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The Odyssey of Echo Company
A powerful work of literary military history from the New York Times bestselling author of In Harm’s Way and Horse Soldiers , the harrowing, redemptive, and utterly unforgettable account of an American army reconnaissance platoon’s fight for survival during the Vietnam War—whose searing experiences reverberate today among the millions of American families touched by this war.
On a single night, January 31, 1968, as many as 100,000 soldiers in the North Vietnamese Army attacked thirty-six cities throughout South Vietnam, hoping to topple the government and dislodge American forces. Forty young American soldiers of an army reconnaissance platoon (Echo Company, 1/501) of the 101st Airborne Division and hailing from small farms, beach towns, and such big cities as Chicago and Los Angeles are suddenly thrust into savage combat, having been in-country only a few weeks. Their battles against both North Vietnamese Army soldiers and toughened Viet Cong guerillas are relentless, often hand-to-hand, and waged night and day across landing zones, rice paddies, hamlets, and dense jungle. The exhausting day-to-day existence, which involves ambushes on both sides, grueling gun battles, and heroic rescues of wounded comrades, forges the group into a lifelong brotherhood. The Odyssey of Echo Company is about the young men who survived this epic span, and centers on the searing experiences of one of them, Stanley Parker, who is wounded three times during the fighting.
When the young men come home, some encounter a country that doesn’t understand what they have suffered and survived. Many of them fall silent, knowing that few of their countrymen want to hear the remarkable story they have lived to tell—until now. Based on hundreds of hours of interviews, dozens of personal letters written in the combat zone, Pentagon after-action reports, and travel to the battle sites with some of the soldiers (who meet their Vietnamese counterpart), and augmented by detailed maps and remarkable combat zone photographs, The Odyssey of Echo Company breaks through the wall of time to recount ordinary young American men in an extraordinary time in America and confirms Doug Stanton’s prominence as an unparalleled storyteller of our age.
On a single night, January 31, 1968, as many as 100,000 soldiers in the North Vietnamese Army attacked thirty-six cities throughout South Vietnam, hoping to topple the government and dislodge American forces. Forty young American soldiers of an army reconnaissance platoon (Echo Company, 1/501) of the 101st Airborne Division and hailing from small farms, beach towns, and such big cities as Chicago and Los Angeles are suddenly thrust into savage combat, having been in-country only a few weeks. Their battles against both North Vietnamese Army soldiers and toughened Viet Cong guerillas are relentless, often hand-to-hand, and waged night and day across landing zones, rice paddies, hamlets, and dense jungle. The exhausting day-to-day existence, which involves ambushes on both sides, grueling gun battles, and heroic rescues of wounded comrades, forges the group into a lifelong brotherhood. The Odyssey of Echo Company is about the young men who survived this epic span, and centers on the searing experiences of one of them, Stanley Parker, who is wounded three times during the fighting.
When the young men come home, some encounter a country that doesn’t understand what they have suffered and survived. Many of them fall silent, knowing that few of their countrymen want to hear the remarkable story they have lived to tell—until now. Based on hundreds of hours of interviews, dozens of personal letters written in the combat zone, Pentagon after-action reports, and travel to the battle sites with some of the soldiers (who meet their Vietnamese counterpart), and augmented by detailed maps and remarkable combat zone photographs, The Odyssey of Echo Company breaks through the wall of time to recount ordinary young American men in an extraordinary time in America and confirms Doug Stanton’s prominence as an unparalleled storyteller of our age.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published September 19, 2017
147 people are currently reading
1595 people want to read
About the author
Doug Stanton
23 books172 followersDoug Stanton is a journalist, lecturer, screenwriter, and author of the New York Times bestsellers In Harm’s Way and Horse Soldiers. His newest book is The Odyssey Of Echo Company. Horse Soldiers is the basis for a Jerry Bruckheimer-produced movie by the same name, starring Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon, to be released by Warner Bros. in 2018. In Harm’s Way spent more than six months on the New York Times bestseller list and became required reading on the US Navy's recommended list for officers. Horse Soldiers was featured on the front page of the Sunday New York Times Book Review.
Stanton has appeared on numerous TV and radio outlets, including NBC’s “Today,” CNN, Imus In The Morning, Discovery, A&E, Fox News, NPR, MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and NBC’s Nightly News, and has been covered extensively in prominent publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times. Drawing on his experiences working in the U.S. and overseas, and with contacts in various branches of the U.S. military and government, Stanton lectures nationally to corporate and civic groups, libraries, writing & book clubs, and universities about current events, international affairs, politics, and writing.
Stanton says that he writes and talks about “existential moments when ordinary men and women are forced to adapt and make extraordinary decisions at the least likely moment. That’s when change happens, whether we like it or not.” He has written on travel, sport, entertainment, and history, and his writing has appeared in Esquire, Outside Magazine, Smart, Men’s Journal, the New York Times, TIME, Newsweek, and the Washington Post.
Stanton’s Horse Soldiers was also a best-seller on lists in USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher’s Weekly, and IndieBound. Horse Soldiers was named a “Notable Book” by the New York Times, and it was chosen as a “Best Book” by Publishers Weekly, The Christian Science Monitor, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com.
Stanton attended Interlochen Arts Academy, Hampshire College, and received an MFA from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, where he graduated with coursework in both fiction and poetry workshops.
He lives in Michigan with his wife, Anne Stanton, and their three children. Visit www.dougstanton.com and www.nationalwritersseries.org. Follow Doug on Twitter @dougstantonbook and Instagram @dougstantonwriter.
Stanton has appeared on numerous TV and radio outlets, including NBC’s “Today,” CNN, Imus In The Morning, Discovery, A&E, Fox News, NPR, MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and NBC’s Nightly News, and has been covered extensively in prominent publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times. Drawing on his experiences working in the U.S. and overseas, and with contacts in various branches of the U.S. military and government, Stanton lectures nationally to corporate and civic groups, libraries, writing & book clubs, and universities about current events, international affairs, politics, and writing.
Stanton says that he writes and talks about “existential moments when ordinary men and women are forced to adapt and make extraordinary decisions at the least likely moment. That’s when change happens, whether we like it or not.” He has written on travel, sport, entertainment, and history, and his writing has appeared in Esquire, Outside Magazine, Smart, Men’s Journal, the New York Times, TIME, Newsweek, and the Washington Post.
Stanton’s Horse Soldiers was also a best-seller on lists in USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher’s Weekly, and IndieBound. Horse Soldiers was named a “Notable Book” by the New York Times, and it was chosen as a “Best Book” by Publishers Weekly, The Christian Science Monitor, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com.
Stanton attended Interlochen Arts Academy, Hampshire College, and received an MFA from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, where he graduated with coursework in both fiction and poetry workshops.
He lives in Michigan with his wife, Anne Stanton, and their three children. Visit www.dougstanton.com and www.nationalwritersseries.org. Follow Doug on Twitter @dougstantonbook and Instagram @dougstantonwriter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 175 reviews
September 4, 2019
Blown away! How you can write beautifully about such harrowing events is a mystery but Doug Stanton accomplishes it. Amazing insight into the minds and hearts of ordinary American young men who engaged in constant hand to hand combat with an enemy who was often hard to even identify. Their powerful brotherhood is what helped them survive each day. It’s easy to see why it was difficult for them to function when they came home to a country that was unwilling and uninterested in what had happened to them and why many of them longed to be back in combat. Stunning and very moving! Highly recommended.
January 26, 2018
As I've read many books and watched movies around the subject of Vietnam, it is difficult to compare them because of their inequality of experiences. Each person's story is their own and in "The Odyssey of Echo Company", author Doug Stanton features multiple perspectives on their experiences during the Tet Offensive of January-February 1968. I think the best part of the book along with the graphic description of combat was the experience of "coming home." In my head, I thought that the book would be more evenly distributed in stories about different people. Most of it centers around Stan Parker because you get to know him best from his childhood to Vietnam and back home. "Odyssey" ranks among the best I've read on Vietnam. It is another reminder to treat Vietnam veterans the way we have treated Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, by standing up when they enter the room and not turning our backs the way so many American civilians did in the 1960s and 1970s.
January 30, 2020
Highly recommended, this book is a thoughtful and highly readable meditation on the life of Stan Parker before he enlisted to fight in Vietnam, his transformation as a soldier and his struggle to make sense of himself after his discharge. There are vivid and graphic descriptions of combat but this isn't a book about war itself, the battle stories provide the foundation for Parker's search for meaning as a 20 year old veteran trying to reintegrate into society.
Parker's tale is stylistically similar to David Finkel's two outstanding books "The Good Soldiers" and "Thank You for Your Service." All three go beyond the horrors of war to shed a light on the emotional damage clinging to surviving soldiers.
I previously read and also highly recommend Stanton's excellent book "In Harm's Way" which tells the story of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Famously mentioned by Robert Shaw in the classic film "Jaws."
Parker's tale is stylistically similar to David Finkel's two outstanding books "The Good Soldiers" and "Thank You for Your Service." All three go beyond the horrors of war to shed a light on the emotional damage clinging to surviving soldiers.
I previously read and also highly recommend Stanton's excellent book "In Harm's Way" which tells the story of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Famously mentioned by Robert Shaw in the classic film "Jaws."
May 21, 2025
Hard one to rate. Probably a 3.5, but it’s very well written. It’s just a hard story to read, kind of hammers home the pointlessness of war and this one in particular. Does give a good insight in terms of the struggle veterans have returning to civvy life. Some brutal scenes in here you’d not wish on anyone.
April 29, 2018
I read Doug Stanton's "Horse Soldiers" and really enjoyed it, so I was thrilled when I saw that he had written a historical piece on the Vietnam War, an area of particular interest to me. Alas! This book should really just be called the "Biography of Stan Parker" since there's hardly any information about Echo Company or the Screaming Eagles at all! The writing is just awful stream-of-consciousness story-telling and is hallucinogenic at times. It's bizarrely non-sequitur and jumps from war accounts to childhood memories of getting into scraps in school, with the protagonist always seeming to come out on top of some Goliath no matter the odds or authority figure keeping him down. Training sequences in any military book are extremely boring, I wish authors would just cut them out. I think everyone knows you have to scrub the latrine when you join the military. Some of the stories, including Parker's multiple wounding sequences, are borderline fictional. I doubt Stanton did enough research with any other vets to corroborate these accounts. While this book may give an accurate portrayal of Stan Parker's recollections, it comes across as a bunch of conflated tall-tale war stories while the guys are throwing back beers at a bar. No one doubts the bravery, camaraderie, or sacrifice, but I certainly doubt "the fish was this big!" sometimes. This book only addresses the "who" and maybe a little bit of the "what," but entirely leaves out the "where," "when," "why," and "how." Look elsewhere if you want detailed geo-political or military factual accounts of the Tet Offensive. I firmly believe you can still weave interesting and important eye-witness soldier accounts into a larger narrative and several historical authors have done so successfully (see Stephen Ambrose, David Halberstam, David McCullough, etc.).
April 2, 2018
Got 100 pages in and had to stop reading. The narrative is so entirely unbelievable that it makes one wonder if Doug Stanton actually believed the memoirs that he used for his sources. I was already questioning the validity of many of the stories (to include Stan calling the president, but instead getting the Secretary of Defense to tell him about his jerk company commander...or a soldier who was too tired to be bothered during a bayonet assault so he went back to sleep), but the below example was when I put the book down.
Example:
On page 89 Stan allegedly becomes annoyed with his helmet during a bumpy ride in the back of a truck. He proceeds to throw his helmet out of the truck, because of how much it annoyed him. Somehow a helicopter who witnessed this, swooped over the road, a crewman leans out and picks up Stan’s helmet, they then fly directly to Stan’s truck (it was easy to see that Stan was the one who threw it from 300 feet up) and the crewman hands him his helmet back, and the helicopter zooms away. Stan’s response? “Well I’ll be damned, now I’ve seen it all.”
If these are the types of tales you enjoy reading then this is your book.
Example:
On page 89 Stan allegedly becomes annoyed with his helmet during a bumpy ride in the back of a truck. He proceeds to throw his helmet out of the truck, because of how much it annoyed him. Somehow a helicopter who witnessed this, swooped over the road, a crewman leans out and picks up Stan’s helmet, they then fly directly to Stan’s truck (it was easy to see that Stan was the one who threw it from 300 feet up) and the crewman hands him his helmet back, and the helicopter zooms away. Stan’s response? “Well I’ll be damned, now I’ve seen it all.”
If these are the types of tales you enjoy reading then this is your book.
February 11, 2022
“Why why why oh why. He knows why. Because he's a bad person. Because he's an American soldier. Because he's a man filled with madness. He looks down at her, still holding the peaches, her hand tightened in spasm around the can. Her fingers are incredibly slender and tiny. Why did he give her the can of peaches? He would love more than anything to reach back through time and take them back. She's dead because she accepted the American's peaches. The irony is that if he'd had no compassion for her, if he'd ignored her, she'd still be alive. He might as well have aimed his rifle at her and pulled the trigger himself. Stan looks up at the sky, shuddering, and he starts howling, a hoarse cry emptying from his stomach, more animal than human. The rest of the guys come running back to him. And they stop when they see him. They're unsure what to do. They look at him, start circling him, as he rocks back and forth in the street and howls.” (Stanton 106)
“The Odyssey of Echo Company,” is more than likely the best book I have ever read. This personal narrative follows Stanley Parker, a soldier in echo company who is wounded three times throughout his service in Vietnam. We see what life was like during the Tet offensive for an American soldier and how much these men endure during the war. Although a rough subject it is a fun read and is hard to put down because it is so interesting. I enjoy how the author gives insight on Stan’s hometown and family before he talks about the war. It makes Stan a relatable person before you see him as a soldier. With that, the stories he includes about Stan playing football despite his size are some of my favorite parts of the book and it also foreshadows how hard working Stan is in the army. Furthermore, once we see him as a soldier, author Doug Stanton does an outstanding job using details to paint a picture in the reader's head. It made me feel as if I was seeing Vietnam directly through Stan’s eyes. My favorite chapter(and by far the saddest) is The Girl with the Peaches. In this chapter we clearly see just how damaging the war is to Stan. Reading it gave me the same emotions Stan describes he feels and it also feels like I stayed there protecting the young girl with him. Lastly, it was very heartwarming to see Stan go back to Vietnam at the very end of the book and make peace with the country. I feel that it was the perfect ending to this book.
“The Odyssey of Echo Company,” is more than likely the best book I have ever read. This personal narrative follows Stanley Parker, a soldier in echo company who is wounded three times throughout his service in Vietnam. We see what life was like during the Tet offensive for an American soldier and how much these men endure during the war. Although a rough subject it is a fun read and is hard to put down because it is so interesting. I enjoy how the author gives insight on Stan’s hometown and family before he talks about the war. It makes Stan a relatable person before you see him as a soldier. With that, the stories he includes about Stan playing football despite his size are some of my favorite parts of the book and it also foreshadows how hard working Stan is in the army. Furthermore, once we see him as a soldier, author Doug Stanton does an outstanding job using details to paint a picture in the reader's head. It made me feel as if I was seeing Vietnam directly through Stan’s eyes. My favorite chapter(and by far the saddest) is The Girl with the Peaches. In this chapter we clearly see just how damaging the war is to Stan. Reading it gave me the same emotions Stan describes he feels and it also feels like I stayed there protecting the young girl with him. Lastly, it was very heartwarming to see Stan go back to Vietnam at the very end of the book and make peace with the country. I feel that it was the perfect ending to this book.
March 10, 2023
Graphic war scenes detailing the incredible death-defying luck of Stan who had enemy grenades at his feet that didn't explode. The 2014 return soul healing to Vietnan was also fascinating.
September 24, 2024
Just couldn't f finish this one. I managed to page 160 or so before the weight of tall stories and things that just didn't add up got the better of me and I just had to stop. Things might have been better if there'd been a bit of due diligence or commentary on the part of the author, or if there'd been some contextualization or inclusion of Echo Company in the book.
February 12, 2025
Probably an amazing story if it was told 100% truthfully, but unfortunately, many of the events felt embellished.
November 19, 2023
The Odyssey of Echo Company follows the story of Stan Parker, an Airborne soldier who fought in the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War.
A good bulk of the story revolves around Parker's day-to-day life during the offensive, with background information on his life before and after the war sprinkled in as well. The intention for this book was to tell Parker's story, and Stanton accomplishes that, but I feel that the organization of the content really detracted from my experience. Additionally, I wish the title of this book better reflected this intention, as I picked it up thinking it was about the 101st Airborne Division as a whole.
The portions concerning Parker's war memoirs are often choppy and disjointed; just when I was getting invested in a particular event, there would be a hard cut to the next. These stories were a part of Parker's daily routine in Vietnam: patrol, ambush, and repeat, but I felt they were included in a way that was too repetitive for my taste. Similar stories with similarly vague details come one after another and begin to blend together, which made it difficult to hold my interest. As this is a biography of a soldier, I understand the importance of including each story, no matter how vague or similar to another. One benefit of these stories is that it helped me understand how the repetitive chaos quickly wore down Parker and his comrades; these soldiers, who joined the Army with noble intentions, are animalistic, professional killers within half of a year of deploying. Parker's fellow soldiers have names and stories of their own but are only mentioned briefly and usually in relation to Parker's story. Once again, I know Parker is the focal point of the story, but it would've been nice to see Stanton go more in-depth on the whole company
Halfway through the book, the author delves back into Parker's childhood. I guess it was a way to further build on the fact that Parker enlisted because of his life experiences, but it still feels misplaced and awkward.
Parker's return home was the best but shortest part of the story. He returns to an ungrateful nation and ends up lashing out at those around him. His constant fighting lands him in trouble many times, but he eventually finds a wife who helps him straighten out. However, his addiction to combat and war remains, and he eventually reenlists via the National Guard (and subsequently deploys overseas for the next two decades). This part greatly interested me, as his thoughts during the war swung between wanting nothing more to return home and wanting to kill the enemy with his comrades by his side. It's clear that the war created a hunger in Parker that only military service could fill.
The end of the book sees Parker return to Vietnam with a former squad mate and the author. It's clear the return is hard for Parker, but they eventually go to the village where he saw his biggest battle. There, the group meets a man who was a former NVA cadre leader and a man that Parker directly fought with on that day of the battle so long ago. The reader, along with Parker, gets some much needed closure.
Everything I mentioned about the book becomes a little sketchy with this point. A glaring issue of this book lies in the fact that the information is straight from Parker's memories. Memories fade and distort over time, especially traumatic ones. There are several parts of the story that also seem embellished or downright made up (his call to McNamara, miraculously overcoming Polio, dozens of dud grenades thrown at his position, and many more). While I can't truly say none of this happened, there are times when you won't believe an event retold. This, in turn, brings the validity of the whole book into question.
Overall, I believe this book might be a good read for those interested in the singular perspective of a man's struggle with war, grief, and the cycle of trauma. I hope that my misgivings about the story's validity are false, but any prospective reader should beware. If you are expecting a historical recounting of this era, I would look elsewhere.
A good bulk of the story revolves around Parker's day-to-day life during the offensive, with background information on his life before and after the war sprinkled in as well. The intention for this book was to tell Parker's story, and Stanton accomplishes that, but I feel that the organization of the content really detracted from my experience. Additionally, I wish the title of this book better reflected this intention, as I picked it up thinking it was about the 101st Airborne Division as a whole.
The portions concerning Parker's war memoirs are often choppy and disjointed; just when I was getting invested in a particular event, there would be a hard cut to the next. These stories were a part of Parker's daily routine in Vietnam: patrol, ambush, and repeat, but I felt they were included in a way that was too repetitive for my taste. Similar stories with similarly vague details come one after another and begin to blend together, which made it difficult to hold my interest. As this is a biography of a soldier, I understand the importance of including each story, no matter how vague or similar to another. One benefit of these stories is that it helped me understand how the repetitive chaos quickly wore down Parker and his comrades; these soldiers, who joined the Army with noble intentions, are animalistic, professional killers within half of a year of deploying. Parker's fellow soldiers have names and stories of their own but are only mentioned briefly and usually in relation to Parker's story. Once again, I know Parker is the focal point of the story, but it would've been nice to see Stanton go more in-depth on the whole company
Halfway through the book, the author delves back into Parker's childhood. I guess it was a way to further build on the fact that Parker enlisted because of his life experiences, but it still feels misplaced and awkward.
Parker's return home was the best but shortest part of the story. He returns to an ungrateful nation and ends up lashing out at those around him. His constant fighting lands him in trouble many times, but he eventually finds a wife who helps him straighten out. However, his addiction to combat and war remains, and he eventually reenlists via the National Guard (and subsequently deploys overseas for the next two decades). This part greatly interested me, as his thoughts during the war swung between wanting nothing more to return home and wanting to kill the enemy with his comrades by his side. It's clear that the war created a hunger in Parker that only military service could fill.
The end of the book sees Parker return to Vietnam with a former squad mate and the author. It's clear the return is hard for Parker, but they eventually go to the village where he saw his biggest battle. There, the group meets a man who was a former NVA cadre leader and a man that Parker directly fought with on that day of the battle so long ago. The reader, along with Parker, gets some much needed closure.
Everything I mentioned about the book becomes a little sketchy with this point. A glaring issue of this book lies in the fact that the information is straight from Parker's memories. Memories fade and distort over time, especially traumatic ones. There are several parts of the story that also seem embellished or downright made up (his call to McNamara, miraculously overcoming Polio, dozens of dud grenades thrown at his position, and many more). While I can't truly say none of this happened, there are times when you won't believe an event retold. This, in turn, brings the validity of the whole book into question.
Overall, I believe this book might be a good read for those interested in the singular perspective of a man's struggle with war, grief, and the cycle of trauma. I hope that my misgivings about the story's validity are false, but any prospective reader should beware. If you are expecting a historical recounting of this era, I would look elsewhere.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 23, 2018
I listened to the audio book and it's pretty good. I did not realize that Doug Stanton also wrote, "In Harm's Way" the story about the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis (the ship that carried the nuclear components of the first atomic bomb dropped during WWII to Tinian island) and that book is much better than this book.
This is the second book about the Vietnam War I have read and it's pretty good in that it details Stan Parker and his family life and career. I did not like that it jumped from Stan's childhood to Vietnam back to Stan's childhood back to Vietnam back to Stan's adolescence, etc. I wish it was just straight chronology from beginning to end.
There are some funny stories in this book and the book about Stan's father and the teach with the "board of education" is amazing and well worth reading or listening to.
I like that the author meets Stan in Iraq or Afghanistan and travels with him to Viet Nam with a few other survivors of Echo Platoon and they meet Mr. Sin or Xin and the special moment Stan shares with him. It made me wonder if veterans of the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will return in 40 years or 50 years or 60 years to meet some of their adversaries and share the bond of combat in peaceful times?
This is a good book that I highly recommend and I give only 3 stars because "In Harm's Way" is better.
This is the second book about the Vietnam War I have read and it's pretty good in that it details Stan Parker and his family life and career. I did not like that it jumped from Stan's childhood to Vietnam back to Stan's childhood back to Vietnam back to Stan's adolescence, etc. I wish it was just straight chronology from beginning to end.
There are some funny stories in this book and the book about Stan's father and the teach with the "board of education" is amazing and well worth reading or listening to.
I like that the author meets Stan in Iraq or Afghanistan and travels with him to Viet Nam with a few other survivors of Echo Platoon and they meet Mr. Sin or Xin and the special moment Stan shares with him. It made me wonder if veterans of the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will return in 40 years or 50 years or 60 years to meet some of their adversaries and share the bond of combat in peaceful times?
This is a good book that I highly recommend and I give only 3 stars because "In Harm's Way" is better.
June 22, 2021
“He thinks about what would have happened if so many things had not happened, and he can’t know if his life would have been better or worse. His life is what it is , right? The sum total of his experience.”
The Odyssey of Echo Company is not so much a story about Echo Company as it is a story about a handful of the individuals who served in that platoon. It’s also not so much a book about the entire Vietnam War but more about this platoon’s involvement in the 1968 Tet Offensive. And it’s not just about those weeks and months but it’s about how some of those men got to that point in their lives and how the experience of going to war affected them. It’s a powerful story, brutal, heartbreaking, honest , and thoughtful. It is a must read if you are interested in that war or any other war.
Author Doug Stanton is a remarkable storyteller. He opens the book with an invocation delivered in the whistles, flares, and dead bodies of battle. His words are evocative and the imagery is disturbing:
“…[enemy soldiers] who leap across the sky disappear in a red mist or an expanding cloud of bone as the machine gunners pour fire into them. The heavy rounds eat the men right out of the air.”
In the following chapters, Mr Stanton gives the reader the backstory on one of the young men serving in Echo Company. Stan Parker was three weeks shy of twenty young years old when he landed at Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigon. The very next day he is transported to the Cu Chi area near Saigon. This is a haven for guerrilla fighters and his job is to hunt and engage these fighters.
Over the next weeks, Stan doesn’t feel twenty. “He feels like he has fallen into another story about another life he’d never imagined he’d be living, here in Vietnam, living ‘like an animal’ , living to kill. He feels there’s no story except the one each of the platoon members tell themselves, by each act of staying alive, which means often committing another act of killing more enemy. Each man taps into the story. It hangs down out of the sky in gray shreds, as if torn from the sky.” Early on we learn about the girl with the peaches and the painful truth that Stan has to absorb: her death will last forever and he caused it. Too sad.
The reflective reader learns haunting details of those days but, trust me, the reader’s nightmares will be nothing like the nightmares that the men who survive this war experience. We meet other members of the platoon and Mr Stanton gives real examples of the depth of feeling these men come to have for each other. He tells their stories of camaraderie and more. “They all know this about each other. They will fight to the death for each other, yet, of course, none of them wants to die.”
This isn’t really a story about the Vietnam War but rather a story about some of the people who fought there. Other reviewers have scoffed at the believability of the book and there are a couple of far fetched scenes. I think the value of the book, however, is in the human connection that is underscored. I don’t need every fact to be exactly true but I wanted to read about the people who fought in this war. I wondered why they went there (not all were drafted) and what mattered to them while they were there and when they came home. Doug Stanton tells their stories in a way that makes the soldiers real and believable. That’s what matters to me.
The Odyssey of Echo Company is not so much a story about Echo Company as it is a story about a handful of the individuals who served in that platoon. It’s also not so much a book about the entire Vietnam War but more about this platoon’s involvement in the 1968 Tet Offensive. And it’s not just about those weeks and months but it’s about how some of those men got to that point in their lives and how the experience of going to war affected them. It’s a powerful story, brutal, heartbreaking, honest , and thoughtful. It is a must read if you are interested in that war or any other war.
Author Doug Stanton is a remarkable storyteller. He opens the book with an invocation delivered in the whistles, flares, and dead bodies of battle. His words are evocative and the imagery is disturbing:
“…[enemy soldiers] who leap across the sky disappear in a red mist or an expanding cloud of bone as the machine gunners pour fire into them. The heavy rounds eat the men right out of the air.”
In the following chapters, Mr Stanton gives the reader the backstory on one of the young men serving in Echo Company. Stan Parker was three weeks shy of twenty young years old when he landed at Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigon. The very next day he is transported to the Cu Chi area near Saigon. This is a haven for guerrilla fighters and his job is to hunt and engage these fighters.
Over the next weeks, Stan doesn’t feel twenty. “He feels like he has fallen into another story about another life he’d never imagined he’d be living, here in Vietnam, living ‘like an animal’ , living to kill. He feels there’s no story except the one each of the platoon members tell themselves, by each act of staying alive, which means often committing another act of killing more enemy. Each man taps into the story. It hangs down out of the sky in gray shreds, as if torn from the sky.” Early on we learn about the girl with the peaches and the painful truth that Stan has to absorb: her death will last forever and he caused it. Too sad.
The reflective reader learns haunting details of those days but, trust me, the reader’s nightmares will be nothing like the nightmares that the men who survive this war experience. We meet other members of the platoon and Mr Stanton gives real examples of the depth of feeling these men come to have for each other. He tells their stories of camaraderie and more. “They all know this about each other. They will fight to the death for each other, yet, of course, none of them wants to die.”
This isn’t really a story about the Vietnam War but rather a story about some of the people who fought there. Other reviewers have scoffed at the believability of the book and there are a couple of far fetched scenes. I think the value of the book, however, is in the human connection that is underscored. I don’t need every fact to be exactly true but I wanted to read about the people who fought in this war. I wondered why they went there (not all were drafted) and what mattered to them while they were there and when they came home. Doug Stanton tells their stories in a way that makes the soldiers real and believable. That’s what matters to me.
April 7, 2025
I read books like this as research for a character I'm writing who has military PTSD that's gotten him more or less on permanent medical leave. I don't care so much for the politics or military planning details of war, I look for the personal experiences. Some books written by military men (or their ghost writers) are dull and boring. They focus on their family at home, and their experiences in growing up and coming home. Other books are filled with such jargon that unless you're an active officer, you either give up or sit with a dictionary. Occasionally, you find a gem that hits the sweet spot between personal experience and military experience.
This book was fanatastic.
Stan Parker ran into Doug Stanton on a maneuver in Afghanistan, and (after 40 years in the military) asked him to write about his company's experiences in Vietnam in 1968. Stanton wrote a meticulous, engaging story that is easy to read, pulls you in, and never lets you go. Interviewing Parker and his fellow bunker mates, he puts together a story of grit and loss and determination in the face of indescribable horrors, wrapped up in not so much patriotism and flag-waving as a generational sense of duty and civil service (WWII was barely 20 years before).
When released from duty (and not allowed, by contract, to re-enlist), Parker is lost and mystified by the anger thrown at him by the public for being a soldier, and the struggles he faces in the quiet moments of daily living when he's spent the last 12 months in a 24/7 battle for his life, always alert for the rustle of leaves and the flash of gunfire. Eventually, unable to calm his adrenaline addiction, he is able to enlist with the reserves, goes back to active duty, and does time in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Despite the years, Stan is still haunted by his memories of his service in Vietnam, when he was barely 20 years old. At the urging of Stanton, Parker and one of his squad mates return to Vietnam, to find the places of their haunting memories, and their true healing begins.
This book was fanatastic.
Stan Parker ran into Doug Stanton on a maneuver in Afghanistan, and (after 40 years in the military) asked him to write about his company's experiences in Vietnam in 1968. Stanton wrote a meticulous, engaging story that is easy to read, pulls you in, and never lets you go. Interviewing Parker and his fellow bunker mates, he puts together a story of grit and loss and determination in the face of indescribable horrors, wrapped up in not so much patriotism and flag-waving as a generational sense of duty and civil service (WWII was barely 20 years before).
When released from duty (and not allowed, by contract, to re-enlist), Parker is lost and mystified by the anger thrown at him by the public for being a soldier, and the struggles he faces in the quiet moments of daily living when he's spent the last 12 months in a 24/7 battle for his life, always alert for the rustle of leaves and the flash of gunfire. Eventually, unable to calm his adrenaline addiction, he is able to enlist with the reserves, goes back to active duty, and does time in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Despite the years, Stan is still haunted by his memories of his service in Vietnam, when he was barely 20 years old. At the urging of Stanton, Parker and one of his squad mates return to Vietnam, to find the places of their haunting memories, and their true healing begins.
January 30, 2021
I purchased this book solely on the reputation of the author. I read his work titled Horse Soldiers and was totally enthralled. In this case, rather than telling about battles and battle lines, which military units were facing each other, casualty counts, who the leaders were and their decision making, Stanton completely focuses on one company in Vietnam, and more specifically one soldier, Stan Parker. It's mostly his story being told and it fits the title well. It was about survival for the individual who was sent to Vietnam, willingly (enlisting) or not (being drafted). Stanton goes to extreme detail, as he was told by Parker and others who recounted their time in Vietnam. It's a level of detail most people don't want to know; it's too gruesome to imagine. This book has its facts and figures, but it mostly is about the actions taken by these individuals in battle and their attitudes and feelings about it. I experienced the public reaction to the war while in college and having to, with my NROTC classmates, block access to the American flag from other students wanting to pull it down and burn it. Stan Parker came home from Vietnam to an America that hated vets. It was heart wrenching for them to have served our country and then returned to such vitriol thrown at them. I found the book to be a quick read and very satisfying.
October 10, 2017
I received this book in a giveaway from Goodreads, with the expectation of an honest review. While I have read several books on the Civil War and World War II, this was my first involving the Vietnam War. Admittedly, this was on a small portion, mostly the Tet Offensive. I was excited to read it, as my husband served with the 101st in the late 90's-early 2000's. This book was well written. While not an enjoyable read per se, it was very good. Reading the accounts of exactly what the conditions were for the men fighting was horrific, yet something I felt I should read. It gave me a better understanding of the trauma these men suffered, in what they saw, what they were forced to do, and what they endured. This book will be making the rounds to many of my friends who also like to read military history books.
June 1, 2020
This is a difficult book to take seriously that suffers from the fact that it seems to takes itself extremely seriously. From the moment the helicopter pilot swoops down to retrieve the protagonist’s Boonie hat to the John Wayne fantasies that follow this cannot be categorised as a work of any historical merit. Written in a style calculated to appeal to casual readers, it is difficult to know if the author has any confidence in the historical truth of what he has written or if this is just a cynical exercise in selling dumbed down messages to a dumbed down reader.
February 1, 2025
Whew. This was a tough listen. Doug Stanton just has a way of telling the story to make you feel like you were right there. It breaks my heart thinking of the homecoming that was received by the soldiers of the Vietnam War.
Content note: As to be expected, there were some pretty gruesome war stories.
Content note: As to be expected, there were some pretty gruesome war stories.
October 29, 2017
This is the story primarily of a guy who volunteered to join the Army to fight in Vietnam. He fought hard to stay alive and then had to fight to get back into civilian life.
December 28, 2017
A misnomer in that this is more the story of one man- Stan Parker. It’s quite a story especially his combat experience during the Tet Offensive. I found the story of young Stan who lived in 43 states and went to like 23 schools (something like that) just as compelling. Stan was always the good guy standing up against bullies, both students and teachers. Stan was wounded three times during his tour and after reading some of his deeds you wonder why he wasn’t awarded the Silver Star or higher. Stanton captures the loyalty and camaraderie of infantrymen as well as the very dark and savage results that lead to PTSD. Stan after a lifetime of serving in the Army as a reservist finally finds closure and redemption by returning to the RVN. A great personal story masterfully told that leaves you wondering how many other men like Stan Parker quietly live among us as our neighbors.
October 22, 2018
Amazing. Highly recommended.
May 2, 2023
This book is a fairly typical Vietnam War memoir and possibly a little disappointing until the book covered the after war events of the main characters which raised it to a 3 star. The last 30 pages are very good.
February 11, 2019
The Vietnam War is an interesting thing when it comes to storytelling. For previous wars, particularly WWII, there are no shortages of fascinating stories of bravery and tide-turning battles, how some soldier, or some company, or some event contributed to victory. In Vietnam, the battle plan for American soldiers was simply to survive. The usual war objectives didn’t exist. A successful day of survival never seemed to count towards any kind of victory.
How do you make sense of such stories where a larger meaning is so elusive?
"The Odyssey of Echo Company" is non-fiction, drawing on interviews with survivors of the company, along with research trips to the specific locales discussed in the book. Ultimately, the story is told through the eyes of Stanley Parker, a member of Echo Company. In fact, it’s less about the whole company and more of a character study about him.
Beginning after high school graduation in Gary, Indiana, in 1966, we meet Stanley, his family and friends. Like many young men, he views joining the military through the lens of history. It’s a noble rite; America always wins. He wants to go to Vietnam to be a part of something bigger, to be part of something to make his forefathers proud. Like many young men (and the American public in general), he doesn’t understand the reality of the war.
As you can guess, Stanley gets his wish and makes it to Vietnam. What happens to him is at times terrifying, tragic, and outright bizarre. You can’t help but think he shouldn’t be alive. You get the feeling he believes it, too. The meat of the story takes place during the Tet Offensive of 1968, which encompasses Parker’s time in Vietnam. It was a hell of a time to show up. During his tour, a microcosm of almost everything that could happen to a soldier happened to him. I won’t spoil the details, but I think the reality of it will confound you.
In an effort to build the main character, author Doug Stanton takes the reader back and forth in time, illustrating both how Parker’s upbringing shaped him into the man who landed in Vietnam, and how his experience there shaped the rest of his life. Sometimes this method of storytelling can disrupt a good narrative. Thankfully, the back-and-forth is never distracting or confusing. It’s well thought out, bolstering the events in Vietnam and providing depth to the man who’s story we’re following.
On the downside, we don’t really get enough of a sense of the rest of the company. In terms of Parker’s story, it’s works, because we’re seeing the Vietnam experience through his eyes. But the author refers to several secondary characters often, and even provides epilogues for them at the end. But without the same depth we get with Parker, it lacks some emotional resonance. It’s still interesting, though, and does add a layer to the overall long-term impact on the lives of soldiers who served in Vietnam.
The frightening thing is, Parker’s time in Vietnam has a beginning, but no middle, and no real end. It’s like it exists in a dream state, like where suddenly you find yourself in the middle of the night. You’re there, things happen, and then you wake up, with no understanding of what just happened or why. There’s no meaning to your actions, only unseen consequences.
That dream-like state is perhaps why the author begins the book with a disclaimer about memory. His interviews with survivors led to conflicting accounts of events. He says he related the version that is most consistent with each account. It might make one think that maybe this isn’t all true. But as I read the events of Parker’s time in Vietnam, I couldn’t help but wonder, who would make this kind of thing up? There’s no glory; only strange and terrible things.
How do you make sense of such stories where a larger meaning is so elusive?
"The Odyssey of Echo Company" is non-fiction, drawing on interviews with survivors of the company, along with research trips to the specific locales discussed in the book. Ultimately, the story is told through the eyes of Stanley Parker, a member of Echo Company. In fact, it’s less about the whole company and more of a character study about him.
Beginning after high school graduation in Gary, Indiana, in 1966, we meet Stanley, his family and friends. Like many young men, he views joining the military through the lens of history. It’s a noble rite; America always wins. He wants to go to Vietnam to be a part of something bigger, to be part of something to make his forefathers proud. Like many young men (and the American public in general), he doesn’t understand the reality of the war.
As you can guess, Stanley gets his wish and makes it to Vietnam. What happens to him is at times terrifying, tragic, and outright bizarre. You can’t help but think he shouldn’t be alive. You get the feeling he believes it, too. The meat of the story takes place during the Tet Offensive of 1968, which encompasses Parker’s time in Vietnam. It was a hell of a time to show up. During his tour, a microcosm of almost everything that could happen to a soldier happened to him. I won’t spoil the details, but I think the reality of it will confound you.
In an effort to build the main character, author Doug Stanton takes the reader back and forth in time, illustrating both how Parker’s upbringing shaped him into the man who landed in Vietnam, and how his experience there shaped the rest of his life. Sometimes this method of storytelling can disrupt a good narrative. Thankfully, the back-and-forth is never distracting or confusing. It’s well thought out, bolstering the events in Vietnam and providing depth to the man who’s story we’re following.
On the downside, we don’t really get enough of a sense of the rest of the company. In terms of Parker’s story, it’s works, because we’re seeing the Vietnam experience through his eyes. But the author refers to several secondary characters often, and even provides epilogues for them at the end. But without the same depth we get with Parker, it lacks some emotional resonance. It’s still interesting, though, and does add a layer to the overall long-term impact on the lives of soldiers who served in Vietnam.
The frightening thing is, Parker’s time in Vietnam has a beginning, but no middle, and no real end. It’s like it exists in a dream state, like where suddenly you find yourself in the middle of the night. You’re there, things happen, and then you wake up, with no understanding of what just happened or why. There’s no meaning to your actions, only unseen consequences.
That dream-like state is perhaps why the author begins the book with a disclaimer about memory. His interviews with survivors led to conflicting accounts of events. He says he related the version that is most consistent with each account. It might make one think that maybe this isn’t all true. But as I read the events of Parker’s time in Vietnam, I couldn’t help but wonder, who would make this kind of thing up? There’s no glory; only strange and terrible things.
November 9, 2020
How are you not gonna want to hear a tale from a Vietnam vet who was still serving in the US Army in 2004 in Afghanistan? While I might quibble with a few things near the end of the book, it’s an outstanding read about ordinary people doing extraordinary things and the price they pay for doing these things. Honor these men by hearing their story, and carry some of what they did and suffered with you. You’ll be better for it, if I may say so. 4.25 stars.
February 22, 2018
This is one of those books where I can't possibly write a review powerful enough to do it justice. This book blew me away.
First, for the broader view, it is extremely well written. It flows nicely from beginning to end. The writing paints a wonderful story line that isn't your typical history book. All events seem incredibly researched. For the people it follows, both main story line and those that only come and go quickly, you quickly learn to like all of them.
Going deeper, this book has many moments that are either shocking or emotionally overwhelming. I don't want to spoil anything, so all I can say is the way it ends is amazing. The way we fast forward to the 21st century and finish the story. And that picture.... wow that picture.
This book is in my top 10 list of history and/or non-fiction books easily. Tremendous job by the author, and thanks to the legendary men that were there and helped Doug complete this story.
First, for the broader view, it is extremely well written. It flows nicely from beginning to end. The writing paints a wonderful story line that isn't your typical history book. All events seem incredibly researched. For the people it follows, both main story line and those that only come and go quickly, you quickly learn to like all of them.
Going deeper, this book has many moments that are either shocking or emotionally overwhelming. I don't want to spoil anything, so all I can say is the way it ends is amazing. The way we fast forward to the 21st century and finish the story. And that picture.... wow that picture.
This book is in my top 10 list of history and/or non-fiction books easily. Tremendous job by the author, and thanks to the legendary men that were there and helped Doug complete this story.
May 16, 2018
This book is a slice into the life of a soldier during Vietnam War. It angers me that this war is not talked about. War is so challenging and the fact that America tried to make it a linear topic during the Vietnam War shows our own stupidity. It is complicated and the men fighting it should be able to come home and unpack what they just witnessed and went through. I challenge you to read this (or listen) because it will open your eyes to see that anything you've been told about the war is probably wrong.
August 13, 2018
I'm a military brat but never served. I missed Vietnam by a couple of years and am grateful for that. I've read many, many books on military history and, particularly, histories of men in combat. It's my opinion that this book is the best representation of the emotions and thoughts a combat participant goes through during battle and after returning home. This is a remarkable story and highly recommended.
January 20, 2019
Amazing book! I usually read books that relate to WWII, however, decided to venture out and educate myself on the Vietnam War. What a great book to start with. It truly is amazing to read what these soldiers went through and experienced during this war. Stand Parker is a true hero (and lucky as can be). Doug Stanton did a great job writing about Stans experiences as well as including some background history. Again great read.
January 28, 2022
The story about how the story itself came about sets up this book. As a war story author myself I was almost sick with professional jealously at the power of his compelling writing. Simply — he keeps it moving in the active present tense, to engage us on every page, in every skirmish. And we get deeply engaged in the characters’ lives and journeys and the meaning of life and war. Gripping stuff.
June 23, 2021
War at its most grotesque, journalistic style writing at its most factual, The Odyssey of Echo Company by Doug Stanton is a riveting read. At the surface, this is a story about fighting and survival. Implied more deeply, it is about madness. Stanton quotes an LBJ speech, "Yet, finally, war is always the same. It is trying to kill a man that you do not know even well enough to hate... therefore, to know war is to know there is still madness in the world." The question of madness lingers.
Books such as this are like proverbial battlefield parachute flares that, in the minds of readers, reanimate experience and thought. Stanton, in his notes at the end of the book writes, "...the war in Vietnam is with us today as one of America's unfinished epic narratives, a period of upheaval still in search of conclusion." The ripples of this war seem destined to reverberate forever.
I once visited the somber Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall in Washington, DC. Walking along side it, I overheard a child, riding atop a man's shoulders, who somehow grasped the solemnity and gravity representative of the moment ask naively, "Were there any survivors?" I smiled inwardly at the profundity of the question. I do not recall hearing, if any, the man's response. The answer, of course, is yes and no. Assuredly, there will be no final body count.
The writing style of the book - actually carried off quite impressively - brought to mind something akin to a Rod Sterling "Twilight Zone" TV episode intro whereupon he would narrate directly to the viewer: “You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into...the Twilight Zone." The book seems well-edited, right down to the order of maps and pictures presented.
I am a Vietnam War-era veteran, and I was moved by this book. Yet I felt the book left ajar too many paradoxical and philosophical doors. As prefrontal cortex stimuli the book was intense. Throughout my reading, however, I had a growing sense that the author had overly inserted himself as a backdrop and, added to my wish that the book were a deeper “cause and effects” probe, I was left with feeling the book was somewhat suffocating and too subtlety packaged.
Beyond the veil of code that defines an individual's definition of words like duty and patriotism, the book does not delve deeply or question reasons why the men and women who did participate decided to do so. The reader will be left to decide context, in sum or in parts, whether characters and cultures mentioned are courageous or stupefying, patriotic or nationalistic, justifying or lying, sacrificial or self-fulfilling, re-missive or indictable, and whether humankind and governments are redeemable or damnably lost.
In reading Odyssey, I surmised that if the entire combatant force were made up of men like the protagonist, the war would not have been lost. I also felt an anger that surprised me somewhat – no doubt a retrospective tidal wave gathered - the result of a lifetime of experience and learning that this war was blindly entered into and should not have ever been conducted. Having said that, reading this book for the action and context was thought-provoking and worthwhile.
Stanton throughout has insightful observations. He writes, "Time can telescope years; a single moment can be so dense that it contains a universe...Memories strobe back and forth on one's consciousness, whipsawing emotions and thought processes." I also believe to be true that time undoubtedly shall dictate the Vietnam War to be a never-healing scab. Yet maybe for those who fought on its battlefields, books such as this might give them some perspective and, dare I say, closure. To those men and women, I would simply say again, thank you for your service.
Books such as this are like proverbial battlefield parachute flares that, in the minds of readers, reanimate experience and thought. Stanton, in his notes at the end of the book writes, "...the war in Vietnam is with us today as one of America's unfinished epic narratives, a period of upheaval still in search of conclusion." The ripples of this war seem destined to reverberate forever.
I once visited the somber Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall in Washington, DC. Walking along side it, I overheard a child, riding atop a man's shoulders, who somehow grasped the solemnity and gravity representative of the moment ask naively, "Were there any survivors?" I smiled inwardly at the profundity of the question. I do not recall hearing, if any, the man's response. The answer, of course, is yes and no. Assuredly, there will be no final body count.
The writing style of the book - actually carried off quite impressively - brought to mind something akin to a Rod Sterling "Twilight Zone" TV episode intro whereupon he would narrate directly to the viewer: “You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into...the Twilight Zone." The book seems well-edited, right down to the order of maps and pictures presented.
I am a Vietnam War-era veteran, and I was moved by this book. Yet I felt the book left ajar too many paradoxical and philosophical doors. As prefrontal cortex stimuli the book was intense. Throughout my reading, however, I had a growing sense that the author had overly inserted himself as a backdrop and, added to my wish that the book were a deeper “cause and effects” probe, I was left with feeling the book was somewhat suffocating and too subtlety packaged.
Beyond the veil of code that defines an individual's definition of words like duty and patriotism, the book does not delve deeply or question reasons why the men and women who did participate decided to do so. The reader will be left to decide context, in sum or in parts, whether characters and cultures mentioned are courageous or stupefying, patriotic or nationalistic, justifying or lying, sacrificial or self-fulfilling, re-missive or indictable, and whether humankind and governments are redeemable or damnably lost.
In reading Odyssey, I surmised that if the entire combatant force were made up of men like the protagonist, the war would not have been lost. I also felt an anger that surprised me somewhat – no doubt a retrospective tidal wave gathered - the result of a lifetime of experience and learning that this war was blindly entered into and should not have ever been conducted. Having said that, reading this book for the action and context was thought-provoking and worthwhile.
Stanton throughout has insightful observations. He writes, "Time can telescope years; a single moment can be so dense that it contains a universe...Memories strobe back and forth on one's consciousness, whipsawing emotions and thought processes." I also believe to be true that time undoubtedly shall dictate the Vietnam War to be a never-healing scab. Yet maybe for those who fought on its battlefields, books such as this might give them some perspective and, dare I say, closure. To those men and women, I would simply say again, thank you for your service.
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