The Last Platoon

A Novel of the Afghanistan War

By: Bing West

Narrated by: Stephen Graybill

Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

A platoon of Marines and CIA operatives clash in a fight to the death with the drug lords and the Taliban, while in Washington, the president seeks a way out.

This authentic war story vividly displays how a warrior must replenish his own moral courage and not allow ambition to coarsen his sense of decency.

The Last Platoon explores firefights expertly told by a combat veteran. Listeners will feel like they have entered a strange, alien world as they hear, in great detail, how the Marines and Taliban clash, circle each other, probe for weakness, and clash again in primordial violence, neither side yielding. While intrigue and deceit play out at the higher levels, in Afghanistan's bright poppy fields only the killing instinct will decide the winner.

©2020 Bing West (P)2020 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Accurate and Spot on!

Good read has the feel that the writer knows his stuff gets the politics right

Good Fiction book

This book is a fictional book that took too much liberty with factutual events. Being as such I saw the story as a slap in the face of the members of the United States Marine Corps 3rd Aviation Wing who defended Camp Bastian againt a broken arrow event in September 2012.

Bing West has the authority of JamesWebb.com

Bing West, who is the author of The Village, which has been on the USMC Reading List for a long time, uses his latest novel to compare Vietnam and the post-9-11 Wars.

West, who was an assistant SECDEF, and whose son was also an assistant SECDEF Special Ops (and whose college classmates have mentioned as our generation's JFK), has standing to compare Vietnam and Afghanistan with authority matched by only James Webb.

The political references are clear. POTUS in this novel is modeled on our current POTUS, who strives to obey the commandment "win the next election" that is attributed to Kissinger. Some of the attackers on the Afghan base are Vietnamese sappers who are outcasts from their native land because their fathers were South Vietnamese soldiers. Vietnam's key terrain in the great powers fights projected by SECDEF Mattis come to mind.

West's novel is a familiar military story which pits downward loyalty against the political needs of POTUS and the chain of command. As such, it recalls Webb's "Something to die for" among others.

West (and son) is as important a story teller about American War as Clint Eastwood (and son); it is time for Hollywood (Eastwoods?) to make some of the West's stories because we, Americans, need pro-American and tactically sound war movies.

A Fictional story which could be real

This fictional story follows a marine platoon deployed for a special mission in Afghanistan. I enjoyed the different perspectives and view points both up and down the chains of command. The story seems so real and authentic.

The narrators performance and different voices are good, my only gripe is his speaking cadence.

A great story well read

The action is intense. The emotions are real. I’d imagine that a lot of these situations are recollections with names changed more-so then they are fiction. The reader is transported right into the story. The characters on the ground, and back in Washington, are clearly representations of actual people.
The reading performance by Mr Graybill was superb. The voices and accents he portrays help paint a picture of each character. His pace and tone pass on excitement and fear as well as comedy and relief.
I’ll recommend this audiobook to anyone who asks. It was one of my favorites in recent memory.

Great Story...Not a good performance

This is a really good storyline and moves fairly quickly with a lot of action. But....the Narrator was just awful. From pace of his read to tone and inflection. I felt like Christopher Walken was narrating. Don't hold the narrator against the author, but be prepared.

Unvarnished reality, the way Marines fight.

What really goes on behind the many curtains and why we should thank a vet at every opportunity.

good book. terrible narration.

the narrator ruined this book. just awful. accents are terrible and annoying. good book overall