The Colonels

Brotherhood of War #4

by W.E.B. Griffin

They were the professionals, the men who had been toughened by combat in the mine-laden fields of Europe, in Korea, in Greece, in Indochina. Now, in the twilight of a dying decade, they must return to the United States to forge a new type of American soldier--one to be tested on the beaches of Cuba and in a new war yet to come...

Genres: Fiction, Military Fiction, Historical Fiction, War, Adventure, Action, Historical

484 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 1983

About the author

W.E.B. Griffin was one of several pseudonyms for William E. Butterworth III.

From the Authors Website:

W.E.B. Griffin was the #1 best-selling author of more than fifty epic novels in seven series, all of which have made The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, and other best-seller lists. More than fifty million of the books are in print in more than ten languages, including Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, and Hungarian.
Mr. Griffin grew up in the suburbs of New York City and Philadelphia. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1946. After basic training, he received counterintelligence training at Fort Holabird, Maryland. He was assigned to the Army of Occupation in Germany, and ultimately to the staff of then-Major General I.D. White, commander of the U.S. Constabulary.

In 1951, Mr. Griffin was recalled to active duty for the Korean War, interrupting his education at Phillips University, Marburg an der Lahn, Germany. In Korea he earned the Combat Infantry Badge as a combat correspondent and later served as acting X Corps (Group) information officer under Lieutenant General White.

On his release from active duty in 1953, Mr. Griffin was appointed Chief of the Publications Division of the U.S. Army Signal Aviation Test & Support Activity at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

Mr. Griffin was a member of the Special Operations Association, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, the Army Aviation Association, the Armor Association, and the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Society.

He was the 1991 recipient of the Brigadier General Robert L. Dening Memorial Distinguished Service Award of the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association, and the August 1999 recipient of the Veterans of Foreign Wars News Media Award, presented at the 100th National Convention in Kansas City.

He has been vested into the Order of St. George of the U.S. Armor Association, and the Order of St. Andrew of the U.S. Army Aviation Association, and been awarded Honorary Doctoral degrees by Norwich University, the nation’s first and oldest private military college, and by Troy State University (Ala.). He was the graduation dinner speaker for the class of 1988 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

He has been awarded honorary membership in the Special Forces Association, the Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association, the Marine Raiders Association, and the U.S. Army Otter & Caribou Association. In January 2003, he was made a life member of the Police Chiefs Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and the State of Delaware.

He was the co-founder, with historian Colonel Carlo D’Este, of the William E. Colby Seminar on Intelligence, Military, and Diplomatic Affairs. (Details here and here)

He was a Life Member of the National Rifle Association. And he belongs to the Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Pensacola, Florida, chapters of the Flat Earth Society.

Mr. Griffin’s novels, known for their historical accuracy, have been praised by The Philadelphia Inquirer for their “fierce, stop-for-nothing scenes.”

“Nothing honors me more than a serviceman, veteran, or cop telling me he enjoys reading my books,” Mr. Griffin says.

Mr. Griffin divides his time between the Gulf Coast and Buenos Aires.

Notes:
Other Pseudonyms

* Alex Baldwin
* Webb Beech
* Walker E. Blake
* W.E. Butterworth
* James McM. Douglas
* Eden Hughes
* Edmund O. Scholefield
* Patrick J. Williams
* W. E. Butterworth
* John Kevin Dugan
* Jac

Reviews

[Ridel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Multitasking

In the dying days of the 1950s, the American Armed Forces began its reorganization from conquering heroes to proxy war instigators. The author’s ability to channel horrifying bureaucracy into a character-driven drama is peerless. No one else can start a chapter with a Telex describing monetary allowances for transportation. The Colonels improves upon its predecessors by restoring its ensemble cast: Hanrahan returns from Greece and Indochina to lead the nascent Special Forces, and Felter’s schemes play out at the highest ranks. All these stories plausibly intersect incidents such as Castro’s rise and the Bay of Pigs invasion, weaving together a fascinating alternate history out of obscure and mundane events.

The author’s flaws are also the same: an apologist for a lead character whose moral failings are legend, and a view on women that’s strictly sexual. It’s a surprise that I continued this series; my excuse is that I forgot to cancel my holds at the library. The Colonels reduces Lowell’s role and sees his superiors reprimand his virtue, but the deadbeat father is still first-amongst-equals. It’s baffling how his special treatment due to wealth and good looks is presented as a positive quality. Equally, women are sexual objects or wives supporting their warrior husbands, nothing more. There’s a vast chasm between my values and those of the author.

My dilemma is that I’m invested in the lives of three of the four main characters. The Brotherhood of War series is a soap opera for men. The cast are all amusingly flawed, metaphorically shoot themselves in the foot, and live life to the fullest. I enjoy the portrayal of the army as a stiffling organization, staffed with small-minded career bureaucrats like any number of jobs around the world. The Colonels is officially a guilty pleasure. The author’s values aren’t mine, but I have the capability to both criticize and enjoy the ride.

Not Recommended, with Reservations.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

The soap opera aspects of this series go into high gear as Major Craig Lowell simply cannot keep his pants zipped no matter how stupid he knows he is being. Perhaps the alcoholism (which no one in the novel comes close to recognizing) is part of the problem. In any event, Lowell’s problems with sexual partners make up way too much of this story as Griffin appears to use them to pad the novel which continues to focus on the development of army air power and also the green berets. I think of this book as a positioning novel. Vietnam is coming, and to get there Griffin needed his get his cast out of the 1950s and into the Kennedy administration. Hopefully he will get back in his groove in the next book.

[Bob Mayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another superb entry in an epic series.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The decade is ending, things are changing...a lot.

In this book the beginnings of special operations units is taking place. The Characters are growing...sometimes or in some cases...and things will (of course) never be the same.

Presidents come and go throughout the decades of our story but it seems that one of our characters has a place with each of them. This surprises him as much as anyone else. And there continues to be a place for each officer, even though this to seems a surprise, in at least one place.

Look, these are good books. Each reader will I suspect like different characters and prefer different facets of the story. Still I think most readers (who like historical fiction, military fiction, action etc.) will like these.

I recommend the series. I put off reading it for years as I suspected I'd get caught up in it and then have to run the4m all down.

I was right.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this novel the Korean conflict has wound down but things in SE Asia aren't quite done and Vietnam is becoming increasingly important in the geopolitical tensions. The Green Berets have become their own separate part of the service. Craig Lowell is still, sadly a major. We travel with an increasingly diverse cast from Nicaragua to Arizona and many other points in between. Kennedy takes office right towards the end and Sandy Felter is once again retained as counselor to the president dashing his hopes of serving as a warrior in the armed forces. Just good old fun reading continues.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this series several times over the last 20 years or so, and just started it again after a 5+ year layoff. Reading it again I've forgotten how good of a storyteller Griffin was before writing with his son in his last few books. While this one sets the stage for each of his other series (i.e., Corps, Vigilantes, Philadelphia police series) with a rich guy who always bucks the system to beat up the bad guy, with this one you have good character developmet and dialogue, and get a history of the Army from WWII through Vietnam - Korea, tank development, army aviation, Green Berets, you name it.

I always liked rooting for Lowell, and each of us has a very tight stickler to the rules Bellmon in our lives - Griffin portrays his characters similar to people ni each of our lives.

Reading each book in this series is well worth it - wish I could say the same about his latest books with Butterworth the IV!

[Michał Hołda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is definitely showing these fellow as friends to each other, that been through the same posigures and duties. There is meeting of generals,where they discussed exquisite cuisine, steak meat from Alexandria. And in the book are meetings with president of the USA himself.

And its in times of Cuban crisis, when as in book as in real life, fortunately US get intel on Russian building missile base on Cuba. In 1962 the Soviet Union began to secretly install missiles in Cuba to launch attacks on U.S. cities. And yes President couldnt even publicly mention the case. Top Sicret as it was.

In historical background of things, thanks to reason Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty of 1963 was singed, that prohibited nuclear weapons tests "or any other nuclear explosion" in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under water.

[Emerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic ending...at first...oh know! Then, hahaha! Can't wait to find out what happens next.

[Clem · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fourth of (I think) nine of W.E.B. Griffin’s “Brotherhood of War” series. These books focus on three members of the U.S. army – Rudy MacMillan, Sandford Felter, and Craig Lowell. In each one of these books, our three protagonists manage to achieve the rank of the particular book title –either right before, during, or at the conclusion of the story. These three characters are very different, yet are all connected via mutual experiences that they have found themselves in ever since the closing days of World War II, which was when the first book began.

MacMillan is the tough brute who never seems far away from a drink and wanting to punch someone in the nose. Felter is small bald Jew (I’m only mentioning his ethnicity because the author seems to mention it on every page that features the guy) who is a clandestine advisor to the White House. Craig Lowell is the rich spoiled playboy who just happens to be a fine soldier. Lowell gets the most page space because such a character is easier to write around. He’s always getting drunk, bedding women (single and married), buying airplanes, arguing with his superior officers, and getting thrown out of the army. This shtick has slightly worn on me over four books. In fact, every time the author introduces a female character in the story, we know if she’s under 40 and even remotely good looking, she’ll be sleeping with Lowell within the next couple of chapters. Still, though, Griffin manages to somehow make you like the guy. Maybe because he is such a great soldier, and deep down, we know his heart is in the right place.

There are lot of other characters that we have grown to know and love as well. They’re too numerous to name, but each book tends to introduce one or two new people, whereas we’re forced to say goodbye to one or two in each book as well (remember this is the military, and accidents happen – in war and in peace).

This book starts in VietNam in 1958 (before the U.S. involvement in an all-out war) and ends directly after the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba in 1961. There’s not a whole lot of conflict here, but we do get introduced to the creation of the special ops team known as The Green Berets. The last 50-75 pages are probably the most exciting, as we find ourselves in the jungles of Cuba during the Bay of Pigs. As I’ve stated earlier, though, in most of these books, there simply isn’t a ton of detail when it comes to war. Griffin is much more interested in telling a story, and when we have so many different characters – home and “abroad” - there’s an awful lot of “real life” that happens that isn’t necessarily directly related to fighting.

Please do yourself a favor and read the series from the beginning. Yes, W.E.B. Griffin, does give you enough background to where it’s not completely necessary, but you’re missing out on whole lot of good reading if you pick up this series somewhere in the middle. Anxiously looking forward to tackling part 5…..

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kennedy becomes President. Ike talks JFK into keeping Felter as Couselor and promotes him to Lt Colonel. Felter gets involved with planning the Bay of Pigs. We get a new character in Lieutenant Ellis, a very young Spanish speaking half Puerto Rican who MacMillan picks up hitchhiking. MacMillan is in civilian clothes so Ellis finds out later who he is. MacMillan is promoted to Lt Col. They are both assigned to Special Forces at Ft Bragg. Ellis ends up leading an A Team into Cuba along with a Navy Lt Commander who is captured and killed. The Commander’s mission had been to find proof of Russian missile sites in Cuba. He succeeds and caches the evidence before he is captured, tortured and killed. Felter parachutes in to retrieve the evidence. He and the A Team are in dire shape as the Bay of Pigs invasion fails. Somehow Lowell gets wind of it, manages to find a sea plane and on his own flies to Cuba and rescues Felter, Ellis and the A Team. Lowell gets promoted to Lt Colonel. Parker finally gets promoted to Major after a black clerk in Pentagon personnel discovers that he is being blackballed and brings it to the attention of her boss. As the story progresses the Special Forces get heavily involved in inter Army politics and power struggles. Fortunately, JFK takes an interest in the Special Forces mission which Colonel Hanrahan is now in charge of. Parker volunteers for Special Forces so that puts most of our main characters in that milieu. We expect, at some point, that Craig Lowell will end up there as well. One of the affectations of this author is to print orders in detail with all the numbers, dates, headquarters details, etc. This gets a bit tedious at times and I expect were I reading the books instead of listening, that I would quickly skim over the headings and get to the meat. But our Audible reader, who does a great job, reads every word. As another reviewer on another book in this series points out, our reader makes a rookie mistake on one particular abbreviation by always pronouncing the letters—T, W, X. This is a pre-email form of military communication used to issues orders, etc. from higher headquarters. In the military it’s always used as a word—twix. As in, “Do you have that twix? Although I’ve noted before that I’m not at all “woke” I wonder why Griffen invariably refers to Felter as “the little Jew.” It gets a bit tiresome. If the reader has gotten to book 4 he knows that Felter is Jewish. Curiously, his Jewishness doesn’t seem to have any impact on his behavior or decisions. He is “little” in that he is small but not very Jewish. And, he is obviously one of the most important, impactful and courageous characters. That he is a “little Jew” seems his least important characteristic. On to Book 5 which will no doubt be more about Special Forces.

[Jordan Bethea · Rating 3 out of 5]

My feelings on each individual book in the series are essentially the same, they have good character work and interesting vignettes, which are all intertwined in what feels a sprawling incoherent kind of way. I am interested in them while reading, but looking back I struggle to remember what even happens in each book. There are very few signposts I can point to as where Things Happened. The last two at least have large climactic events that are easy to remember.

But as usual, the character work and dialogue are fun, believable, and interesting, even as they often seem to go through fairly mundane events. Or at least, they feel mundane when spread across all the different plot threads and viewpoints that the books jump between. That seems to be the skill of Griffin is making the internal machinations of army planning seem interesting while reading it.

At this point I wish there was less focus on Lowell, he has essentially become the defacto protagonist. He's interesting, but not really more interesting to me than say Felter or Parker, and I am getting somewhat tired of how much time the series spends on him throwing money around and having women throw themselves at him. Lowell's character flaws are the book version of an interviewee saying that their greatest flaw is that they work TOO hard. Parker's discussions with Hanrahan about not feeling like he can make it as special forces are much more interesting.

[Dennis W. Ingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

I read these back in the ‘80s when WEB wrote them. I was Army and involved in MI in Korea and then later the Cold War in West FRG so they struck a personal chord. About everyone in my units read them and there was a jockeying for the right to read the only copy of the “Generals” (which I had) after I had finished. I enjoy the weaving fiction with history, the only issue is the older I get, while I appreciated the writing style initially, the recounting of issues (histories of the combatants) in previous books I no longer do. If you are reading for the first time this won’t bother you too much.

[Richard Guerrero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book. Started with World War II, the Korean War, Castro taking over Cuba and the start of Vietnam. Glad that Parker the fourth finally got his promotion. Did not care for how Cynthia Thomas got in with Craig Lowell and after how she left him he still has affairs with her. Glad Sandy was not killed in Cuba and he is back with the president. Love the authors insight of these wars and the operations of the military.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since Mr. Griffin wrote the follow-up novels in the M*A*S*H series. You can see a lot of M*A*S*H in the stories.

One of the most positive things in his novels, is the fact that many of his characters have friends who are of a different race.

Several of the main characters have close friends who are black as well as white. Very positive message here.

As usual he mixes history and fiction with a lot of conversation to make things interesting.

[CASPER HILEMAN · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the fourth installment of Griffins Brotherhood of War small wars are becoming large ordeals after the tensions of the Cold War ramp up. The Vietnam War morphs from a war of national liberation into superpower contests of ideology and the rise in forces committed to them. Lowell, Felter, and MacMillan don't just fight wars they are also shaping the U.S. Army of the future.

[Richard W Downes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my fourth in this series after completing all of the Marines series. The attention to military language and listing of rank & assignments is amazing. Being able to use language appropriate for young & old, male & female characters is also very well done. Although the works are fictional, I am certain they are based on real experiences & facts. Thanks for the insight!

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Griffin is a great storyteller. I think best to read in order so you know the backstory!
Great character development from book to book! Interesting series about the Military, but, not always set in Combat.

[Louie Halfacre · Rating 5 out of 5]

military

I enjoyed reading this Brotherhood series. I have one thought or observation and that is Does Felter have a sign around his neck stating “Little Jew”. And no I’m not a Jew.

[William Walter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way too much romance novel, way too little military action--'nuff said; it is supposed to be a WEB Griffin novel.

[Bryan Boswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the greatest war series of all time. My father read this and passed it down to me. Great reading.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading the series entries back to back increases the enjoyment. Great continuing characters. Top notch historical fiction, within a story line of non-fiction.

[Patrick J. Welk]

Continuation of Series

Characters still remain interesting, events which occurred happened in my lifetime and I really like the way the series (books) are being written

[James C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keep reading the series in order. It’s fun, mindless, with bits of history.

[Robert Knorr · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Dennis P Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

5.

[Dyann · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I have read these in order I have come to enjoy the characters so much. Well written as you follow these men and women in these books.

[Nate · Rating 4 out of 5]

The series is really starting to blossom in The Colonels, and I'm all for it. A little too much romance for me this time around but still incredibly indulging nonetheless.

[Dallas Autery · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it.

[Chuck B · Rating 4 out of 5]

addictive books!

These books are very entertaining, but you get 10 pages about a dinner party and 2 pages about a battle.

[Steven Weed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great!

Like all of his books the Majors was top notch.

Web griffin is one of the best authors of historical fiction that I have ever read