• The Colonels

  • Brotherhood of War Series, Book 4
  • By: W. E. B. Griffin
  • Narrated by: Eric G. Dove
  • Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (1,351 ratings)

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The Colonels  By  cover art

The Colonels

By: W. E. B. Griffin
Narrated by: Eric G. Dove
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Publisher's summary

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....

©2012 B. V. Larson (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[Griffin’s] writing enriched by new, fully developed characters... renders an intricately layered, epic novel of international politics... ” ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about The Colonels

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A Great Series!

Any additional comments?

Can't wait for the other books in this series is put out by Audible, please hurry up :)

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Soap opera for men

I have really enjoyed this series by W. E. B. Griffin. The character development is great and the narrator, Eric G Dove is very good. This entire series has been like a soap opera for men. I find myself getting attached to some characters and not liking others. There is plenty of military action but there is also some of the day to day stuff that happens in life. The descriptions of the day to day life in the military is very accurate and the details are spot on. The narrator gets most of his terminology right and keeps his characters in their unique style of voice throughout the series. If you're a military history buff or just looking for a good series to start give this one a try.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Pleasant experience

What did you love best about The Colonels?

Glad that they are finally producing the BoW series and hopefully the publishers will finish out the series and TC also.

What about Eric G. Dove’s performance did you like?

While his voice is pleasant and much less aggravating than Dick Hill, Dove has no idea (and obviously neither does the editor) about the military or the language. It is the simple things like misstating military time (one=thousand hours, not ten=hundred hours on a 24 hour military clock). But Dove does know it is a [M Nineteen-eleven A one] pistol not a [M one nine one one A one] pistol. Significant improvement over listening to Dick Hill in the other books. Enjoyable listen and recommend it to other W E B G fans.

Any additional comments?

Pick it up, its a worthy listen but you need to start with the Lieutenants.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book fun reading. Looking forward to the next

Looking forward to the next episode. Fun book read all the books in the series.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic Story

The Colonels was another great story in the Brotherhood you get so involved in the characters it’s hard to not want more

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Too Much Soap Opera

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.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful

This story has captured my imagination and my great respect for my father Ret AF Lt Colonel and my uncle Major General WLStarnes. One of the best stories i have read in close to 400 books on Audible. If you liked Crash Dive you will love this. The narrator is superb rivaling Guidall, Bray etc. So much fun reliving history and the struggle of armed conflict and the struggles soldiers had trying to protect our country by outwitting the paper jockeys vs on the ground an in the air heros through this group of characters interactions! Wonderful!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Soap Opera

The ending is great. I listen to all the books since the Lts. This one dragged most of the book with personal relationships. I don’t know why it did not cover more of the Korean War up front. I like the history / fiction of Army Aviation. But like i said to much dragged on the personal relationships. I like the characters. I am moving on to The Berets and hopefully it will be more militaristic and less personal relationships

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent series in a Military setting

If you liked W.E.B Griffin's "Corp" series, you'll also like this series, “Brotherhood of War”. They are very similar in style, although the characters and stories are all different. As with "Corp", this series is really about people and the trials and challenges of their lives, and much less about the actual wars during with the books are set. The 9 books in the series follow the principle characters thru promotions and ensuing wars over 20 years, spanning from the mid 40’s to the mid 60’s. This book, (The Colonels), picks up in Dec 1958 and ends April 23, 1961, just after the Bay of pigs. You most definitely should start with book 1 in the series, though - "The Lieutenants".

These books are about character development and growth in the military setting. I love the military background and the details of life for career service men and women, perhaps because it’s a world I never experienced. I have the greatest respect and admiration for our service men and women, although I never served. There’s no doubt that part of my enjoyment of these books is seeing the inner workings of a life I never experienced – but this review is coming from a guy who was never there.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Language problems

The reader needs to brush up on his foreign language pronunciations... most notably Vietnamese and Southern US

Damnyankees (and it IS one word)

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