Watching *Band of Brothers* E01 for the FIRST TIME 

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Arguably the best TV mini-series ever made. So glad to see you reacting to it!

A fully complemented American airborne company consisted of approximately 127 men on D-Day - give or take up to a dozen men. Each company was divided into 8 "sticks" (C-47 planes) for the trip from Devon to Normandy. Though each plane could hold as many as 28 troopers, this number was reduced too approximately 17 men from E Company for each plane, during that specific drop, due to the sheer volume of gear each man was carrying. This total not counting the 4 man (pilot/copilot/navigator/radio operator) plane crew. Each stick usually had one commissioned officer (either the company commander or executive officer, or a specific platoon leader or platoon assistant leader) and one non-commissioned officer assigned to it, the other ~15 men would have been junior grade NCO's or lower level enlisted men.

Interesting fact about Winters that gives a big idea as to why he was such a good leader...he enlisted in August of 1941 and completed training as an enlisted man, then he remained at the camp where he trained to help train other men after him. He was selected for Officer Candidate School in April 1942, and after he finished that training and became an officer in July 1942 he volunteered for the Airborne...so when we see him as a Platoon Leader in Easy, that is his third set of training that Winters is undergoing. Also...fun fact...just about every Regiment in the US Army had an "Easy" company, because "easy" was just the military phonetic for the letter E and the standard structure of a US Army Regiment in WW2 was 9 companies that were lettered from A or Able thru I or Item. So all of those regiments had an B or Baker Company, they all had D or Dog Company, and they all had an E or Easy Company...and so forth. The Airborne were all volunteer units, at least they were before D-Day. In order to even try to become a Paratrooper, a soldier had to have volunteered to join the Army and then volunteered again to become a Paratrooper...that is why men were allowed to give up on the Paratrooper training if they decided they no longer wanted to be a paratrooper...which we see when that man chose not to change into his PT gear. There may have been men who were trained as replacements for the Paratroopers later in the war who volunteered to be Paratroopers, but who were actually drafted into the Army...but when we see Easy Company in training in the show none of the men were draftees. The Paratroopers were loaded in "sticks" of 15 to 18 men...with each stick being a single plane load for a C-47 transport.

The difference is this is the most accurate depiction of historical war events to ever grace the tv screen every single character was a living human that fought with the 101sr airborne easy company. And all the guys you see in the beg are the people in the show. Beat series ever made IMO

I grew up with these Scallywags back in the 90's in E/506th Reenacted , had many drunkend Prop Blast parties with the org Troopers. i won't name drop so not to spoil things. So for the tie in for "Saving Private Ryan " in the 1992 book there is a small mention of when 2 troopers in Easy go to london on leave and meet up with 1 of the Niland Brother (1 of 4) Fritz was in the 501st but knew Muck & Marlaky from E/506th they also meet with Bob D/505th 82nd Airborne. So Bob & Preston Niland were both killed in Normandy the 4th brother was shot down in Burma, and Fritz was then pulled out of Normandy and sent stateside. but there was no mission to get him. but this was used to inspire the movie. BUT with the success of the movie gave Hanks & Spielberg the power to make this series. this series is much loved and there is SO MUCH info online both youtube , other books on them. plus alot of bad info , how the real life Vet's were swindled out of items , people getting them to signs stuff who then sold it to make $$, Guys buying up items of their stuff even when the items were stolen and showing them off in so called museums making $$ & fame for themselves off the backs the Vets. ( sorry angry rant) will comment more on eps #2 as they have something wrong on how certain things really went down.

If you're a bookworm, read Steven Ambrose's book Band of Brothers. Steven Ambrose was an amazing author and wrote many excellent WWII books, but Band of Brothers was one of his best. Also, a C-47 transport plane holds about 20 equipped soldiers. The 101st had 6900+ soldiers inserted into Normandy on June 6, 1944 although I'm not sure if that figure includes any soldiers arriving in gliders. And the US 82nd Airborne and British 1st Airborne divisions also dropped into other parts of Normandy on the early morning of June 6, so yeah, alot of planes!

Just for clarification... Only one of the Non-Commissioned-Officers who wrote letters against Sobel lost his rank (As an example to the others. He was busted from Sergeant to Private. The others remained NCOs). The Colonel understood what was going on, and reassigned Sobel -- It wasn't a promotion, as he remained a Captain and did the same job, just somewhere else.

8:10 Good catch, dude. Sobel is so much worse than Ross. 20:21 That's an M2 demo block. C-4 is a plastic explosive (meaning it can be shaped, like Plasticine clay) that uses RDX as a main explosive. It was designed after the Korean war, but it was the fourth explosive in its family, starting with "Composition C" during WWII. This M2 demo block is a solid block and can't be shaped. It uses tetrytol as a main explosive, and has a hole in one end to put in a detonator.

SO looking forward to you getting to experience this for the first time. I hope you enjoy it.

Heck yeah James!

YYYEEEEESSSSS!!!! I’m so glad you are watching this! Don’t read any comments or information about this until you’re done! This is the greatest!

I read the book in the early 90s almost a decade before it became a mini series. It's great. You'd love it; you should read it!

@15:48: Basically, by dewclaring they don't want to serve as NCOs as the whole group, they showed Col. Sink that Capt Sobel wasn't trusted by the men he was supposedly leading. These letters, however, were also proof of what Sink correctly calls mutiny, he can't ignore that, even if he wants, so with one guy shipped off and the rest reduced in rank, they got off pretty light, inferring that Sinkmay have shared concerns about Sobel, but he wouldn't of course show that inm front of enlisted men. However, Sink reassigning Sobel shows he's aware of the man's shortcomings as a combat leaqder.

In ranks that share physical icons but one is gold and one silver, the gold is the lower rank. 2nd Lieutenant (gold) is inferior to 1st Lieutenant (silver), and Major (gold oak leaf) is just under Lieutenant Colonel (silver oak leaf). Also, when you happen to see various generals, rank precedence is from one star up through four (I’ll leave the five-stars out of this, because there’s just one per service, when the rank is actually used), and are Brigadier General, Major General, Lieutenant General, and General.

best miniseries ever made, enjoy 😊

The mission of the Airborne was not to drop behind the enemy and attack them from behind. Their mission was to locate and take-over key positions in the French countryside .... Certain bridges, crossroads, towns, roads, etc. Some positions were to be destroyed immediately, to keep the Germans from retreating or being resupplied with fresh troops, ammo, and weapons. Some positions were to be captured and held at all costs, so the Allied armies could use them to invade further into the country.

You do understand that this is taken from a book that was written about actual soldiers.

10:33 Yes. Exactly.

the first 2 episodes aired the sunday before September 11, 2001.

James, you won't regret watching this series. Arguably the greatest series ever made. GO HAWKS!

13:00 mark yeah , Sobel did pick up a nice B3 jacket Army Air corp issue and he was so proud of it he wore it all the time even in the field. All Airborne offices had A2 leather Flight Jackets (you saw Winters wearing his on the night march scene) 13:48 mark So the T intersection you see them taking is more to the real location for a scene you will see in esp #2 which is wrong.

Ok the thing on the helmet that you thought was C-4 was the first aid kit and it was not worn on the helmet. These are not characters this is the story of the real men that landed in Normandy long before the first Higgins boat was launched. The paratroopers were not going to fight back to the beaches but take key positions and act as a delaying force to prevent the Germans from sending reinforcements.

When you’re done with this, watch “The Pacific” next

"Saving Private Ryan" was totally fictional, "Band of Brothers" is historical fact. It's based on the book of the same name by historian Stephen Ambrose, which was based on exhaustive historical research, and, extensive interviews with E Company veterans.

If you're going all the way with this...be prepared to grow, laugh, learn and suffer with these characters. 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! ♠

Gold to Silver

Nice reaction, James. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the series with you. The source for this miniseries is right up your alley. It's a book! Band of Brothers was written by the stellar historian Stephen Ambrose. As good as the miniseries is, the book is better. :) Check it out.

Such a brilliant series, it really drives home a lot of the realities of war like few previously have. I'm all in for these Reactions. 🥃☮❤ Narratively, it has nothing to do with Saving Private Ryan (which is a fictional story) since this is based on factual accounts from the soldiers themselves based on historian Stephen E. Ambrose's 1992 non-fiction book of the same name . Spielberg and Hanks developed this from working together previously and having a keen interest in and respect for these brave men. Edit: Didn't read the description before posting. 😉😊

this is historical btw

You should read all their books since you like reading 😄

saving private Ryan was completely fictional, band of brothers was real stories of easy company. They are not in any way related

I read the book " Band of Brothers " long before the series came out. You have no excuse other than you were selective in your reading.

Go clones

I hope you react to all 4 single season Military shows please. They are all based on a single unit and true stories. I rank them as this: 1Band of Brothers 2The Pacific 3Generation Kill 4Masters of the Air. No ever reacts to Generarion Kill please do this for all the Veterans. No one does them all