GREEN BERET Reacts to Band of Brothers | Beers and Breakdowns 

Buck, if you think the episode 1 opening almost brought a tear to your eyes, you got a wild ride ahead.

Band of Brothers is one of the greatest TV series that Steven Spielberg has ever created. I need to watch this show again. Lol

You are absolutely correct about Captain Sobel and his training methods. Easy Company veterans would later explain how Sobel was a complete asshole, but his training saved them in Europe. Also, it never fails to make me laugh when someone compares Sobel to Ross! LOL

"Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?"..."No, but I served in a company of heroes"...gets me every time.

Buck, you keep talking about choices and directions that were taken for this series. While it's all a dramatization, it's based on Ambrose's book and the historical recollections of the the 506's surviving members. Cast member's interacted with their real life counterparts or families that they played. 506 veterans were given a first screening of the series and were moved by it, appreciated it and supported it. Directions the story went are based on true, historical experience. Loved the reaction and that your finally doing this series. I wish every American today could see this and understand the history and context. Thank you.

Good discussion about Sobel's motivations. The book seemed to make it pretty clear he was a complex man struggling with a lot of inner demons, so I think the show's portrayal of him was accurate.

Perhaps one of the greatest shows ever made? Best military show at the very least. The realism, all the great young actors, just outstanding all around!

I had the honor of introducing Lipton at a private screening prior to the release. Great memory. I've been blessed to have had the opportunity to rub elbows with more than a handful of giants.

Guys, I was fortunate enough to watch this series with my grandfather. He was in a tank division in WWII. He rarely spoke about his experiences, understandably, with his grandkids. I was about 18 and my brother and I showed him this series. It was heartbreaking and eye-opening at the same time. He said this series was accurate in many regards, he also saw some stuff done for TV. However, I learned a ton about him that week and learned a lot about the Germans and their military strategies during that week. I will always cherish this series for allowing a medium where my grandfather could then get closer with his grandkids and also giving him a window back to when he was 18 or 19. He told me in my 18th birthday card that I was getting $50 but he got shipped to the tank division he was in on his 18th birthday. It gives me great perspective on life that many people are missing today.

Pretty much watch this yearly. Such a great retelling of what the boys went through over there. Much respect to them then, now, and for those who decide to enlist in the future.

You know a lot about enlisted stuff, but you're a little short on understanding life as an officer. First as an officer you realize the look on Sobel's face as lieutenant Winters runs up the hill was amazement that Winters finished his mess hall duty and join the run. Second captain sobel did not get promoted about his job at easy company to a school. We got passed over and sent from a combat job to a non-combat job which will look bad on his promotion board. That's why Captain Winter made major before Captain Sobel. When you get fired in the military is not like being fired in the civilian world. You're still getting paid and you have to find something for them to do. Being a bad leader is not an NJP offense. Sobel was good at training as you point out but terrible in combat operations so they moved him. Finally they did not make up a script and have characters do what the author's wanted. They took what really happened in life and sobel's actions were meant to reflect what really happened. Overall your evaluation of leadership and consequences its outstanding Just my two cents about officers.

You gotta do the pacific as well. I’ve always said the pacific portrays how draining the pacific theatre was better than most, if not all other depictions. Also if you can, go read “with the old breed on peleliu” fantastic read and the way Sledge describes the scenes and day to day situations on peleliu and Okinawa is unmatched.

Best. Show. Ever. 100% It’s special to my family because my dad was a Paratrooper, but with the 82nd. You guys know they also have an extraordinary history like 101st. (Rival 🤬) 😂Same team, obviously. My dad served in Korea though. My uncle was in part of this depiction…sorta. He was with General Patton that came to the aid of the 101st. Yeah, this show is incredible. Make sure that you watch the special documentary at the end, but not until after episode 10. Enjoy, brothers. You’re gonna be on an amazing ride with this story. You’re gonna understand and connect to stuff in it more than an average civilian. So that’s gonna make it even more special to watch.

I've watched the entire series 8 or 9 times. The old guys at the beginning always remind me of my grandfather. He fought from Operation Torch, Operation Husky, Operation Shingle. He was at the Battle of Kasserine Pass where US troops got there first taste of combat going up against Rommel's forces. He told me and my brother all about his adventures in Africa, Sicily, and Italy. He never talked to any of his own kids about WWII at all. I spent the summer of 1975 with him at our farm in central Kentucky and I am so grateful for those months getting to know him. He was an alcoholic, but a happy alcoholic, and would talk for hours. He said war was boredom times 10 except for the moments of terror in combat. He said he was always confident so long as they had air cover and could call for help. He was an armor crewman in an M4 Sherman tank. They went through about a dozen of them. He said he overall enjoyed his time in the war. It got him away from his wife, my paternal grandmother, who was a real piece of shat, and after starving through the depression he said they had more than they could ever eat All of it was corned beef. Everyone around him was sick of it but he loved those C rat cans of corned beef. He worked for the CCC during the 30s and said he still almost starved to death. He told me about cooking eggs on his tanks armor. It was that hot in North Africa. He talked about how much they all hated Patton. One of his guys took a shot at him. He was such an a-hole. At Anzio he was run over by a tank. His tank sunk before they could get to the beach and wading ashore another US M4 ran over him. He was pushed down in the mud or sand and suffered internal injuries and some broken bones but said he was one of the lucky ones. He credited all that corned beef for giving him the strength to survive. He recovered and went on to fight up Italy until the end of the war. He died in January 1976 from wounds received at Anzio.

Some viewers of this episode have remarked that Winters was not rigged with a reserve chute. Reading Dick Winters memoirs, he actually jumped not using a reserve. He figured, and rightly so in my experience of 20 years on jump status, they were jumping too low for the reserve to be useful. In the event of a tree landing, they were all carrying a let-down rope--small need for a reserve to get out of trees. And with his leg-bag with all of his web gear, weapon, binocs, mapcase, pro-mask, frag and smoke grenades, hawkins mine--everyone was already so heavy. So he just wrapped the belly band across his waist to the opposite buckle on the main container.

7:37 - The best quote that I always turn to, is "no one on their deathbed ever said, 'I wish I would have worked more'"

25:12 He's surprised by LT winter running with them. LT winter aside duty at chow hall. But he heard easy going for that run, he's going to run with them.

This episode kicked off when Sean started talking about the airborne pay and the Army will get it out of you. Masterpiece. Great job, FNG team.

You should read the story of the real Sobel. In real life he sounds like he was truly a small (in the figurative sense) man. Also, when I first saw this in 2000 I thought they really miscast Schwimmer. That was until I read the Band of Brothers book and saw pictures of the real Sobel. What an EXCELLENT job of casting, and that goes for pretty much the entire cast.

There's important text at the end of each episode, make sure you guys don't miss it!!!

There's a whole series of youtube videos that came out about 6 months ago that's the belated 20th anniversary reunion of the Band of Brothers cast, the families of the real veterans, and the producers and crew of the production. Such a good watch... lots of behind the scenes recollections, and the actual cast became their own band of brothers and family to one another, and have been having reunions every year ever since. Their kids and families are friends.

Good show boys, B&B has been on my priority 'to watch" list for some time and you guy's don't disappoint. One of the many things about it that i like is that you don't spend so much time babbling about nerdy rivet counting and critiquing anachronistic pieces of equipment (which i am guilty of, often, mind you) or the esthetics of explosions and so on and much more about the 'mindset" aspect of things. How a stereotypical soldier/operator "thinks", what goes thru the mind of such men and so on is a topic not often covered because weapons and tactics and whatnot are so much sexier to discuss and yet is critically important in understanding how wars are fought...

Band of Brothers is a top shelf show of any genre. Best of the best. The content you guys put out is also top shelf, keep killing it guys! Like, really hard. You all need money for the "Operation: Save Kurt From Tallahassee " fund.

I just happened on your channel. Enjoyed this episode. I've always loved Band of Brothers ever since it was released. Loved your commentaries, especially on the wisdom of years. I have deep roots in South Philly and have gotten to know very well Bill Guarnere and Babe Heffron. It wasn't the "glory stories" of war that attracted me to them - they never glorified war - but their reflections on life before, during, and after WW II. WW II was a pivotal moment in their lives, but they had a whole life to live afterwards. I was most privileged to have known them and, as a Catholic priest, to serve at their funeral Masses and even to lead Bill Guarnere's burial service. They weren't just celebrities, but men from the neighborhood who did their duty and lived life as best as possible. True heroes. P.S. - I hope you do a commentary on Go for Broke, 1951. A great, undervalued, and almost forgotten movie.

This legendary HBO series is no doubt one of the best series ever made. `member how i convinced my mum in the early 2000s to buy me the special edition metal box with 6 DVDs in it, as in germany the series was only allowed to be sold to buyers who are at least 16 years old and i was to young to buy it for myself at that point in time... ^^

100% correct Buck, I had it rough too as a kid and Boot camp I did get that feeling that someone actually does care if I succeed or fail for the first time in my life.

Ross did such a great f***ing job as Captain Sobel, he's so underrated in that role. The best project he ever did, absolutely fantastic.

You have a habit of saying the exact same thing 100 times. For instance, you probably said "There's no winning so don't start infighting" 100 different ways for 10 minutes. We got it.

Hopefully those watching this understand that what you are witnessing on screen is extremely accurate to what happened to these men. At the beginning of each episode you see some of the men interviewed, those men are the real men of Easy Company. I was honored to have known a lot of these guys, toured battlefields with some of them. While the show is not perfect and there are some errors in it, Hanks, Speilberg and the rest did an amazing job. Most of the things you see in the show actually happened to someone in the Company. It is the best mini series ever and they did a fantastic job of capturing what these men went through, Heroes all of them.

I disagree with the take on Sobel's transfer. He was removed from command because he sucked at it. But he was really good at other things.....like training up troops. You even acknowledged that. So you move him into a position that maximizes his ability to help you. That's called talent management. Further, getting "fired" from a high profile job, like a command, does not help your career in the long term. Everyone on a promotion board can read between the lines. A guy like Sobel can still get promoted, but his ceiling will be lowered significantly.

Do they know that this show is all based on real people and real events? So much of it is stuff that actually happened (some of the dialogue is even exactly what the real people said at the time). It's as close to a documentary as you can get without actually doing a documentary.

Have you checked out Hamburger Hill or Tigerland yet?

I agreed so much about Drill Sergeants trying to mold us and be better humans. At first, I was confused but it made sense further down the road. I'm definitely thankful for them because they lit a fire in me.

Band of Brothers is truly an exceptional true mini series. The 10 part B of B with the aged Vets retelling their stories really was great to watch. Such men are why we have the freedom we do today. 💪🙏🏻✨

Dale Dye (he plays the Colonel in the show) was the technical advisor and trained the actors. He intentionally separated David Schwimmer (Sobel) from the men during the training so that they'd have zero chemistry on camera and seem separated.

5:15 Yessir. And, just having the school under your belt doesn't mean you're getting paid for that skill. You have to be actively in that status in order to get paid for it. So it means jack that you have your jump wings if you're not in a unit where you jump a few times a month. Same with translator/language pay: If you're not acting in a translator role, you don't get paid extra. The good news is that you get paid for a while during the schools...paid for going to military language school, or wtvr it is. But, for you New Gents (and Ladies), just know that you must be actively using the skill in order to be paid for it. And, like Buck said, you WILL pay the price physically for certain "life choices".

You can see it both ways, one or the other, but personaly I clearly saw only an asshole that wanted to rise in rank & position of power, not a career-soldier, but a career-officer, doing his thing for the wrong reasons/motivations. He wants to lead, yes, but he doesn't care that much about his men, because they're only a means to an end, which is his goal, his agenda, getting up high & fast. The leading them into action might be for fame-reasons. The soldiers bonding, forming into a Band of Brothers, that, here, was probably just a positive side-effect. It happens. Because, if someone like that "fights" his own men, within the rules of that game, that person is doing it wrong, and might be doomed to fail, as in losing the trust of his men, which reduces their potential in being effective. Those men chose to fight back, within the given set of rules, and THAT surprised him, and pissed him off. Something "bullies" fucking hate, and fear. At the very end that guy behaves like a dick, passive, silent, but he's still pissed & the others notice that, that's why "You salute the rank, not the person!" happens. To be fair, I could be completely wrong, but that's my interpretation... 🤗

Great review. I love this show and watch it every year. I love your perspective as a special forces vet. One of my fav scenes from this episode. As stated by others in the comments many of the men (including the NCOs who revolted against him) did admit later that his hard training help them survive. A small but imporant scene that I love is the scene with Lt Winters and Lt Compton in the Jeep and Winters is giving Compton a reprimand for gambling with the men. Compton was doing it to get the know the men in his mind wsa OK. Winteres says What if you won? Never put yourself in a position to take from these men. To me its a very subtle moment but a great one that shows true leadership from an officer.

It's based on a book on Easy Company. Read it.

Hey, gents. I’ve never heard of any Marines being grandfathered in to MARSOC, that didn’t go through any selection. The guy you’re referring to may have been what called “enablers”. MOSs needed to support MARSOC that may be placed in teams, but aren’t actual Raiders (CSOs). Dog handlers, EOD, etc. The only Marines I know of that were grandfathered into MARSOC, were those already in Recon/Force Recon. Majority of those early assets came from the Recon community, while the force slowly built up their selection process, after Detachment 1 was stood up. All that aside, Marines all go through the same basic Boot Camp, where we all become familiar with the fuck-fuck games designed to weed out the weak. This wouldn’t be new to any Marine, even if they’re not Recon or Raider. I’m guessing the Marine was just frustrated with the ineptitude of the civilian class not getting their basic shit together, when the subject of the conflict, seems so simple to him. Not making excuses for him. Just saying, when you’re used to a certain echelon of efficiency & proficiency, it takes a while to get used to being around civilians that were never in that environment. As you already know, of course. You’re just more patient than he was.

The Difference between the WW2 and wars now seems to be that things weren’t so disproportionate in WW2. The Germans had a chance to win. So did the Japanese. That gives you a different level of warfare.

Buck - you mentioned “they decided to take his character in this direction…”. I just wanted to point out that the characters portrayed in the events portrayed are the actual people and actual events that happened. This is not a fictional piece so the directors did not choose to take any other characters in a certain direction, but rather try to represent the history and reality of what happened. at least that’s what I understand. You might look into that.

Forced my daughter to watch the first episode. That's all it took. She's 16 and was a TSgt in the Civil Air Patrol when she was made to choose between volleyball and CAP (they won state in 7A the next season ✊). She was hooked & watched the entire series in a few days. That year a MOH recipient from Vietnam came to her school to talk to the kids. My daughter took pictures with him and thanked him for his service while telling her friends what his actions were that earned him the MOH. Can't recall his name but he was a Green Beret who with another teammate were the only 2 Americans on a fob full of dudes they'd coached up. During a day's long firefight with NV & after his teammate was gravely injured he kept up the fight and was credited with not only saving his teammate but saving the 60 something Arvin troops under his command. I read everything I could about the warrior and wish I could have met him. Show's like this are SO important to pass along what these warriors sacrificed & achieved.

I had to smile while the company was running up Currahee and the trooper was puking up his spaghetti. Fast forward to the Florida Ranger camp in late November 1970. Even though we had been in the East Bay Swamp for days, and even though the ration back then was one C-rat/day while on patrol.....the cadre brought us back into base camp for the traditional Army Thanksgiving Dinner. WOW!! Anyone who endured Ranger School, especially in the days of only one C-rat/day, can hugely appreciate that gesture of bringing us in for the meal. Thing is, it turned out like Band of Brothers. On one side of the WWII wood mess hall building were the Ranger students, still filthy, shrunken stomachs after seven weeks, waiting to enter the chow-hall. Inside was the best spread of food I think I ever saw while in the Army for 26+ years--believe me, we did it justice. On the backside of the building were the Ranger students, kneeling in the grass, puking-up what they had just eaten. At the time, wiping the vomit off my lips, I thought, "F%&k me to tears. I'd rather just have stayed in the swamp, eating a B-3 unit can of turkey loaf."

Dude, do a reaction to the movie: "All the Devils Men". Lot of good scenes worth a breakdown.

more! a little bit more footage too please!

Appreciate your point of view on this series, one of the all-time best ever made! Both of my grandpa’s fought in the European theater in WW2 and thankfully made it home. My great uncle William Rush (504/82nd Airborne) was shot down as he parachuted into Italy, he’s still buried over there. RIP to all the heroes! 🇺🇸

18:20 Yessir. The minute you take it personally, you've just failed.

I'm sorry but the talking is too much. Half of my visiting the video was to rewatch BoB and yeah to hear your take on it, but the take went on and on longer than anything.

When you are so hard a leader that your team is A 1, they separate you to make the next team A1. The military cherishes hard leaders, they don't "get" to go fight with the lowers. Every time you're promoted, you should change units, so you don't diminish the responsibilities of your new rank amongst the unit you grew from.

You do realize this a a dramatized documentary right that’s exactly how sobel was by all accounts and he did get transferred

Buck, you can't wish dude was a certain altruistic leader, These were actual people, and they actually did the things they did.

What happened to Buck's nose? (Not trying to be snarky. Hope he's ok.)

Band of brothers its pretty long , are we getting a part 2 or 3? :)

Huy Buck just found your channel : OUTSTANDING! Your analysis anddedication is Extremely educating, and I'm a Canadian Liberal however we love everyone and are open to all opinions, and I have never held a gun in my 68 years on this planet. However I was born Canadian Airforce Base my dad fought WW2 and Korea and boy did he have stories for me! So you remind me of that: so I'll probably become a member - Cheers Mate!! Thank you for your service!!

To watch Band of Brothers is a real tear jerker. To know what these guys had to do to survive Airborne basics and learn the significance of "Curahee" breaks your heart for the rest of the series. Navy UDT divers were receiving their training during this same period and while tasked with only destroying enemy beach obstacles this was the beginning for what would evolve, if I remember my mil history, into the SEALS.

I’m a subscriber now. I’ve had the band of brothers DVD on rotation since 2000.

Completely skipped over the mutany to have him removed based on his incompetence.

I really like your analysis of Sobel. In the first half of the episode we see him be a total a-hole but we also see that he is able to run up that mountain faster than anyone else in the company. He is able to "walk the walk". The soldiers hate him but keep training so they can finally prove Sobel wrong. In the second part we see him fail because he maintains this approach even though the men now reached the same level as him. He keeps micromanaging and refuses to listen to advice when he encounters trouble. He briefly earned the begrudging respect of his men and then he just wastes it away.

Let's go old school with the next Beers and Breakdowns and review THE WILD GEESE.

How about "Saving Private Ryan" or "The pacific"? By the way, guys!! Way to go, you're awesome!

Please stop sensoring like that. Add a bleep or something other than removing all the sound

GI Jane. Specifically the SEAL training

1:11 Wtf, Kurt? Pack your sh*t, and get going!!

This came out when i was 16 17 years old, and mj Spears actions and leadership in the series were always stuck in the back of my mind. It helped me immensely at work having a leadership position. This is my favourite series of all-time's and I watched and read the hell out of it and it's still doesn't get old.

Oh come on, you're not going to talk about the NCO's mutiny?

You have to watch the whole series. The Bastogne episodes were tough to watch. I really appreciate the realism. I felt like I was there and experiencing it with them.

My favorite show of all time!! My great Uncle was actually in Dog Company of the 506th and he died during a night patrol in Hageneu. Episode 8 hit real close to home.

14:14 Yessir. Sometimes we were wrong just for being right.

YES IVE BEEN ASKING FOR THIS SINCE THE BEGINNING!

Watching you talk about leadership reminded me of one of my favourite war movies of all time: 12 O'clock High. Have you guys seen it? It is pretty much a study in leadership.

Guys, First and foremost thank you for doing these beers and break downs I wish I could watch more of them. Within the first minute or so you brought a tearful smile to my face and a vision that I will truly cherish in the game of life. I found myself at the '88 airborne convention and got to hang out with quite a few WWII vets... loose math I'm guessing they were 70ish. We unassed a 141 over Louisville, KY; oh the joy of landing on hardball; popped a riser, laid there and moaned like a little girl. The dinner I found myself sitting beside a chaplain sporting 4 mustard stains. I had a thousand questions but couldn't think of the first one. His favorite question was, "hey Sonny, how 'bout gettin' us a couple of beers?" Hey, Sonny, can you carry more than two beers". Finally I asked the obvious one about the 4 combat jumps and he rattled off Sicily, Salerno, Normandy, and Nijmegen. I remember thinking to myself did he at the least carry a 1911 ... did he make for 4 combat jumps armed with a bible... I didn't ask. Watching multiple sticks of WWII vets do PLF's off of folding dinner tables after the formal dinner was good stuff.

Watch "All The Devils Men". Good one!

Jump out of an airplane and into the history books.

I took the ASVAB and the Army Recruiter literally handed me the big book of military careers and said, "Pick one. Anything. You qualify for anything." And I told him, "I have a list." My father, who was a Vietnam era ranger, helped me put it together. As a result, I went to Intel School, went to language training, and after two years got into OCS. And I ended up getting out on a medical because an accident that left me on permanent disability. But if I had it to do it all again, I'd do it.

There was one thing you forgot to mention about Captain sopul the reason why they moved him off was because all the senior ncos refused to go into combat with him due to his incompetence sea and land nav and other parts of their training in England before the jump love that show band of Brothers watched it several times even have the box set of DVDs also have its sequel the box set of DVDs for the Pacific

I'm glad that we have two 5 star generals to explain to us strategy and tactics in band of brothers.

I miss Texas. Been a long time since I was back there.

Is there a more complete series Then this? And outstanding representation of what some of our fighting man and women went through. Movies you should check out Sabotage Dead President Cop shop Miller's crossing Miracle at Santa Ana The thin Red line

Wait, why are you guys discussing this show as if it was fiction?

Buck and Abel doing a breakdown of BASIC (Samuel L Jackson) works be great!

I get the commentary, but at the same time, you talk too much

My uncle was a Lieutenant Colonel (Helicopter Pilot in Vietnam) in the Marine Corps and he would always tell me growing up when I would complain about how hard High school or college was or could be that the more you bleed while you are in training the less you will probably bleed when you are in actual combat. So true. So very true. Words to live by.

OMG OMG I'm grown up adult but screaming like a kid right now because BoB is all I been wanting you to react

Realism is 100% over rated in film. The target audience is an average civilian movie goer, not a special forces soldier. If you look at film production from the point of view of a director communicating with people that don't know the ins & outs of how the military functions. If a soldier asks: "What are the ROEs?" after they have already been to the mission brief, that's the director reminding the audience of the ROE, most likely for the dramatic effect on the civilian audience. Here's another example: the opening music in the HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, the Russian is incorrectly pronounced, conjugated all wrong, & the entire film would offend most any Russian who watched it, Russians weren't the target audience because no Dinero in Russia theatres for US film distribution. The target audience being Americans, it doesn't matter if the spoken Russian language is screwed up six ways from Sunday. It's good enough for a US European market. That's where the $ is.

The first episode is in some ways my favorite, if only for the innocence and the fact that I know what lies ahead for these men. This was when their biggest threats were "Army noodles with ketchup." I love the power move Winters makes by literally grabbing the pen out of Sobel's hand while he was abusing his power...it's brilliant, and a true story. Hard to call this a TV show honestly, it's a 12 hour Saving Private Ryan in quality...CURRAHEE! ♠

Buck, the reason they had CPT Sobel act like that, is because he was a real man. He actually acted like that during the lead up to D Day, and E Co was really glad to be rid of him. Those veterans you see in the beginning of the episodes are the actual veterans portrayed by the actors. Check out the Band of Brothers book. Goes way in depth

One of my company commanders was relieved of command. That ment his his career was essentially over. In Cpt. Sobels case he was transferred to train more men which he was qualified to do, and the men of Easy Company did give Sobel credit for getting them in tip top shape for their missions.

Now you've got so many shows on the backburner now (still waiting for you to change your ways with the Terminal List hehe). At the rate of an episode a week, it can literally take years to go through them all. To a hundred years of Beers and Breakdowns!

You paused to talk very often, but never talked too much. Excellent breakdowns! Nailed that bit about the self-doubt. I bet that can have a huge impact on your mental state if you were lost in the woods or a novice at navigation.

Hope you do the Pacific once you make it through this show!

If you like Band of Brothers you have to watch The Pacific, Band of Brothers dealt with the European Campaign vs the Germans.... The Pacific deals with the Marines of the Pacific Campaign vs the Japanese.....

YES! This was just as awesome as I thought it would - great episode & conversation guys. This is one of my favorite shows ever.

Where are the green berets in band of brothers. EASY company was just an airborne infantry squad right?

BRING...BACK...KURT!!!! Also, Band Of Brothers is excellent.

Actually in WWII the army had a very different view of being relieved of command. Being relieved as a flag rank was not a career ender. Remember general Patton was relieved during the middle of the war, but later was returned to combat. But yes in the show David schwimmer is “promoted” away.

@FNGACADEMY 4:40 - Don't forget, back then the average Enlisted pay for < 3 years of service was between $50 - $66 per month. That would be and additional $850 per month in 2023.

Looking FWD to seeing your take on upcoming episodes! 2 Movies i really think ya"ll should watch/react to. Older but wow... I realy see in new way now that Ive been in Army 32 years. "The Beast" 1988 w Jason Patric. Story of a single. Soviet tank crew in Afghanistan... brutal but timely to see post US involvement/ Current "Soviet revival". "No Mans Land" 2001. Its in subtitles but...damn is it funny...brutal....and sad. So real with the whole BS that was the "Bosnian" conflict. ...especially those of us who delt with the whole UN/ blue helmet thing and serb vs croat vs whoever....and bieng in the middle. You guys may not have been IFOR....but you"ll get it. Im sure you're goina enjoy and have plenty to coment on if you try these. Cheers 🍻!

Great series. I liked The Pacific more. Suggestions: Windtalkers, Flight of the Intruder, The Lost Battalion, and The Tuskegee Airmen.

For reference, 50 bucks in 1942 would've been about 930 dollars. Sobel's training wasn't about getting the guys to bond, it was just because he wanted to look like he ran a better company than the rest of the 506. It was made worse by the fact that he was the poster boy for the "LT don't know what the fuck he's doing." stereotype. That said, Easy Company vets have said that his hardass method of training probably saved their lives. So great trainer, horrible combat leader. I like to think that by being re-assigned to leading a jump school, he was able to save more paratroopers with his tough training. There's also the fact that the plane that his replacement was in was shot down. So if he had remained Easy Company's commander, he'd have likely died before ever setting foot in Normandy. Of course, considering what did happen to him, that might've been better. In 1970, he attempted suicide with a small caliber pistol. The shot went through his left temple, behind both eyes, and out the other side of his head. He lived but had severed both of his optic nerves, leaving him completely and permanently blind. He lived in a VA assisted living facility for the rest of his life, dying in 1987 from malnutrition. No memorial services were held for him.