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.
Well, now is your chance!
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… 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.
If you have noticed it, well, you could 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.
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?
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.
The same was true of the men of Easy Company.
They stuck together not only because they wanted to support one another but in spite of him.
At some point, most of us encounter a leader like Sobel in the military.
I am a firm believer that leadership is mostly innate.
Not everyone can lead and that is okay, especially in the military.
He goes on and on with seemingly everything he’s been issued in the Army.
This is fairly standard in the Army.
Toye was thinking practically and not for what he might encounter.
Now, Soldiers are going to bitch; it doesn’t make them right.
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.
When everyone is looking to their leader for direction, it is extremely stressful.
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.
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.
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.
In actuality, he completely created the position and made a second career out of it.
Ok that is episode 1.
I’ll see you back here for episode 2.
