Band of Brothers

[Trey3216 15,308]

8 hours ago, RamjetFDO said:

"Why We Fight" is one of the best episodes of any series ever.

I can't watch that episode without shedding a few tears.  

[Don Johnson 4,726]

20 hours ago, AUinHsv said:

Way to late to fix but it would have been a good idea to show the names of the vets they interviewed before some of the episodes.

No way.  That would pretty much be a spoiler as to who lives.  95% + of the people who watched didn't know who lived and who died in the war.  

[Parliament 14,023]

Several episodes had a prologue with a few comments from the real men.  But I agree, saving most for after the finale is more powerful.

[BearSchlong 8,015]

My favorite show ever.  Binge watched the whole thing yesterday after getting home from spending the morning on the gulf in my boat with my Vietnam vet father.  Hell, I got teary eyed seeing a coast guard cutter coming down the channel, Memorial Day does that to me.  Seeing the guys at the end of the last episode I couldn't hold back the tears.

This morning my son starts Airborne school at Ft. Benning, so this hits incredibly close to my heart.

[Brisketexan 103,657]

2 hours ago, baboso said:

Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?

No, but I served in a company of heroes.

Dusty.  Every goddam time.

Verdad.

On the list of things in the world that make me tear up without fail, this has a claim to the top spot.

And my goal in life is to be 1/10th of the man that Winters was.

[Trey3216 15,308]

24 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Verdad.

On the list of things in the world that make me tear up without fail, this has a claim to the top spot.

And my goal in life is to be 1/10th of the man that Winters was.

Me too bro.  Me too

[MNLonghornFUKM 8,789]

Is anybody from easy company alive? Most I've looked up have been dead, winters to no surprise, lasted the longest. I think spiers just died too

[drewcifer 33]

Not that I know of. Malarkey just died last fall.

[Helobious 9,426]

I always thought this was an amazing depiction of PTSD and what it can do to people, way before PTSD was widely recognized by the public. 

 

[Knoxtnhorn 5,908]

Showed Ep 2 to my 11 year-old and explained that many of those on D-Day were only 7 years older than him.  I’ll save the rest of the series for when he’s older and can appreciate it in its entirety.

[Ten Bears 2,443]

There was never a doubt which one was Gardere in the interviews lulz. That actor nailed it.

 

[Wally Fairway 5,494]

On ‎5‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 10:48 PM, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Dike was the failure. Spiers took over and ran into foy to hook up. i love the "what the hell" from one of the guys once spiers took off into the town

Running over to hookup at Foy was pure genius, guts and intuition
Running back across the field of fire was absolute pure crazy

 

After WWII and then serving in Korea Spiers was American Governer at the Spandau prison in Berlin, and ended his career in the Pentagon. I just can't see him with a desk job.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Wally Fairway

[HouTex 1,838]

I really liked Buck Compton. He went on to become a famous prosecutor in California.

There were so many interesting things about the story and the war. The looting was very common--it's a spoil of war. Also the way the Dutch women were treated if they slept with Germans. And in a war it's a fine line between murder and a justified killing. Sometimes you just don't take prisoners. It would have been awesome to get first dibs on Goering's wine collection.

[Trey3216 15,308]

25 minutes ago, Ten Bears said:

There was never a doubt which one was Gardere in the interviews lulz. That actor nailed it.

 

Except for when he played Guarnere instead 

[Don Johnson 4,726]

 

Quote

Colonel Edward D. Shames (born June 13, 1922) is a retired United States Army enlisted man and officer who later served in the U.S. Army Reserve. During World War II he was assigned to the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Shames is the last surviving officer and, following the death of Donald Malarkey, oldest surviving member of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He is Jewish and was affected deeply by seeing Nazi Germany's concentration camps. A character based on Shames appeared in the television series Band of Brothers.

[Ten Bears 2,443]

6 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

Except for when he played Guarnere instead 

dammit

 

Peter Gardere. War hero.  

Edited May 29, 2018 by Ten Bears

[Angry Gorilla 1,748]

I just got back from Munich last week and toured the Dachau concentration camp.  Our guide said that out of all of the movies and tv shows that depict a concentration camp, BoB was by far the most accurate.

[PencilPusher 454]

Hard to add much to the commentary here and like many here, watched many episodes of this yesterday. Both the book and miniseries will be required watching for my daughters as they get to US History in High School, especially as they get to the WWII era. Their great grandfather spent over 3 years in the European theatre.....did not see his firstborn child until she was 3 years old. The book, combined with the miniseries paints an incredible picture of what WWII was like through the eyes of a group of soldiers who shared the experience and I want my daughters to gain an appreciation for what that was like. 

[HouTex 1,838]

dammit
 
Peter Gardere. War hero.  

Never lost to ou.

[Parliament 14,023]

Speaking of Bill Guarnere:

Guarnere was wounded in mid-October 1944, while Easy Company was securing the line on "The Island" on the south side of the Rhine. As the sergeant of Second Platoon, he had to go up and down the line to check on and encourage his men, who were spread out over a distance of about a mile. While driving a motorcycle that he had stolen from a Dutch farmer across an open field, he was shot in the right leg by a sniper. The impact knocked him off the motorcycle, fractured his right tibia, and lodged some shrapnel in his right buttock. He was sent back to England on 17 October.

While recovering from injuries, he didn't want to be assigned to another unit, so he put black shoe polish all over his cast, put his pants leg over the cast, and walked out of the hospital in severe pain. He was caught by an officer, court-martialed, demoted to private, and returned to the hospital. He told them he would just go AWOL again to rejoin Easy Company. The hospital kept him a week longer and then transferred him back to his unit.[

He arrived at Mourmelon-le-Grand, just outside Reims, where the 101st was on R and R (rest and recuperation), about 10 December, just before the company was sent to the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, on December 16. Because the paperwork did not arrive from England about his court-martial and demotion, he was reinstated in his same position.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Guarnere

[Assholehorn 6]

Wild Bill was a tough SOB. 

Fortunately, 1945 was the last time an American fought for the defense and sovereignty of his homeland. Every act of aggression since has been invasion of foreign soil for political gain to grow American domination over other cultures, with the exception of tye 6 to 8 months following 9/11 which were in response to being attacked by people who's home lands we had been messing with for decades. 

It's why we love reminiscing about WW2. It was the last time we had righteousness and truth on our side. 

[JohnRedHorn 29]

In a weird stories about E company file there's Sobel (Schwimmer) who after the war got married to a blonde catholic broad that his family would never accept, had a few kids, and tried to commit suicide in 1970 but the bullet just passed behind his eyes severing his optical nerves leaving him blind. He was then dumped and abandoned by his wife (and kids he worked to pay for their college) in a VA hospital where he languished for 17 years before dying of malnourishment.

[AUinHsv 570]

7 hours ago, Don Johnson said:

No way.  That would pretty much be a spoiler as to who lives.  95% + of the people who watched didn't know who lived and who died in the war.  

Good point - I hated waiting 8 hours to see who some of them were but understand your point

[Macanudo 12,798]

3 hours ago, HouTex said:

I really liked Buck Compton. He went on to become a famous prosecutor in California.

He prosecuted Sirhan Sirhan in the RFK assassination.   Played baseball at UCLA with Jackie Robinson

Got to meet Buck at a book signing at Ft. Lewis.   I've told this before but here goes.   The signing was at the PX.   He was sitting in the lobby with maybe 3-4 soldiers shooting the shit.   I just kind of stood around and listened.  He was just like you'd imagine.   Smart as hell and funny.  Told some great stories about the other guys.   Fun stuff about being together when they weren't being shot at.   He says that the motorcycle incident with Malarkey was 100% true and that he was confronted by an officer just not Sobel and not before the Market Garden jump.  He didn't come right out and say it but the definite insinuation was that Winters made it all go away.  I was there for around 45 minutes and maybe 15-20 people came up to get a book signed.

The next week Stone Cold Steve Austin was in town and the line left the building and stretched out to the parking lot.   That still pisses me off to this day.   Nothing against Austin but Buck deserved a line like that.

One of my only complaints of the whole mini-series was the Blithe story line.   They could have made that a nobody who was not named in the book.   Albert Blithe didn't die until 1967, not 1948 as the end credit says.  He was on active duty having returned to the Army during the Korean War. 

[Parliament 14,023]

My only complaint is we didn't get more of that blond chick Tom Hardy schtoiked.

[Trey3216 15,308]

Somewhat CSB:

 

Ex-gf of mine (no pics, wife made me delete them) ((no pics of wife either)) moved up to DC shortly after college.  She was bartending at McCormick & Schmicks while she was finishing up her Level II sommelier work.  She calls me bawling her eyes out on July 4th because she got to wait on Easy Company as they were in town for a reunion and the unveiling of the WWII memorial.  We had watched the series together about 3 times through.   She was so excited and honored.   Said the guys were there for about 4 hours just hanging out, drinking, telling those same stories, flirting with the staff, and just being great guys.  Was really cool to hear her appreciation of how amazing they were as men and heroes.  

 

I believe they actually came back and did the same thing the next year as well 

Edited May 30, 2018 by Trey3216

[Deej 76,219]

For those wondering where to watch this, buy the damned box set, already. Geez...

 

($15 on Amazon for BluRay)

[MNLonghornFUKM 8,789]

16 minutes ago, Deej said:

For those wondering where to watch this, buy the damned box set, already. Geez...

 

($15 on Amazon for BluRay)

i got it...but streaming is way more easy

[Trey3216 15,308]

4 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

i got it...but streaming is way more easy

I got my name painted on my shirt 

I ain’t no ordinary dude

i don’t have to work

i don’t have to work 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8,789]

damn it my bad

[Guest]

5 hours ago, JohnRedHorn said:

In a weird stories about E company file there's Sobel (Schwimmer) who after the war got married to a blonde catholic broad that his family would never accept, had a few kids, and tried to commit suicide in 1970 but the bullet just passed behind his eyes severing his optical nerves leaving him blind. He was then dumped and abandoned by his wife (and kids he worked to pay for their college) in a VA hospital where he languished for 17 years before dying of malnourishment.

I bet he was wishing for some spaghetti by then...

[WhatTheBuck 28,620]

1 hour ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

i got it...but streaming is way more easy

The stream never hangs when you're watching on DVD. Can you stream all the special features? What if your internet is down?

[Parliament 14,023]

 

The stream never hangs when you're watching on DVD. Can you stream all the special features? What if your internet is down?

Don't be poor, Brah.

 

 

[Jerry Callo 8,631]

On 5/29/2018 at 1:55 AM, RamjetFDO said:

"Why We Fight" is one of the best episodes of any series ever.

I heard a friend of mine, who passed a few years ago at the age of 98, recount his service in Europe.  He told an eerily similar story about the discovery and liberation of Dachau in April of 1945.  He was a Captain with the 20th Armored Division and tears flowed as he described what he witnessesd - he could have written the "Why We Fight" episode. 

Edited May 30, 2018 by Jerry Callo

[DeathTongue 88]

Great series.  I'm not much of a recreational reader, but, after watching the series, I read Ambrose's book, Winter's book "Beyond the Band of Brothers" and Winter's biography "Biggest Brother" and enjoyed all three. 

[Catpfish 618]

This is a performance from the National Memorial Day concert from this year.  The lyrics were added to the Band of Brothers main theme in 2003.  It caused a dust storm in the house when it was on.

 

 

[Snake Diggity 4,574]

Next to Its A Wonderful Life, Band of Brothers has had more emotional impact on me than any piece of art in existence.  It’s perfect.  I’m not a get off my lawn guy, but they don’t make men like those guys anymore, not even the guys we celebrate from Iraq etc.  I think it takes a lot of things to come together to create a generation of people like that, and it hasn’t happened since. Hopefully it will again someday and hopefully they’ll be Americans.

[Homercles 10,205]

I will fist fight any of you that doesn’t tear up when Lip gets his battlefield commission. Mustangs are pretty much at the top of my ‘respect-o-meter’.

[Biff Tannen 45,228]

On 5/29/2018 at 7:29 AM, baboso said:

Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?

No, but I served in a company of heroes.

Dusty.  Every goddam time.

This is fucking incredible every time.

[Guest]

15 hours ago, Snake Diggity said:

Next to Its A Wonderful Life, Band of Brothers has had more emotional impact on me than any piece of art in existence.  It’s perfect.  I’m not a get off my lawn guy, but they don’t make men like those guys anymore, not even the guys we celebrate from Iraq etc.  I think it takes a lot of things to come together to create a generation of people like that, and it hasn’t happened since. Hopefully it will again someday and hopefully they’ll be Americans.

I agree with your assessment of the film, but this statement is patently false.  Stop buying into the fairy tale aspect of WWII.

American society may never be fully united on a front again like we were for WWII, but you are wrong on your assessment of our fighting men of other generations.  

[Brisketexan 103,657]

I agree with your assessment of the film, but this statement is patently false.  Stop buying into the fairy tale aspect of WWII.
American society may never be fully united on a front again like we were for WWII, but you are wrong on your assessment of our fighting men of other generations.  

Agreed. We have guys like Winters today. We also have guys like Sobel today. There are privates who are worthless cowards and psychopaths, there are privates who are men of duty, honor, and heroism. In total, the good still vastly outweighs the bad. The vets I know from the modern era are generally damned fine men and women.

[TwiceHorn 30,851]

There is an interesting aspect of the "greatest generation."  They were basically forged by the Depression, even those that didn't experience great deprivation.  I think some of that influenced the mass patriotism/selflessness of the WWII era.

The downside of it is that the Depression and the deprivation/hardship of the war caused the generation to overindulge their children, giving us the boomers.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

There is an interesting aspect of the "greatest generation."  They were basically forged by the Depression, even those that didn't experience great deprivation.  I think some of that influenced the mass patriotism/selflessness of the WWII era.

The downside of it is that the Depression and the deprivation/hardship of the war caused the generation to overindulge their children, giving us the boomers.

I for one am personally, very happy at that outcome.

 I was raised by those very folks who lived thru the Great Depression, and it made me a bit more aware of just how much better I had it as a kid than they did when they were coming up.  

Those were some tough, resourceful, self sufficient people. 

[dcbc 14,282]

56 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Agreed. We have guys like Winters today. We also have guys like Sobel today. There are privates who are worthless cowards and psychopaths, there are privates who are men of duty, honor, and heroism. In total, the good still vastly outweighs the bad. The vets I know from the modern era are generally damned fine men and women.

I can think of one who was a pretty fine deep snapper for Texas.

https://www.si.com/2015/04/06/nate-boyer-long-snapper-green-beret-nfl-draft

[Eastwood 4,394]

Agreed. We have guys like Winters today. We also have guys like Sobel today. There are privates who are worthless cowards and psychopaths, there are privates who are men of duty, honor, and heroism. In total, the good still vastly outweighs the bad. The vets I know from the modern era are generally damned fine men and women.

As I am one of the many who apparently share the tradition of binging BoB around this time of year, I was thinking the other day of the legacy left by those who weren't so great. The Lt. Dikes and Albert Blythes of the war. Not every soldier was Winters, Lipton, Bull, or even Webster. In fact, I would go as far to say that what separates the great in war from those who are your average, everyday soldier is just a matter of competency under fire. I'm not saying it's easy, at all. Not even by a long shot. But just being able to function under fire and do your job is enough to stand out in war. Then you have your Winters, et al types who not only were competent under fire, but completely unshaken and able to process what was happening and how to address it with a cool and collected train of thought. Once again, not saying it is easy, just that it is the one thing that makes a soldier stand out above all others. Then you watch a modern equivalent in Generation Kill and you will see the same thing. You had your Fick, et al group who had that competency under fire and then you had your Cpt. America, et al who gummed up the works more than anything.

Point being, our country has no shortage of heroes that would be reluctantly thrown into the fold. If the next big war breaks out and all able bodied men aged 18 to 38, which was the draft range for WW2, were called upon to serve, the best and the brightest will be there. You never know what kind of person will come out of the other side of basic training. Today's lazy slob might flourish when provided mandatory structure and discipline. Today's over achiever could crumble under the pressure when removed from their comfort zone. However, I pray that we never have to be in a position to find out.

[Guest]

At risk of derailing thread. Deleted post.

 

Sorry.

Edited May 31, 2018 by slorch

[Parliament 14,023]

Great comparison to Generation Kill. They called Sgt Colbert "Iceman" for a reason. He, Fuck and plenty of others deserve the same accolades as our Greatest Nation.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8,789]

I've always wondered..they're in bastogne woods. Right before the shelling from Germany, theres another attack where tanks...a whole bunch of troops are coming through the trees. Doc leaves and there's an air drop. And that's all we see from those tanks. They could've easily taken out EC.

 

Also why did the planes shoot at them before the air drop

 

 

[Parliament 14,023]

The Germans thought we had a LOT more people there than we actually did, and they lacked fuel for their tanks. I always assumed that attack and retreat was intended as a diversion for the real attack somewhere else.

Why did the American fighters shoot at them? Musta thought they were Krauts. Fog of war and such.

[JohnRedHorn 29]

23 hours ago, Snake Diggity said:

Next to Its A Wonderful Life, Band of Brothers has had more emotional impact on me than any piece of art in existence.  It’s perfect.  I’m not a get off my lawn guy, but they don’t make men like those guys anymore, not even the guys we celebrate from Iraq etc.  I think it takes a lot of things to come together to create a generation of people like that, and it hasn’t happened since. Hopefully it will again someday and hopefully they’ll be Americans.

Ha you're crazy. You're looking back at a whole generation of American men and judge them by a fictionalized cinema account of a small handful of them. 

There were a whole lot more extreme violent racists and wife beaters than there were those like Major Winters. 

Also way to insult all of the veterans from Vietnam and the past 17 years who aren't fighting for a just cause but because they are ordered to do so. That has to be much tougher to swallow knowing you really have no business being there yet still having a job to do. 

Go tell people like Carlos Hathcock that they arent as good as WW2 vets.