happens before her tour is over. Flipping back to him waiting for the letter Rebecca promised to send to arrive, and seeing how huge the weight of his expectations, still leaves you unprepared for the impersonal quick note she promised herself she'd send; although nothing like as unprepared as poor Michael is. When he gets it the same day he gets a "really obnoxious" (description from cover blurb - accurate for once) letter from Elizabeth, it hits him hard. It's an interesting bit of the story, about which I'm only just beginning to feel a tiny bit of detachment, in that the effect of both letters is of casual cruelty, though for very different reasons. Elizabeth seems to be quite happy to cut Michael down more than she did in the past, contacting him only to use him, while continuing to belittle him, as she's managed even to blame him for getting drafted. Rebecca, on the other hand, is knowingly distancing him to be self-protective, which you'd think a very sensible move, if not the most admirable one, if you weren't in Michael's head quite so firmly. As it is, the scene is devastating. Every day after finishing the book, despite the relatively upbeat ending and despite knowing what happens in the last book, I kept thinking back to this one scene and feeling so bad for Michael I almost ended up in tears too.
What makes the book so powerful, though, is that we see the impact of Rebecca's letter on Mike, we see how it adds to his growing depression, and yet we also see clearly that he’s expected far too much from her. The wonderful (and handsome!) Sergeant Hanson knows how unhappy Michael is - they all do - but he tries to get him to see that writing at all was probably the upper limit of what she could manage. ("Yeah, well, guess I'm just a fucking romantic" is the reply.) There's a lovely touch indicating Michael's continued ability to care for others, despite everything, when he in turn asks if Hanson minds that the Army (with incomprehensible reasoning) has brought in another Sergeant who - kind of - has seniority, though Hanson isn't demoted or anything. (Other Sergeant, Top, is white, comes in making a somewhat derogatory comment about Hanson, who's black, and it seems as if he's likely to be the bad NCO of everyone's nightmares. He isn't, which is yet another example of the strength of this writing.)
Then there's Michael's birthday, which is heartbreaking in another way, as you see his appreciation for the tiny treats the guys in his squad manage to scrounge to share with him. The thing is, though, that you know he absolutely deserves their friendship, however low his belief in himself is at this point. He recognises very quickly that he's being mean to the new guy in the squad which is influencing Snoopy to be mean, and stops; he continues to do everything he can to protect Finnegan, whom they all know to be on the brink of collapse; and he also keeps on caring about and looking out for Snoopy, even though he has the starkest possible picture of the cost of real friendship in front of him in Finnegan. And, leaving chronology aside for a minute here, another indication of his worth is shown when he’s with Rebecca. Utterly smitten with her as he is, he still puts his romantic hopes second to offering her a genuine opportunity to talk to him about what happened when she crashed in the jungle. She can’t do it, but the fact that she shares more with him than she had with anyone else there shows how real - if unusual - their friendship has just become.
When the squad finally - at very long and very overdue last - gets their bit of R&R, Michael sets out to find Rebecca and talk to her, at the least. This is one of the interesting things that you don't see reading the books out of order - all the pushing she has to do against Mike's rejections in The Road Home parallels what he has to do here, with the difference that Rebecca is surrounded by protective colleagues of various sorts who add to her very effective barrier against him, while he is surrounded by family who welcome Rebecca in every way they can. There's a lovely little touch in a scene which shows Michael, having pushed and persevered and despaired and pushed some more (and offered to go away and leave her alone), and he's got Rebecca to let him go back to her room with her (for a few beers ONLY) and he's sitting on the floor beside the bed while she showers, reading her book - Sue Barton, Student Nurse. It's wonderful, and also completely beyond wonderful when linked to the scene in The Road Home, when Rebecca finds it unbelievable that she's in Michael's bed, reading his books.
Finally, I want to quote this one bit - it's so sad, and so right. (They’re in Rebecca’s room, she’s told him about Doug, though he doesn’t know that’s a big deal for her, and she offers to put on music - suggesting the Doors. He suddenly realises that she must have lost close friends in the crash, and sighs, which causes her to ask what's up.)
What was he going to say, that he’d just figured out that she was in a much deeper hell than he’d realized? That he was, in all probability, one of the last things on her mind?
“I, uh --” It was an effort not to sigh again. “Would you put on My Fair Lady?” he asked. Because -- he really felt like hearing something nice.
Something that would make him feel very far away from Vietnam.
It matters not only for this book, but because it shows even more clearly than it’s shown in The Road Home how broken Michael would have to be to withdraw from the people he cares about so truly, and so bravely.
August 22, 2009
Switching back to Michael's perspective, Stand Down is the final installment in Emerson's fantastic series, Echo Company. He's still a little shocked from finding the feisty Lieutenant wandering wounded in the middle of the jungle - after all he was on point and could have shot her. But when word comes that Echo Company will be on stand down (a type of break where the guys are sent to a noncombat zone), he's hoping for a chance to meet up with Rebecca and find out not only how she's doing but to see if she feels anything for him - because he's fallen pretty hard himself.
So it was more than a stretch for me to be picking up Vietnam war novels (of all things) but after stumbling upon Ellen Emerson White's The Road Home I knew I would do just about anything to pick up these first four books. Too pricey to buy (try $40 a pop), I enlisted the aid of my local librarian who happily found them on ILL and had them delivered no less than a couple of weeks later. Cheesy covers and sappy teaser lines aside, these books are solid gold. I knew I should expect some intelligent writing, but once again I was blown away with the deep emotion and sheer wit of it all. Michael's journey from fresh off the plane cherry to experienced point man in a matter of months is just plain riveting. Throw in one feisty field nurse and you've got yourself a page-turner.
Additionally, this isn't one of those war novels that patronizes the soldiers by making them seem overly patriotic or full of political rhetoric. Michael and his squad mates are just guys, none too happy with their current situation, who are simply trying to make it out alive with at least a bit of their sanity left. Take this quote from Hill 568 which illustrates Michael's mixed feelings about what was expected of him in the army:
"One thing he was learning about the Army was that you could be tired, or sick, or in pain -- and you did the job, anyway. You might gripe and groan a little - or even a lot - but you did what had to be done. If he were at home, and had blistered his hands this badly raking leaves, say, or shoveling snow, he probably would have quit, and gone inside the house to lay down. Here, he just had to grit his teeth, and get on with it.
So, he was either building character, or else he had fallen so deep into the group mentality that he was incapable of making any sort of decision for himself.
Tough call."
See? He's a smart aleck, grumpy but so dang lovable. Above all, he's basically just a teenager who has been thrust into a situation that quickly turns him into an adult. FYI, Michael and Rebecca's story is continued in The Road Home, which naturally switches back to Rebecca's pov - just be warned - have some kleenex handy and don't get attached to many of the secondary characters. But still, pick it up. I promise you won't regret a minute spent on trying to get a hold of any of these fabulous books.
So it was more than a stretch for me to be picking up Vietnam war novels (of all things) but after stumbling upon Ellen Emerson White's The Road Home I knew I would do just about anything to pick up these first four books. Too pricey to buy (try $40 a pop), I enlisted the aid of my local librarian who happily found them on ILL and had them delivered no less than a couple of weeks later. Cheesy covers and sappy teaser lines aside, these books are solid gold. I knew I should expect some intelligent writing, but once again I was blown away with the deep emotion and sheer wit of it all. Michael's journey from fresh off the plane cherry to experienced point man in a matter of months is just plain riveting. Throw in one feisty field nurse and you've got yourself a page-turner.
Additionally, this isn't one of those war novels that patronizes the soldiers by making them seem overly patriotic or full of political rhetoric. Michael and his squad mates are just guys, none too happy with their current situation, who are simply trying to make it out alive with at least a bit of their sanity left. Take this quote from Hill 568 which illustrates Michael's mixed feelings about what was expected of him in the army:
"One thing he was learning about the Army was that you could be tired, or sick, or in pain -- and you did the job, anyway. You might gripe and groan a little - or even a lot - but you did what had to be done. If he were at home, and had blistered his hands this badly raking leaves, say, or shoveling snow, he probably would have quit, and gone inside the house to lay down. Here, he just had to grit his teeth, and get on with it.
So, he was either building character, or else he had fallen so deep into the group mentality that he was incapable of making any sort of decision for himself.
Tough call."
See? He's a smart aleck, grumpy but so dang lovable. Above all, he's basically just a teenager who has been thrust into a situation that quickly turns him into an adult. FYI, Michael and Rebecca's story is continued in The Road Home, which naturally switches back to Rebecca's pov - just be warned - have some kleenex handy and don't get attached to many of the secondary characters. But still, pick it up. I promise you won't regret a minute spent on trying to get a hold of any of these fabulous books.
July 17, 2022
Michael and the other members of Echo Company can’t stop talking about her. Rebecca. The nurse with the witty sarcasm who they pulled out of the bush. The one who should never have been out there in the first place. Much less alone. With a bullet in her arm and claiming it was shrapnel.
When you walk point five minutes, or three seconds, or a hands breath from tripping a land mine, that’s the kind of memory that can get you killed.
Michael knows.
But what he doesn’t know, for certain, is what happens when he gets a free pass to stand down. In the same city as one Lieutenant Rebecca Phillips.
Oh! This series is SO GOOD. I will be packing all five books along with me to go visit my best friend for our next read-a-loud time (which also requires a deck of cards & chocolate). That, btw, is the epitome of an Anne Osterlund series recommendation. I love Michael, and I loved getting the chance to read about Rebecca from Michael’s perspective. Can’t wait to go back & re-read The Return Home now that I have read the entire series in order.
When you walk point five minutes, or three seconds, or a hands breath from tripping a land mine, that’s the kind of memory that can get you killed.
Michael knows.
But what he doesn’t know, for certain, is what happens when he gets a free pass to stand down. In the same city as one Lieutenant Rebecca Phillips.
Oh! This series is SO GOOD. I will be packing all five books along with me to go visit my best friend for our next read-a-loud time (which also requires a deck of cards & chocolate). That, btw, is the epitome of an Anne Osterlund series recommendation. I love Michael, and I loved getting the chance to read about Rebecca from Michael’s perspective. Can’t wait to go back & re-read The Return Home now that I have read the entire series in order.
August 20, 2013
This series is phenomenal. Why did it ever go out of print? The fourth installment was every bit as good as the first three, and I grew more enamored of Rebecca. I didn't think that was even possible. And the guys, oh, how I love the guys. I had to get the fifth book again to re-read, now that I know them all better.
There's more grim detail here about the everyday business of war in the jungle. And it's so realistic that there are times I could actually smell it. The guys, doing their heartbreaking best, fighting a war they don't understand under conditions that can only be called intolerable. Yet they tolerate them, and even find some beauty, some humor.
Georgy Girl! And the shout-out to Sue Barton, Student Nurse made me tear up.
Read these. In order. Because those people who told me I could just read the last one and then decide if I wanted to go back and read the first four? Those people, while technically correct, are wrong.
There's more grim detail here about the everyday business of war in the jungle. And it's so realistic that there are times I could actually smell it. The guys, doing their heartbreaking best, fighting a war they don't understand under conditions that can only be called intolerable. Yet they tolerate them, and even find some beauty, some humor.
Georgy Girl! And the shout-out to Sue Barton, Student Nurse made me tear up.
Read these. In order. Because those people who told me I could just read the last one and then decide if I wanted to go back and read the first four? Those people, while technically correct, are wrong.
June 30, 2016
This NEEDS to be back in print. It's historically important and it is still relevant. It is too well-written and valuable a series to have ever gone out of print to begin with.
October 29, 2022
Absolute adoration. A remarkable piece of fiction. I'm so mad there's not more. I just wish there were enough books in this series to cover Michael's entire year in Vietnam. (Yes, I know there's a companion and I'm infinitely stoked to read it.) I just don't want this series to be over because goddamn Ellen Emerson White can write.
I don't know how to wax poet about how fantastic this is. The characters are all awesome. Real and funny and so likeable. The relationships are great. She's writes the best friendships of almost any author I know, and the romance is so small. Like it's not overblown dramatic love, it's people who like each other and feel attraction, and maybe it's okay that it's not more because it makes them happy.
Her writing itself just speaks to my soul. I don't know what it is about her style, but it's so casual and personable and adds so much to the story. It makes me just like her. Like I read this, and I like her. And I like this people. And I'm so happy to be here reading it, until it's over and I'm wishing there's more. I don't think I've ever finished a single one of her books and not wished there was more.
I also love the way she structures her plots. They're kind of plotless, in a way. Plenty of dramatic things happen, but the crux of the plot is just people living their lives. It's less structured than most books I read.
This review is basically just all of her books not this specific one, but this book epitomizes all of this. It's fantastic. She's fantastic. Read this series or anything else by her.
I don't know how to wax poet about how fantastic this is. The characters are all awesome. Real and funny and so likeable. The relationships are great. She's writes the best friendships of almost any author I know, and the romance is so small. Like it's not overblown dramatic love, it's people who like each other and feel attraction, and maybe it's okay that it's not more because it makes them happy.
Her writing itself just speaks to my soul. I don't know what it is about her style, but it's so casual and personable and adds so much to the story. It makes me just like her. Like I read this, and I like her. And I like this people. And I'm so happy to be here reading it, until it's over and I'm wishing there's more. I don't think I've ever finished a single one of her books and not wished there was more.
I also love the way she structures her plots. They're kind of plotless, in a way. Plenty of dramatic things happen, but the crux of the plot is just people living their lives. It's less structured than most books I read.
This review is basically just all of her books not this specific one, but this book epitomizes all of this. It's fantastic. She's fantastic. Read this series or anything else by her.
January 1, 2015
Of all the books in the series, this one got to me the most. Mostly because it's HAPPY. And I knew what was coming next, after the book ended. Seeing Mike all eager and puppylike, all bounce, pursuing Rebecca, mirroring Rebecca's very tentative overtures in The Road Home, when they both needed to regain bounce, broke my heart. It brings her actions and their relationship in TRH into new dimensions. Absolutely fantastic.
The Road Home does stand alone, but it means so much more as part of the series. I want to write the most amazing reviews of this series, because after reading them, I spent at least a week half living in the 60s with these characters, unable to shake them loose from my brain. But I can't pull the words together. They're just wonderful, absolute wonderful and heartbreaking accounts of every day grunt life in the war. These characters have been my friends for over 20 years and I finally understand them so much better.
The Road Home does stand alone, but it means so much more as part of the series. I want to write the most amazing reviews of this series, because after reading them, I spent at least a week half living in the 60s with these characters, unable to shake them loose from my brain. But I can't pull the words together. They're just wonderful, absolute wonderful and heartbreaking accounts of every day grunt life in the war. These characters have been my friends for over 20 years and I finally understand them so much better.
April 8, 2016
Mike's company goes on stand down, giving him a chance to pursue Rebecca.
October 26, 2022
Oh my, oh my!
Jeez, I've cried so much starting with book three and continuing with book four. Apparently, it's going to get worse with volume five. Need to get more kleenex, then.
So, we're back with Michael in the jungle. There's more fighting, more esprit de corps (because the guys are as tight as a family and they would do anything to protect their family), more jungle rot and immersion foot. But also there are more feelings because Michael has been in love with Rebecca since the day he met her in the jungle. She writes to thank him but it's a too formal letter; he gets angry and replies in a way that he gets a letter with a single exclamation point from Rebecca. But then they meet again.
And Michael, who's been very open in his letter to her, doesn't really know what he wants from her and neither does she. But he's pushy enough and nice enough that she understands that she can trust him. And in the end they spent the night on her cot. And it reminded me of my favorite scene in Roswell, when Maria sees Michael out of her window and let him in and then he cries while they're lying on her bed.
And it felt the same with Michael and Rebecca. They're both on the verge of being broken and for one night they feel human again, maybe even whole.
Jeez, that's probably the best series Scholastic has ever published. It's a pity that's out of print and I wish I could buy volume three and four because they're so fricking good. But at the same time I fear they'd edit the story to fit the current ideas. It's a children story but it's one of the most mature I've ever read. It's raw and brutal and it doesn't shy away from the horrors of war. But yet there's a tiny bit of hope for everyone. Would it be deemed suitable for modern children?
On to volume five now!
Jeez, I've cried so much starting with book three and continuing with book four. Apparently, it's going to get worse with volume five. Need to get more kleenex, then.
So, we're back with Michael in the jungle. There's more fighting, more esprit de corps (because the guys are as tight as a family and they would do anything to protect their family), more jungle rot and immersion foot. But also there are more feelings because Michael has been in love with Rebecca since the day he met her in the jungle. She writes to thank him but it's a too formal letter; he gets angry and replies in a way that he gets a letter with a single exclamation point from Rebecca. But then they meet again.
And Michael, who's been very open in his letter to her, doesn't really know what he wants from her and neither does she. But he's pushy enough and nice enough that she understands that she can trust him. And in the end they spent the night on her cot. And it reminded me of my favorite scene in Roswell, when Maria sees Michael out of her window and let him in and then he cries while they're lying on her bed.
And it felt the same with Michael and Rebecca. They're both on the verge of being broken and for one night they feel human again, maybe even whole.
Jeez, that's probably the best series Scholastic has ever published. It's a pity that's out of print and I wish I could buy volume three and four because they're so fricking good. But at the same time I fear they'd edit the story to fit the current ideas. It's a children story but it's one of the most mature I've ever read. It's raw and brutal and it doesn't shy away from the horrors of war. But yet there's a tiny bit of hope for everyone. Would it be deemed suitable for modern children?
On to volume five now!
February 28, 2018
Yes, this is a well-researched sequel and feels very much like a time capsule. I am going to admit it: I am here for Rebecca and Michael. Can you form a connection with someone over a single conversation? When are you having the worst day of your life? When were you just shot? Will they write one another and figure out what the reader already know which is that they need to be a couple. And will they ever physically see one another? In between these questions, Michael is a jerk to a new guy to distract himself and because he is in a bad mood. He notices it and stops himself from bullying and apologizes. Which we don't see enough of. "Hey, I was a jerk for no good reason. I'm sorry and I a going to do better." Way to adult there, Michael.
February 21, 2025
Wonderful book showcasing the side we don’t often see in the Vietnam War
After finding army nurse Rebecca in the jungle, Mike found his thoughts never strayed too far from her. When word came down that there was a stand down, Mike knew he had to take a chance and see her again. The fourth installment of Ellen Emerson White’s Echo Squad series, this is a wonderful book showing the ups and downs of the Vietnam War. Great book for the classroom
After finding army nurse Rebecca in the jungle, Mike found his thoughts never strayed too far from her. When word came down that there was a stand down, Mike knew he had to take a chance and see her again. The fourth installment of Ellen Emerson White’s Echo Squad series, this is a wonderful book showing the ups and downs of the Vietnam War. Great book for the classroom
May 13, 2017
A good addition
Stand Down is the 4th book in the Echo Company series. The series is entertaining and this book continued the same story. I have been reading them using the lending library book each month and it has been hard to wait for the next month to be able to check out the next book.
Stand Down is the 4th book in the Echo Company series. The series is entertaining and this book continued the same story. I have been reading them using the lending library book each month and it has been hard to wait for the next month to be able to check out the next book.
September 3, 2021
Michael and his squad are mostly going about business as usual, with the exception that Michael’s a little distracted thinking about the female lieutenant that they’d found wandering injured in the jungle. They also have a few new people in their squad, including a new squad commander. But Michael really liked the old squad commander. Then they get the word. Stand down. That means heading to the rear and out of combat. For Michael, that means the hoped-for chance to see the lieutenant again.
I was glad to go back to Michael and his squad, and for the first half of the book, I was really enjoying it. The most stoic character in the books became my new favorite in an amazing scene between him and Michael. We finally learn something about Michael’s ex, and boy is she a piece of work. And we get a glimpse of who Michael really is when he joins in with some hazing of a new guy in their squad. But even there, he recognizes that he’s acting that way because he’s upset and feels at least a little bad about it.
Then they get out of the jungle and onto a much safer base for their stand down, and things changed for me a little bit. It’s not like I can only enjoy the story when the characters are in peril—I did like reading about Rebecca’s time in the hospital during the previous book, despite being thrown because she was unexpectedly the MC of the book. My issue comes with the way Michael acts during this time. He gets pushy in a way that makes me feel really bad for Rebecca, and even worse, we find out that apparently happy, relaxed Michael is kind of a jerk and bully. I think if I’d read about him before he was drafted, I might not have liked the books as much. Still, I did like the way the author showed that after 2 months (or so) of combat, Michael already had the beginnings of some serious PTSD. It’s so real and so heart-wrenching to know that going home some day won’t necessarily be all safe and happy for him.
Overall, the story had some really good moments and was a good read. I’m not as sad as I thought I’d be that the main part of the series has come to an end, though, because I don’t know that I could have handled Michael after this. There is one book left that is about Rebecca and seems to have originally been published as a stand-alone. It’ll definitely be the first time I’ve ever read that (I read at least the first couple of books in this series when I was a teenager), so I’m looking forward to seeing if it stands up to the incredible hype.
I was glad to go back to Michael and his squad, and for the first half of the book, I was really enjoying it. The most stoic character in the books became my new favorite in an amazing scene between him and Michael. We finally learn something about Michael’s ex, and boy is she a piece of work. And we get a glimpse of who Michael really is when he joins in with some hazing of a new guy in their squad. But even there, he recognizes that he’s acting that way because he’s upset and feels at least a little bad about it.
Then they get out of the jungle and onto a much safer base for their stand down, and things changed for me a little bit. It’s not like I can only enjoy the story when the characters are in peril—I did like reading about Rebecca’s time in the hospital during the previous book, despite being thrown because she was unexpectedly the MC of the book. My issue comes with the way Michael acts during this time. He gets pushy in a way that makes me feel really bad for Rebecca, and even worse, we find out that apparently happy, relaxed Michael is kind of a jerk and bully. I think if I’d read about him before he was drafted, I might not have liked the books as much. Still, I did like the way the author showed that after 2 months (or so) of combat, Michael already had the beginnings of some serious PTSD. It’s so real and so heart-wrenching to know that going home some day won’t necessarily be all safe and happy for him.
Overall, the story had some really good moments and was a good read. I’m not as sad as I thought I’d be that the main part of the series has come to an end, though, because I don’t know that I could have handled Michael after this. There is one book left that is about Rebecca and seems to have originally been published as a stand-alone. It’ll definitely be the first time I’ve ever read that (I read at least the first couple of books in this series when I was a teenager), so I’m looking forward to seeing if it stands up to the incredible hype.
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