The Odyssey of Echo Company

The 1968 Tet Offensive and the Epic Battle to Survive the Vietnam War

By: Doug Stanton

Narrated by: CJ Wilson

SELECTED BY MILITARY TIMES AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * SELECTED BY THE SOCIETY OF MIDLAND AUTHORS’ AS THE BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

The New York Times bestselling author of In Harm’s Way and Horse Soldiers shares the powerful account of an American army platoon fighting for survival during the Vietnam War in “an important book….not just a battle story—it’s also about the home front” (The Today show).

On January 31, 1968, as many as 100,000 guerilla fighters and soldiers in the North Vietnamese Army attacked thirty-six cities throughout South Vietnam, hoping to dislodge American forces during one of the vital turning points of the Vietnam War. Alongside other young American soldiers in an Army reconnaissance platoon (Echo Company, 1/501) of the 101st Airborne Division, Stanley Parker, the nineteen-year-old son of a Texan ironworker, was suddenly thrust into savage combat, having been in-country only a few weeks. As Stan and his platoon-mates, many of whom had enlisted in the Army, eager to become paratroopers, moved from hot zone to hot zone, the extreme physical and mental stresses of Echo Company’s day-to-day existence, involving ambushes and attacks, grueling machine-gun battles, and impossibly dangerous rescues of wounded comrades, pushed them all to their limits and forged them into a lifelong brotherhood. The war became their fight for survival.

When they came home, some encountered a bitterly divided country that didn’t understand what they had survived. Returning to the small farms, beach towns, and big cities where they grew up, many of the men in the platoon fell silent, knowing that few of their countrymen wanted to hear the stories they lived to tell—until now. Based on interviews, personal letters, and Army after-action reports, The Odyssey of Echo Company recounts the searing tale of wartime service and homecoming of ordinary young American men in an extraordinary time and confirms Doug Stanton’s prominence as an unparalleled storyteller of our age.

Amazing

Amazing, raw and real Vietnam story. If you like military history and combat stories this is one book you won’t want to skip

Outstanding and eye opening memoir.

This book was a fascinating look at what a combat Vietnam veteran went through, Before, during, and after the war.

Amazing, enraging and heart wrenching.

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

Very Realistic Book

The most realistic book I think I ever listened to about the Vietnam War, and I have listened to multiple.

Great depiction of the Vietnam war from a soldiers

Very good storyline that puts you in the place of these brave men who fought and died in the Vietnam war. I especially enjoyed the follow up story of the me that returned to Vietnam almost 50 years later and came face to face with a man whom they fought against. Great book.