The Odyssey of Echo Company

By: Doug Stanton

Narrated by: CJ Wilson

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

A powerful work of literary military history from the New York Times best-selling author of In Harm's Way and Horse Soldiers - the harrowing and redemptive account of an American army platoon fighting for survival during the Vietnam War.

On a single night, January 31, 1968, some 100,000 soldiers in the North Vietnamese Army attacked 36 cities throughout South Vietnam, hoping to topple that government and dislodge American forces. The 12 American boys of the recon platoon of the 101st Airborne Division, average age 19, are from small farms, California beach towns, and big cities like Chicago, and they are cast into a war they neither understand nor ultimately feel they can win. The fighting was hand-to-hand, nonstop, and waged in endless small battles that forged this group into a lifelong brotherhood of survivors. The Odyssey of Echo Company is about the young men who survived 60 days on the run from the enemy during the Tet Offensive, at the height of the Vietnam War.

Each young man lived 100 years in these days and came home to a country that did not understand, and didn't try to understand, what they had survived. They came home winners because they were alive but were losers for having fought there. When they arrived, they landed in San Francisco, took off their uniforms, and walked back into America, where they fell silent and realized that not many wanted to hear the remarkable story they had to tell - until now.

Based on hundreds of hours of interviews, dozens of detailed letters written to and from Echo Company soldiers, a huge trove of Pentagon after-action reports, and travel to the scenes of battle with the American soldiers and some of their Vietnamese enemy soldiers, The Odyssey of Echo Company breaks through the wall of time to tell this important story of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

©2017 Doug Stanton (P)2017 Simon & Schuster Audio

Great look into what a Nam solder endured.

I would recomend this book to anyone who is interested in the Vietnam War. My father served 2 tours there in the Marines and I have studied this war for years. My father's health is declining rapidly and in listening to this book it gave some of the best insight into my father and his war.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Just an incredible story and odyssey

So well written...actually had to put the book down a few times given how moving and stirring it was. So very well done. Am glad that Stan asked it to be written...

Amazing, enraging and heart wrenching.

Would recommend to anyone who enjoys and can handle war books. A must read. d

An attempt of a historian to be a novelist

Listed as history, the author is enamored with melodrama which appears forced and is in fact boring

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

WOW, could not stop listening.

I understand better what so many of my friends endured during the conflict. thank you Doug and to all who served.

I wasn't a fan.

I mean it was ok, it just wasn't my cup of tea. Overall it seemed like nearly every other Vietnam War memoir book.
Sorry, I just didn't like this one

Insanely good

This book is simply incredible. First you have the unbelievable journey of the men of Echo Company leading up to war, back home, and back again to Vietnam. Then you have a portrait of the Vietnam War crafted like no other by Doug Stanton, a master. And underlying it all are profound and hard-earned lessons about youth, life, death and of course war. This is an audiobook I plan to listen to over and over.

-THW

Fantastic Narration

The narration is fantastic. CJ Wilson doesn't just read the book, he tells you the story, makes you feel anguish, hardship and pride of the members of the platoon. While he at times strays closer to acting than traditional narration, his inflection, tone and emphasis is never gimmicky or over done.

The Oddyssey of Echo Company

Wow, what an amazing story. Thanks Vietnam Vets for your service, courage and strength. Your sacrifices will always be appreciated and respected by me.

Best Vietnam account I have ever read

I have read many war stories, and this one is by far the most descriptive and vivid. It really helps you see into the minds of the veterans before, during, and after the war, as well as the social and political atmosphere at home. It is well worth the time to read and would advise it to anyone.