The Lieutenants

If you want to understand the "culture" of the military, read this book. Then, if you liked it, read the whole "Brotherhood of War" series, of which it is the first book. I spent four years in the Navy (one in Vietnam), but I never really understood the positive side of the military until I read "The Lieutenants." It's easy to find novels that are critical of military values, and it's easy to find patriotic "action" novels that just accept those values without exploring their origin or purpose. The strength of "The Lieutenants" is that it gets inside the heads of a wide variety of soldiers, not just the five main characters. There are good guys, bad guys, and then there are "the warriors." The focus of this book is to explore the values of the small cadre of professional combat soldiers that exists within the Army, thriving in wartime and and struggling against the bureaucracy in peacetime. Yes, this novel has many flaws. The author has his odd obessions and I'm sure most readers will find at least one thing to dislike. But after re-reading this novel for sixth or seventh time over a 20-year period, I have become more tolerant of these weaknesses. W.E.B. Griffin has a unique grasp military culture and is a strong advocate of its often harsh codes of conduct. His writing caused me to re-consider my own experiences in the military and has had an effect on my political values. There are not many books that I can say that about. So, in my opinion, if you can get past the flaws, there is much of value here for anyone who wants to examine their own attitudes towards war and warriors, and perhaps even their own "warrior nature."

First off, this book is a novel and the genre is drama, not war. It is not about war but about the culture and relationships, history and traditions of men who prepare for and fight wars. This book and its series is set against a wide variety of military challenges and most of them do not fighting another country. A series of careers overlap through through these challenges and the cast of characters grow to respect, loathe or just get along as they push through competing agendas and common projects. Some characters spend long periods of time in career lulls, others seem to have the right blend of traits to push past the rest only to succeed or fail under circumstances they have little influence in shaping. The fortunes of war effect soldiers in peactime as well. The most interesting aspect of these novels is that the author lets readers get into the consiousness of almost every sort of solider. The reader meets the various characters as they meet one another and sees and thinks what they do from their various perspectives. They tell their own stories, ambitions and worries so you know whats going on in their minds. At times, the reader gets to walk in the shoes of the young private thrust into new situations, then the reader is in the head of a more experienced soldier who meets private. There are the career elisted men, the younger and older officers, the career trouble makers and cilivians who have put on uniforms, there are men whose sons are fighting beside them or wives who worry about them both. There are men who advance quickly and men who the war exposes as being out of their league. Generally, the men must form quick impressions of their comrades. Then the impressions change or deepen. Men of oddly different backgrounds form deep friendships or intense animosities. Men find one another personally challenging, useful, an obstacle or whatever. The reason this is all important is because their lives and the future of the country hangs on every decision they make and this is what makes for such interesting and compelling reading. There are countless tomes about battles and campaigns but very little exploration, of how comrades of the same uniform interact with one another, bond or form relationships. How can the shakey events of a single hour one afternoon effect two mens' careers and create an unalterable bond that no other influence can break. How can a lifelong relationship be broken in the same amount off time. While this novel is unlikely to fill in your knowledge of any particular battle, it may inform your understanding of every other historical book you read by letting you get into the heads of men at every level of the fighting. This series is much more broad that The Marines series in its time span and focus. I actually only involves so much actual fighting as to give the basis for forming judgements of mens characters in peace time. The Marines Series focuses more on military operations even if it involves ver

W.E.B. Griffin does a very good job writing the 1st book of the series "Brotherhood of War". his first book, the Lieutenants, is about the rank of the lieutenant during the second World War. Most of the book is based on soldiers and officers that are stations overseas, and are enlisted in the Unied States Army. It includes a wide variety of people, ranging from West Point dropouts to Major Generals. The book isn't so much about the fighting of World War 2, but rather the lives of the officers, and how they lived. Most of the battle scenes are at the beginning of the book, and towards the last half of the book, which was at a time after the war, while troops remained in Greece. It is a very good book, I think, and a great series to read. I would recommend this book for mature audiences that enjoy reading.

The Brotherhood of War series was recommended to me when I attended OCS in 1986. The cadre "Strongly" encouraged us to read the Lieutenants. They didn't have to tell us to keep the reading the series. I read them straight through (The Generals was the last book at the time). Then, my classmates and I waited with anticipatation for The New Breed, and the Aviators. Both great additions to the series. Now, I cannot wait to read the latest book, "Special Operations". Ever since I become an officer, I've given "The Lieutenants" as a gift to every new Second Lieutenant in my unit, and recommended it to dozens more. If we carry ourselves even partially the way Lowell, Felter and the rest, this country would never lose a battle, much less a war.

W.E.B. Griffin has done a magnificent job in balancing superb dialogue with vivid action scenes. Griffin possesses the unique ability to have whatever he writes down on paper, automaticlly come to life in ones mind, each different, and each unique. The Lieutenants is certainly a great start to his exciting series, Brotherhood of War.