Band of Brothers Viewing Guide #10

 

EPISODE 10 -  Points 

the Points System –  Officially called the Adjusted Service Rating Score;  1 pt. for every month in the service;  1 additional point for every month overseas;  5 pts. for each campaign;  5 pts. for every medal for merit or valor;  5 pts. for each Purple Heart;  12 pts. for each dependent child up to 3 (which created the unfairness that newbies might have 36 more points than grizzled vets who had not been with their wives for three years).  The number you needed was 85, as mentioned in the series.

Shifty Powers did win the lottery, but the book does not imply that it was rigged.  Ironically, on his way out, the truck was involved in a head-on accident and Powers spent months in the hospital.

Webster was not involved in the killing of the Nazi living in the cabin. 

When Winters tells Sobel “You salute the rank, not the man”, this happened earlier. 

NOT HISTORICAL LICENSE:  The whole Sgt. Grant incident was accurate.  He was hurt by a drunken GI who was roughed up by the men.  Grant’s life was saved by a German doctor.

In the scene where Winters receives the surrender of the German colonel (he was actually a major), he did not give the pistol (it was actually not a Luger) back to the German.  He kept it for the rest of his life.  He loved the fact that it had never been fired.

SOBEL -  Sobel was a clothing salesman before the war.  He was vindictive.  He was committed to making Easy Company the best in the division.  He was hard on the men when it came to training, but harder on the officers.  He was the poster boy for what GI’s called “chickenshit”.  Although he did a good job in preparing the unit, he was petty, arbitrary and worst of all, he had poor judgment and made bad decisions in the field.  He led by fear, not example.  The veterans later admitted he made Easy Company what it was, partly by bringing the men together in common hatred for him.  In a field exercise, he was designated one of the casualties.  The medics put him under and made an incision and sewed it back to make it look like they had given him an emergency appendectomy!  The series takes Winters view that Sobel was useless.  Winters had nothing good to say about Sobel in the Ambrose interviews.  The series could have done a better job giving Sobel the credit he deserved for making the unit into a great fighting force. 

EASY COMPANY MEMBERS WHO HAVE WIKIPEDIA PAGES BECAUSE OF THE SERIES:

Winters

Nixon

Malarkey

Lipton

Sink

Guarnere

Compton

Speirs

Webster

Blithe

Sobel

Talbert

Powers

Wynn

Heffron

Gordon

Heyliger

Tipper