The Embedded Ones: Synopsis for the Novel & Screenplay

Private Bill Collins, the protagonist of the book 'The Girl from Tam Hiep’ is old now.  The Viet Nam war is a distant memory.  As the main character in ‘The Embedded Ones’  he’s back in the field with the US Army for a few tours as an embedded reporter in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Survivors from  night raid...Yaka China, Afghanistan

He befriends a number of younger reporters most of whom are more experienced on the job than he but have only the faintest knowledge of the war in Viet Nam which is always in the back of his mind.  The comparison between then and now often surfaces in his articles.

Iraqi girl...Medical outreach

First and foremost, it’s  the story of reporters covering what passes for war in the first part of the 21^st century.  Many of these reporters are interesting young women who more than hold their own with the men. 

Loading up after a hard night raid

Reporter Collins roams the whole of both Iraq and Afghanistan with various military units, sometimes on helicopters, sometimes across the landscape in Humvees or MR APs usually in the company of his young reporter friends.

Morning break in the Hindi Kush

Between embeds he makes a number of trips back to Viet Nam where he is no stranger having returned many times over the previous twenty years.  On a number of these trips he is accompanied by one or all of his young friends.

On the fringe of Ho Chi Minh City

This is after all the story of an era of US history in countries it never understands and never will if history proves correct.

Old Soldiers on parade - Ho Chi Minh City

From Baghdad to Kirkuk and Yusufiyah , from Kabul  and Kandahar to the high peaks of the Hindu Kush above the Pech Valley, from Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang to Hue and Ke Sanh we travel with Bill Collins and his friends through the minefields of current wars and the memories of a past one.