I Am Finally Getting Around To Doing This - Band Of Brothers Recap: Episode 1

This recap is going to get into Band of Brothers: Episode 1 but bear with me briefly. All of those men in the show came home and many enjoyed the comforts of their local VFW. Unfortunately, many of those VFWs are breaking down and are in need of some repairs. People are always talking about ways to make a difference and wanting to do more for the Veteran community. Well, now is your chance! Zero Blog Thirty and Barstool Sports teamed up with our great pals at New Amsterdam to help provide a facelift to a deserving VFW somewhere in the country. New Amsterdam is generously donating $50K to the effort BUT we want to match that and really knock the socks off a VFW in need. 

If you want to be part of some good, just hit this link and DONATE. No amount is too small!

Ok, now on to the recap of the first episode…

Unless you've been under a rock for 20 years, you've heard of the Band of Brothers miniseries from HBO about Easy Company from the 101st Airborne during WWII. Many of you have watched it (multiple times if you're like me) and if you haven't I encourage you to do so. Something I do twice a year is one of those rewatches. Once around D-Day and once around the holidays. 

I've been asked to recap this show for a few years now. In the early days of ZBT, Chaps and I discussed each episode briefly and I encourage you to go back to listen to those recaps. In addition, so many reviews were done over the years so I am going to look at this through the lens of a former platoon leader in the Army and attempt to point out parts of each episode that most wouldn't notice. If you have noticed it, well, you can still donate to the VFW renovation so thanks. 

Sobel

CPT Sobel is clearly the focal point of this episode. Turns out, the miniseries got it pretty correct in terms of the portrayal. I do feel bad for any family of his who sat down to watch this show at any point over the last two decades. You think you're about to learn about all the great things grandpa did during the way and next thing you know, Ross is being a complete dick to everyone. Credit where it is due, those men were nothing if not in shape and when the bullets start flying the last thing you want is to need to take a knee for a water break in the middle of the battle field. More importantly though, through no intention of his, CPT Sobel was preparing them in the best way possible for war - he was creating unit cohesion. I know the series mostly shows these men in combat as close friends, but there is no way that happened instantly. You have guys from all different parts of the country coming together in the same Army unit. Imagine you show up to basic training and Brandon Walker or raccoon boy WSD are in your platoon? Your initial instinct is to hate them because they talk funny, they sound dumb, and their overall demeanor rubs you the wrong way. Yet you're expected to go into combat with them?! 

Enter: Herbert Sobel. Leadership comes in many different forms and styles. In Sobel's eyes, he was paying attention to discipline and enforcing standards. In reality, in some instances he was just being a jerk. In doing so though, his men became tighter. They didn't have time to worry that WSD makes brain dead points or that Brandon Walker smelled, because they were too busy hating Sobel. The same was true of the men of Easy Company. Any differences they might've had were tossed aside as they, forgive the pun, banded together in their disdain for Sobel. They stuck together not only because they wanted to support one another but in spite of him. This was evident when the Soldier is told to run Curahee again on his own and he is joined by the entire company under their own volition. At some point, most of us encounter a leader like Sobel in the military. The person who watched PATTON one too many times, ready too many leadership books, and never learned what it means to be a leader. I am a firm believer that leadership is mostly innate. Sure, you can learn from other good leaders and strengthen your own skill set but you're either born with the ability or not. Not everyone can lead and that is okay, especially in the military. Too often though, people are put in leadership positions who do not belong there and you end up with someone like Sobel.  

Packing Lists

The next thing that stood out was Joe Toye listing out his entire packing list before the jump into Normandy. He goes on and on with seemingly everything he's been issued in the Army. This is fairly standard in the Army. You look at the packing list, realize 3/4th of it is not necessary, and then spend the rest of the day bitching about the packing list. The packing list was inevitably made by someone in the S3 (planning office) that has no idea what it will actually be like to jump so they just try to include everything they can think each Soldier might need. Toye's disgust in what he had to jump with is a theme that endured in the military well beyond WWII. Toye was thinking practically and not for what he might encounter. Now, Soldiers are going to bitch; it doesn't make them right. 

Getting Lost

When Sobel is leading the men during training and gets lost, it displayed one of the worst feelings you can have as a leader. Let me get one thing clear - stereotypes exist for a reason. Officers sometimes do have trouble with reading maps. But so do Soldiers because not everyone is good at map reading and land navigation. Officers just get called out for it because they are the ones in charge. (For the record, I was born with a great sense of direction. I am fascinated by maps. If you give me a map and a compass, I can get us anywhere. Lots of times I didn't even use my compass and just used a method called terrain association. Anyway, I didn't get my guys lost. Yes, we have GPS today but before you have access to that tool, you have to learn it the old fashioned way). 

When everyone is looking to their leader for direction, it is extremely stressful. You'll notice when Sobel is away from his men, his guard comes down and he is visibly distraught. Being lost is a HORRIBLE feeling. People have a tiny person inside their car telling them when to turn these days and still get lost. Now imagine you are just staring at a piece of paper and are banking on the Earth's magnetic pull to orient you to North. It is a helpless feeling and that is exactly how Sobel felt in that moment. The fact that he actually uttered, "Where the hell are we?" leaves you gobsmacked because you don't want your Soldiers to fear they are lost. If you appear scared, that will trickle down to them. One of his Soldiers gets him squared away but it was too late. By that point, no one had any faith in him. 

This also demonstrated to me how much of a facade his leadership style was. At his core, he was very unsure of his own ability and masked that by yelling. 

There are many feelings you don't want to experience as a leader; realizing you are lost is near the top of that list. 

Sidenote: I actually had a company commander yell "hi-yo Silver!!" during morning PT because he thought it motivated us. Spoiler: it did not. 

Whiskey

I wonder what kind of whiskey was in the glass that COL Sink handed CPT Sobel. 

Speaking of COL Sink, I interviewed the actor who played that role - CPT Dale Dye. He is a 20 year Marine, Vietnam vet, and has enjoyed a lengthy career in Hollywood as a military advisor. In actuality, he completely created the position and made a second career out of it. Fascinating to hear him tell his story; especially how he cornered Oliver Stone into allowing him help on PLATOON.