War Is Scary - Band Of Brothers Episode 3 Recap
In episode 3 we find Easy Company fighting in the town of Carentan at D-Day plus a few weeks. In war, there are days of the week insomuch as you don't abandon the structure of the calendar but it's not as though the weekends mean anything or a Tuesday is any different than Thursday. The days blend together. You're either out on missions or on down time. For Easy Company, they pushed forward until they were brought to the rear for hot food and showers. What's the longest you've ever gone without a shower? I had a 6 month stretch without a proper shower because we didn't have running water at our outpost. We had canvas bags with cold water that trickled out - it stunk to the point where you didn't even bother most days. You used baby wipes and "showered" once every 3 or 4 days. On my way home from Iraq, I stood in the shower for 90 minutes back at our big base. Best shower I ever had.
Let's get into the random things that stood out to me in the episode:
Fear
We open the episode as they always do with the interviews of the actual men. The theme in their response was a common part of war: fear. Everyone has a level of fear as they enter battle and anyone who says they don't is lying, although everyone handles it differently. On fear, General Norman Schwarzkopf said, "Courage is being afraid and going ahead and doing your job anyway." General Colin Powell said something similar, "Courage isn't the absence of fear, but rather moving forward despite that fear." Chaps would leave you to believe he said that, but it was General Powell.
That's what we have with these men. They were all scared, but they charged forward despite that fear. Thank God they did. But do you notice how they speak so vividly about that feeling? Gives you an idea of what they dealt with even all those years later.
Civilians
I think when people think about war, a lot of times they think about two Armies coming together on a big open field. In this episode, we are reminded that simply wasn't always the case during WWII. Luz busts open a door only to find a scared family huddled together on the floor. That is a sobering sight. Bullets are flying, explosions are going off all around you, and you forget this is happening in someone's neighborhood. It was necessary but it doesn't make it any easier to deal with when you're reminded that these folks had their lives interrupted in order to keep the world free from tyranny and evil.
I recall going into homes in Iraq to speak to villagers and I would always take notice of the little children staring at me because I was carrying a weapon and looked different than anyone they knew. Those children's faces never leave you.
Blythe Froze
You can train. You can talk to people who have been there. You can imagine what it might be like. But until you're in battle and actually have someone shooting at you, you can't truly know how you will react. For Blythe, he was not prepared for that. His fear paralyzed him and it wasn't until later when Winters encouraged him to fire his weapon that he was able to overcome that fear. I had one Soldier who was my best Soldier leading up to our deployment. He was amazing at his job and I thought he would be reliable no matter what. The first time he got shot at, he froze. He froze to the point that I had to physically pull him to the ground.
Blythe's 1000 yard stare was probably common among many. As I mentioned, everyone deals with fear differently and of course you had Lieutenant Spears tell him you have to imagine that you're already dead and only then can you truly be effective in battle. Make no mistake about it, that is a dark approach but far be it from me to criticize what worked for someone else, especially in WWII.
Voluntold
Something that has stood the test of time in the military is being "voluntold" to do something. You ask for volunteers. No one raises their hand. You pick people and tell them, "you just volunteered." No one wanted to charge into the farmhouse after being asked so LT Welsh just picked people.
Someone at home
Speaking of LT Welsh, every unit has the guy who won't shut up about their wife or girlfriend at home. It's sweet but also, ok Harry we get it, Kitty can't wait until you get home.
Malarkey's motorcycle
The military is very much an environment where if you don't ask permission you can get away with things a lot of times. I'm not suggesting getting away with breaking laws or disobeying orders, but instances where you'd be told "no" if you asked permission so you opt to ask for forgiveness should it come to that. I'm going to go out on a limb that Malarkey shouldn't have been riding a motorcycle while drinking beers but after nearly a month on the front lines, he earned people looking the other way.
Unrelated but related - for a one month stretch in Iraq, my platoon was tasked with training an Iraqi brigade. We had to go to the complete opposite side of the base so they gave us a janky old bus to ride over there each day. I can't remember if no one else knew how to drive stick or because I was the ranking guy, but I got to drive it every day. I drove that thing like I stole it. Never reckless. Never while drinking beer (we didn't even have beer). But nonetheless I had fun driving that thing.
War is final
At the end of the episode, we find Malarkey picking up his laundry only to be asked to take the laundry of some of his fellow Soldiers who were killed. Not much to add here except that it was a wild swing of emotions to go from smiling with a beer to realizing you'll never see some men ever again. Nothing can ever prepare you for that realization.
ICYMI