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The Majors Brotherhood of War WEB Griffin Books

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The Majors Brotherhood of War WEB Griffin Books

For military novels, Griffin's books don't have much action, and this one has less than most. It might be said - OK, I'm saying it - that Griffin prefers writing about, and writes better about, bureaucratic combat than about real warfare. He writes the latter well when he does it, but he doesn't do it very much.

The first book in this series covers the closing days of World War II and the opening of the Cold War. The second book covers Korea. This one covers the more peaceful mid-1950s, Three of our main characters have switched to Army Aviation, a fledgling branch of the service seen as undesirable careerwise. Despite distinguishing themselves with tanks in Korea, Craig Lowell and Phil Parker become persona non grata and are dumped in Aviation with other screwups and misfits. Mac MacMillan takes a transfer there because it's been spelled out to him that otherwise a mustang with a battlefield commission, despite having the Medal of Honor, will get shunted aside in the peacetime officer corps, or be relegated to being a high-ranking aide serving punch and cookies in Washington .

The only combat any of our characters see is courtesy of the French, now losing in Vietnam and Algeria. MacMillan, Sandy Felter - a rising spook - and a new character, a brash young noncom named Greer who has become a general's protege, parachute into Dien Bien Phu to assess the besieged French force there. They bail out just before their transport is shot down, distinguish themselves rescuing a French Foreign Legion officer the Viet Minh are torturing, and narrowly escape death making their way to French lines. Greer, offered a favor by his patron general, asks for an unusual one: to become a warrant officer so that he can train as a pilot.

The real action here is bureaucratic. The Army's use of aircraft is narrowly proscribed in deference to the new Air Force. And the latter shows no desire to divert resources from its major missions of strategic bombing and air-to-air combat, towards tactical support of troops in the field. Army helicopters are being used mostly for transport and medical evacuation. MacMillan and Lowell realize they'd be lethal tank-killing weapons if armed with rockets. The war this book covers is really the Army's secret program to develop the gunship in the face of the Air Force's anticipated objections.

We read about the development of Ft. Rucker in Alabama - a base already opened and then closed twice when deemed unnecessary by Washington - now reopened one more time to serve as a helicopter training and development venue. And it spurs the interest of everyone in town from the wealthy - who angle to buy property based on foreknowledge of the base's reopening - to women looking for secretarial jobs plus access to all those handsome young flyboys.

And we read about the ups and downs in our characters' lives. Lowell, widowed and with his child being raised by his German in-laws, reverts to his bachelor ways and blows up his career when his affair with an aging senator's horny young wife makes waves. Greer takes a transfer overseas because he can't face the prospect of married life with his fiance, the wealthy daughter of the mayor of the town outside Ft. Rucker. Felter has now become so important that, even though only a major, he secretly advises the President daily and directly. But his career has become so consuming it's damaging his marriage to Sharon, who hates the isolation from other military families necessary to Sandy's cover.

The book focuses the most on Lowell. He's become yet another rich, devil-may-care flyboy leading one of Griffin's series, like Pick Pickering in "The Corps" and Clete Frade in "Honor Bound". Lowell is a brilliant natural warrior, distinguishing himself in the breakout from Pusan with a daring behind-enemy-lines armor raid sowing chaos in the North Koreans' rear. His career is hampered partly by his skirt-chasing, but also by his disregard for regulation and appearances, and by superiors offended by how quickly he's risen in rank.

Here, Lowell must swallow his pride when, to promote the secret gunship program, he is placed in the Pentagon to use his bureaucratic guile to stealthily divert money for the gunships, and his connections and wealth to wine and dine senators and congressmen whose votes the program needs. Lowell, not a phony, hates those games, but knows how to play them.

The ending was fine. I foresaw its general thrust but two hard twists returned it to a surprise.


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The Majors Brotherhood of War WEB Griffin Books Reviews

Outstanding. A classic. Something you will never give away. Brotherhood of War is, in my opinion, the finest book series written by W.E.B. Griffin. Having served 34 yrs. in the military, (Active and Active Reserve) and having retired from the L.A.P.D. as a Detective Supervisor in Narcotics (32 yrs.), I know about the military and police. I Commanded various size combat units in 5 nations, on 3 continents. W.E.B. Griffin is able to give an interesting take within our military and police.
Got the entire Brotherhood of War series, won't get into detail by book, because I don't want to ruin it for readers. Really liked Griffin's character development and ability to tell a story. Best part is after having lived in some of these locations myself, though much later than when the books are set, I love the accuracy and ability to see some of the things even today that are referenced in the books. A very well told story that I will read again, and I don't normally read books twice.
This book is not the fastest moving story in the world, but it is absolutely authentic as regards how the US Army works in peacetime, and for that reason I could not put it down. The author obviously has a deep understanding of the US Army and its politics, and that shines through in this one. In this story we see the US creeping towards its disastrous intervention in Vietnam, and rumblings of a confrontation with Russia over Cuba on the horizon. Meanwhile, the Army experiments with a rocket-firing helicopter concept in the face of Air Force bureaucratic hostility. It all comes together as an absorbing story for those interested in the US Army. As one who served as an Army Officer (5 years) but ultimately decided not to make it a career, I found this a great way to experience all of this vicariously. Recommended. RJB.
Although this wasn't my favorite of the books in this series, it is a valuable aid to understanding the military mindset in the years described as "peacetime"; those years after the war is won and during which the nations must anticipate and prepare for the next one because sure as baby rabbits there is going to be a next one. That the author chose to use the officer grade of Major to illustrate the process is a masterful stroke. The analogy that I was reminded of is that of the educational system- the difference between high school and college. Most everyone completes high school but only a certain percentage continue on to college, however no one believes that a high school graduate has somehow failed or is any less of an achiever. The same is true for military officers. The book illustrates that like high school, many enlisted men are capable of entering officer candidate school with the hopes of retiring at the rank of Captain. As a high school senior, one learns what it means to have the power and authority within the secondary education student body to "rule the school". In the officer corps, the difference between a captain and a major is as significant within their venue and that of a high school senior and a college freshman- where one has to start all over again. Captains as company officers in combat units are the commanding officers supported by Lieutenants and Corporals. The next level up is regiments and they are almost always commanded by Lt Colonels or full Colonels. These Colonels as illustrated in the first introduction "The Lieutenants" are the cornerstone to the success of junior officers ending up commanding regiments. Majors are the support, recruiting pool and back-up for Colonels. It is in this rank that the wheat gets separated from the chaff. Majors who generally have no command authority or experience and are more interested in being Generals than in ensuring a well ordered military get left behind because the Colonels in charge of them know one day they will be competition for the limited General officer positions. The next[ and last] level is Brigade commanded by full bird colonels or Lt and Brigadier Generals. The grade of Majors is almost always the very last chance a career soldier, even a West Point/Norwich/ Cital etc soldier, has to acquire command experience. And without Command experience unless one is in a non-combat support MOS such as finance, transportation, medicine etc. a Major is about all the higher that particular soldier is going to rise. That makes the politics of the military very interesting When the struggle for positions of command is factored into the ever present research and development of new tactics and weaponry, in fighting between the various divisions and branches etc then the fun really hits the fan.
This book set up the decisions regarding US /French relations in the early 1950s in regard to both Indochina [Viet Nam] and the French colonialization of Algeria that will lead us into the conflicts of the 1960s. It also explores the development and use of aviation within the US Army vs Airforce especially the helicopters for medi-vac and on-board rockets to protect air transportation of troops from the history of the use of air vehicles to the fight between both the various branches within the army what exactly the role of air support should be to the fight between the air force and the army regarding which branch should control the money, development and assets of military aircraft.
The book sometimes reads a little like a college text, and we find more one-time support players and less of our favorites than in other books but it is still very well written and informative, plus a necessary read to fully enjoy the next book about Colonels.
For military novels, Griffin's books don't have much action, and this one has less than most. It might be said - OK, I'm saying it - that Griffin prefers writing about, and writes better about, bureaucratic combat than about real warfare. He writes the latter well when he does it, but he doesn't do it very much.

The first book in this series covers the closing days of World War II and the opening of the Cold War. The second book covers Korea. This one covers the more peaceful mid-1950s, Three of our main characters have switched to Army Aviation, a fledgling branch of the service seen as undesirable careerwise. Despite distinguishing themselves with tanks in Korea, Craig Lowell and Phil Parker become persona non grata and are dumped in Aviation with other screwups and misfits. Mac MacMillan takes a transfer there because it's been spelled out to him that otherwise a mustang with a battlefield commission, despite having the Medal of Honor, will get shunted aside in the peacetime officer corps, or be relegated to being a high-ranking aide serving punch and cookies in Washington .

The only combat any of our characters see is courtesy of the French, now losing in Vietnam and Algeria. MacMillan, Sandy Felter - a rising spook - and a new character, a brash young noncom named Greer who has become a general's protege, parachute into Dien Bien Phu to assess the besieged French force there. They bail out just before their transport is shot down, distinguish themselves rescuing a French Foreign Legion officer the Viet Minh are torturing, and narrowly escape death making their way to French lines. Greer, offered a favor by his patron general, asks for an unusual one to become a warrant officer so that he can train as a pilot.

The real action here is bureaucratic. The Army's use of aircraft is narrowly proscribed in deference to the new Air Force. And the latter shows no desire to divert resources from its major missions of strategic bombing and air-to-air combat, towards tactical support of troops in the field. Army helicopters are being used mostly for transport and medical evacuation. MacMillan and Lowell realize they'd be lethal tank-killing weapons if armed with rockets. The war this book covers is really the Army's secret program to develop the gunship in the face of the Air Force's anticipated objections.

We read about the development of Ft. Rucker in Alabama - a base already opened and then closed twice when deemed unnecessary by Washington - now reopened one more time to serve as a helicopter training and development venue. And it spurs the interest of everyone in town from the wealthy - who angle to buy property based on foreknowledge of the base's reopening - to women looking for secretarial jobs plus access to all those handsome young flyboys.

And we read about the ups and downs in our characters' lives. Lowell, widowed and with his child being raised by his German in-laws, reverts to his bachelor ways and blows up his career when his affair with an aging senator's horny young wife makes waves. Greer takes a transfer overseas because he can't face the prospect of married life with his fiance, the wealthy daughter of the mayor of the town outside Ft. Rucker. Felter has now become so important that, even though only a major, he secretly advises the President daily and directly. But his career has become so consuming it's damaging his marriage to Sharon, who hates the isolation from other military families necessary to Sandy's cover.

The book focuses the most on Lowell. He's become yet another rich, devil-may-care flyboy leading one of Griffin's series, like Pick Pickering in "The Corps" and Clete Frade in "Honor Bound". Lowell is a brilliant natural warrior, distinguishing himself in the breakout from Pusan with a daring behind-enemy-lines armor raid sowing chaos in the North Koreans' rear. His career is hampered partly by his skirt-chasing, but also by his disregard for regulation and appearances, and by superiors offended by how quickly he's risen in rank.

Here, Lowell must swallow his pride when, to promote the secret gunship program, he is placed in the Pentagon to use his bureaucratic guile to stealthily divert money for the gunships, and his connections and wealth to wine and dine senators and congressmen whose votes the program needs. Lowell, not a phony, hates those games, but knows how to play them.

The ending was fine. I foresaw its general thrust but two hard twists returned it to a surprise.