He's got that master douche aura dialed in, I haven't seen him play anything else. IRL that's a %$# way to die, though.

great casting too

all i could see was Ross trying to impress Rachel 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Great casting over all, Mr. Schwimmer earned my respect as an actor in this series. It is hard to play bad guys in movies/series and not fall into clichés

apparently the casting of david schwimmer was criticized by some at the time, but having him in from the start would have got a lot of people watching who might not have otherwise.

In the BOB series, the scene where Sobel is re-assigned to train another unit just before D-Day is heartbreaking. Schwimmer played it perfectly. He made us see a guy who tried to do everything right, but was blindsided by his own shortcomings. Not being able to read a map is a big problem for a military officer, but it was his inability to improvise and adapt that was his biggest fault. That tripped up Sobel in later life too. Like a lot of WWII veterans, he was surprised and confused that his children rejected everything he had ever valued and worked towards. Sobel's inability to adapt to the shifting social landscape of the 60s cost him his family. That's truly sad.

Great casting!

All the actors resemble their characters, take a closer look

@@BroadswordsYup. In the many interviews and behind the scenes documentaries it has been stated that the producers and staff tried casting people who were similar to the real heroes. Even the real WWII vets remarked on it.

They're both Ashkenazi Jewish so that's no surprise.

Agree. I had same experience with Ralph Fiennes, after watching Schindlers List.

so the mark of a truly great actor is that they can doop you since you're unable to realize they are "acting".. wow that is a low bar

@@slowery43 That's the whole point of being a great actor. We all know they're acting, but if I'm being reminded of it while watching the movie then someone has done a piss-poor job on or behind the camera.

FACTS!! That WAS the crucial difference.

I like to think Sobel and Winters did an unintentional "good cop-bad cop". "Sure, I'll parachute into France, as long as I don't have to run up that fucking mountain anymore."

Capt. Sobel , was a petty tyrant ; just what was needed to train soldiers. He was a nitpicker, but that made his troops attentive to details, necessary for success in combat. A good training officer does not, and in Sobel's case, did not, translate into a good combat leader, and that's exactly where Easy Company was going. He couldn't read a map, and his tactical abilities were lacking. In the modern corporate world, Sobel created what we now call "a hostile work environment" which was bas enough to spark a mutiny by his NCOs, whose job it was to make sure Sobel's orders were carried out. For that to happen the commander must be pretty bad. Major Winters, in contrast, proved that a commander does not have to be dirty, mean and nasty to his men. Every combat leader should be like Winters.

Neither Sobel nor Winters would make it far in today's US military. They were both far too hard on the troops. Sobel especially would've gotten booted out after forcing them to run up the hill and yelling at them by making racist jokes at people's names or fat shaming thier figures.

Did you serve?@@BoleDaPole

I re-watch the show every D-Day anniversary, ever since I visited Normandy on vacation.

Furthermore, when you listen to some of Dick Winters interviews on KZfaq you'll find much of the series was were very accurate

They did Norman Dike dirty though and I can't forgive that. Dike was awarded a Bronze Star for his action at Uden, Holland, with the 101st Airborne Division between 23 and 25 September 1944, in which he “organized and led scattered groups of parachutists in the successful defense of an important road junction on the vital Eindhoven (sic)-Arnhem Supply Route against superior and repeated attacks, while completely surrounded." Dike was awarded a second Bronze Star for his action at Bastogne, in which "he personally removed from an exposed position, in full enemy view, three wounded members of his company, while under intense small arms fire" on 3 January 1945. In preparation for the 13 January 1945 attack on Foy, Belgium, E Company was attached to the 3rd Battalion, 506th PIR. Division Headquarters ordered the attack to begin at 0900 hours. During the assault, Carwood Lipton, at that time the company's first sergeant, described Dike as having "fallen apart." Clancy Lyall stated that he saw that Dike had been wounded in his right shoulder and that it was the wound, not panic, that caused Dike to stop. Dike survived the assault, and eventually returned to the rear in the company of a medic. Afterwards, he was transferred to 506th Regimental Headquarters to become an assistant operations officer. Dike then moved on to become, as a captain, an aide to General Maxwell Taylor, Commanding General, 101st Airborne Division. He later served in the Korean War.

Your right, I have it on now. If the film represented a fair illustration of Sobel, then he was a problem, some say the end justifies the means. For the first time I noticed that while he was busting balls running Currahee he didn't break them like he thought he would in fact the men rose above it and broke out in song. Sobel's face expressed surprise and fear. The fact they jelled and rose above pain, and mind games is a tremendous accomplishment and reflects on Sobel. He looked like a father that wasn't able to cause pain by spanking. No disrespect intended. He helped make the world free for democracy. That expression still gives me chills.

Absolutely. It's one of about 3 things I bothered to get the DVD set for.

Amen. The VA has a horrific history of taking care of veterans. I saw if first hand in the early 70s.

And private nursing homes are just as shit. My mom suffered it for less than 4 months and died due to severe dehydration, she was only in there to regain ability to walk better; and go back home with dad and my brother. It only takes 2 to 3 days to become lethally dehydrated. The hospital she was taken to after her personal doctor examined her and questioned the sanity of the manager of the nursing home, that hospitals phlebotomist said he had never seen such high sodium levels. Our medical in the USA is probably among the worst in the world, only propounded by the rich oligarchs as the best in the west because they have unlimited money bags to pay for in home nursing, and or the best surgeons and gang surgeons waiting on them hand and foot. Rest of us, get the scabs.

@@jmitterii2should have checked in on her more often instead of abandoning her to a home. I bet that lawsuit was well worth it tho

@@jmitterii2 Sorry about your mother but, I've been overseas and socialized medicine is not the way to go. Just ask our neighbors up north what they think of their socialized medicine and how much it costs them in additional taxes. Ask them how long it takes to get anything done.

ya thats sad

takes a man to lead men not some homlets who got their ranks with connections..my dad was a good officer because he was one of them, in his mountaineering units they were all farmboys as he was, his platoons master sergeant became my sisters godfather, in my country we were over 8-10 years in the same units being reserves doing 3 weeks every year after military-NOC and officer school which was 4 months each national service was from age 18-55 for us..

CSMs do not command anything.

Sounds like my last 1SG. One of the shittiest ones I ever had and he thought because he had jump wings, is shit didn't stink and he was God's gift to soldiers. He was an ass. So much so I can't even remember he name, but can remember all but one other from my 8 yrs.

@@paulcook3275 Then why are they called Command Sergeants Majors? I know the ones I had sure ran things. The Colonel rarely got involved unless it was necessary. And in the case of this particular 1SG, it was.

as should happen to all like him

Terrific, very mature analysis, but I'm not sure I agree that there's a role for everyone in a combat unit. In fact, I know there isn't. The failure of the programs of Robert MacNamara in Vietnam to integrate marginal I.Q. draftees into combat units is one proof.

@@flparkermdpc Or the waivers that were introduced in 2006 for the Army to cope with the troop surge in 2007-2008. We had meth labs in the barracks, stabbings, heroin overdoses, and other shit that I can't remember. I mean, at least those guys wind up getting kicked out and don't deploy. But the ones who just squeak by and DO deploy can be just as bad, especially in an infantry company. We had some real all-stars in my 07 deployment. Fortunately, we didn't take much contact because we were basically paying the militia leaders to leave us alone

and people still got lost

Thank you for your service. I may be from a different country, but, we are still on the same team. Thank you from Peterborough Ontario Canada 🇨🇦 ♥️

I was stationed on Engineer Hill and Dragon Mt. 5 Feb 68' to 29 May 69'. 167th Signal Co. Welcome Home

Believe it or not, I learned it in the Boy Scouts in the early 1960's. It was called "Map Reading and Orienteering" back then. Those skills have served me well over my lifetime, and not just during my years on active duty.

I personally believe that, given his highschool, college and OCS scores, he had dyslexia. That's why he was so good at and focused on accounting. Most dyxlexics can count their numbers better than they can read their ABC's. There were also reports of him getting turned sideways on a map, like he couldn't tell the difference between east and west. Well, to a dyslexic, E and W would do that. He always got the numbers right though, he'd just lose direction every now and again and get lost. I also believe he had ADHD. He was extremely high strung and reports state he was also very gung-ho. No patience. Couldn't sit still. He would rather charge right into ambushes and take his chances instead of setting up his own picket lines then waiting for the enemy to probe. He shouldv'e commanded an air cav unit to go tearing ass around 'Nam with, actually.

You mean like Audie Murphy?!? ;-)

@@chrislong3938 Uh-oh...what don't I know?

@@mikhailiagacesa3406 Heh...

maybe artillery, friendly fire??? @@chrislong3938

Maybe. It doesn't mean that Sobel would have been assigned to that exact plane, we don't know.

Or if sobel stays, Winters doesn't become a battalion commander with a drunk for a staff officer that probably subsequently got men killed due to shit planning. Lots of variables to determine a different outcome positive or negative.

Back in the 1990's I got shot in the abdomen. The bullet entered on my left side about at the 5 O'Clock position and 3 inches from my belly button. It went through both intestines, clipped my bladder, fractured my pelvis before exiting my right rear thigh. Yes it took the scenic route, so needless to say I made a trip to the hospital. I was put in a two bed room by myself which lasted one day. They had put an attempted suicide in the bed next to me. Like you said, he put a gun ( .357 mag) in his mouth and pulled the trigger and blew his lower jaw off. So he was awake and aware and they had him on some machine ( something to do with humidity with tube running in his mouth. Since he could not talk, he wrote on paper to his mother who visited all the time. But when my wife and daughter visited, he would reach over and change the setting on that machine filling the room with the smell of rotting flesh. After my wife and daughter left, he would turn it back down. He would not touch that machine if his mother was in the room. One day my wife came to visit and he did his thing with the machine and it was so bad we had to leave the room. So wife helps me out of bed and helps push my 2 IV poles and 3 catheter bags. To get out of the room we had to pass his bed by the door, I can walk but very slowly and with pain. I stopped at the foot of his bed: Wife: " Are you ok?" Me: " Yes. Are you coming tomorrow?" Wife: " Yes, why?" Me: " I need you to bring me something." Wife: " What is it?" Me: " Bring me my .44 magnum." Wife: " Why do you need that?" Me; " If this bastard keeps messing with the machine when I have visitors, I'll shoot him between the fucking eyes and finish the job he failed at." The look on what was left of his face was priceless. Next day my wife is visiting and he did not touch that machine. His mother came in and he started scribbling on his pad and showed it to her. She looks over at me with the most hateful look/scorn on her face. " Yes I said it." then told her what he was doing.

People at the end of life often lose appetite and quit eating. I wouldn't take that statement at face value. It needs more context.

I agree 100%. The problem is that the Court "Marshal", refusal(s) to salute Winters, making up false Infractions, andvassigning his best squad leader to Kitchen Patrol looks like it was something _more._ He took things too personally. I still think that we who didn't serve are in less a position to be causality condemning him, like so many do.

This is a very good point, that it takes a certain kind of person to be able to lead troops in combat, but that doesn't mean they can't serve well in a different capacity.

I'm a former Staff Sergeant who became a Regular Army officer. One First Sergeant of mine summed things up more simply; he said there were two types of leaders in the military... "People Pushers" and "Paper Pushers." Both types are necessary, but putting any leader in the wrong job was always a failure.

Please remember that the only source for the Court Marshal and look away/non-salute is Dick Winters. Also remember that Winters admitted that he relayed the worst possible image of Sobel to Stephen Ambroes he possibly could. I read Guarnere and Geffron's book and they did not seem to have the hatred of Sobel that Winters & Ambroes would have us believe. There is also the issue of men who served under Sobel later and seemed to like and respect him.

Wisdom on the part of that First Sergeant. I was lucky to serve under officers that were well placed leaders. I used Band of Brothers techniques on my troops to create a unit mentality, they "removed" those who did not fit in. There is no shortage of reassignment options. It was better for them and better for the Corps.@@mnpd3

This is an attempt to whitewash a bastard. Anyone with rank can force their men to jump through hoops 24/7, there are thousands of examples of that being done going back hundreds of years. Are we to believe that Easy Company was head and shoulders above every other company in the US Army? They obviously were not. More to the point, the men who made up the majority of the Company a year after D-Day were probably not under Sobel's command at any time in their service. They would have been trained by others. Others who were complete soldiers, not jumped up gym bunnies.

I'm surprised he didn't end up with a accidental American round when he finally saw action

Some officers just do not have the skills to manage men. Sobel was one of them.

amen for Winters

Agreed. This all "he united us against him" is moronic and not leadership.

From the book: "Sobel was the classic chickenshit. He generated maximum anxiety over matters of minimum significance."

I'm glad they were able to speak to a'many Infantrymen before they went to The Great AA in the Sky. 25th ID (Hawaii) hosted a few of the E/1/506th guys back in ~2007. They were treated like rockstars (and deservedly so!).

One of my sons was also 11B in the 25th ID, Arctic Thunder@@hateferlife

You said it better than I could...

Just like McClellan in the Civil War. Great trainer, TERRIBLE field general.

Believe it was in an interview that Stephen Ambrose, author of the book "Band of Brothers," gave in which he called Sobel a "bullshit officer," the type to punish the smallest infraction with an overblown negative retaliation. I think another word that pertains to that sort of leader is "martinet."

@@artbagley1406 stephen ambrose was also considered to be full of sh*t by other historians.

Then he should have been a boot camp officer.

playing an unlikeable douche was no stretch for him

He may have done the best job out of all the actors in the series.

Instead, they sent him to another base in England where he did just that. Graduated 400 jump qualified paratroopers before D Day.

Being the 506th's Supply Officer was very suitable for him. And he probably did a good job. Having and getting the right kind(s) and quantities of supplies (bullets, beans, bandages, commo equipment, etc.) is a vital part of the entire system!

That's the business of war. Our esteemed leaders are more worried about sending hundreds of billions to the ukriane rather than spend a fraction of that nursing our veterans. Richest country in the world and we have veterans going around hat in hand begging for donations through charity groups like wounded warrior. Don't mourn the dead, they're in a better place now. Mourn guys like 40 year old iraq war veteran John Unkown drinking himself to death and unable to sleep due to his "PTSD" or the 80 year old vietnam vet sitting alone waiting to die in some nursing home that nobody comes to visit.

Yeah,great thinking when your alive covered in your best friends remains on a battlefield maybe you’ll think a little harder about such ignorant statements

@@BoleDaPole $75 billion for Ukraine since the war started.About $550 billion for the VA during the same time period.

This is precisely the approach often taken in the British forces. A newly commissioned Lieutenant work with an experienced Sergeant Major who will say "Good morning, Sir. This morning, Sir, you will order me to do this, that and the other, and that way we will have no foul-ups, Sir." "Very good, Sergeant Major. Carry on".

NCO's aren't there to lead men (that's the officer's job), but to maintain the integrity and cohesion of the unit and educate both the enlisted and their leaders. But in a pinch, they can lead, if the officers are incapacitated or killed. My great uncle (A WWII Marine NCO) had to take over several times during the war, when his unit's officers were wounded, killed, or just mentally exhausted. He was offered battlefield promotion several times and refused as he wanted to stay with his men. If the war had continued after Okinawa (his last battle) he would have been battle promoted for Operation Olympic as part of an expansion of his Marine Division (whether he wanted it or not.).

Many company commanders eventually had to learn, although some never did, was that the company was 'owned' by the First Sergeant, and the officers were allowed to lead the unit, within limits. If they [officers]lost the confidence and support of the NCOs, the company would spial downward as things weren't completed on time or crisply enough and all of these little flea bites were soon noted by senior leadership and often reflected upon the company commander in the form of his Officer Efficiency Report [OER].

@@marks1638 In the British Armed Forces even Junior NCOs are expected to lead and they are trained to lead.

@@marks1638 think what you like....the army will run fine without officers but will not run at all without NCOs...I'm speaking from 12 years in the australian infantry

Absolutely...

All I’ve read indicates to me that he was an excellent training commander because the Soldiers he was responsible for became arguably the most hardened Soldiers of the time. But he couldn’t inspire people, except for negative inspiration (“I don’t want to be like that guy”) and he couldn’t adapt to changes in the mission or challenges along the way. Edit: It’s truly unfortunate that he met his end the way he did. Nobody deserves that.

Nope

not me in training all our company ncos and officers were top guys yes they could be tough on you in training but they knew how to wind it down so we knew it wasnt them personally it was just to toughen up. i was gutted when i left basic i never got the tough treatment strangely probably because i was a reserve before regular so i never messed up. my sergeant was the best sergeant ever and this was way before the army went woke.

Im thinking you NEVER finished boot camp or service....clown words.

Nah.

That was Werner Molders, Luftwaffe ace.

I wondered when that German cross popped up

@@jeffreytaib9251 Confirmed. General of Fighters Werner Molders.

Yes, I wondered what Werner Mölders, was doing there.😂

The INTERNS strike again 😮😮😮😮

I hope his Son understands what Sobel's CO understood, "Aces in their places" This was my takeaway from watching BoB

True.He may not be a great leader,but he was certainly a great trainer.

Sobels live was saved when he got transferred because his soldiers would have made him a casualty the first day in Normandy.

too much, echoed here, once hit hard enough most question why and/or quit (football comes to mind)

And the men of easy company give him credit for that.

Thank you! I did not know this bit,the soldiers were not all happy with the depiction of Mr. Sobel. They all acknowledge he made them better soldiers

yes, he was an excellent training officer. nobody wanted to go into combat with him@@ericpetitclerc5519

No doubt leading from the back.

Where did you find this information? I would love to explore it more deeply. Thanks.

Learn something new everyday

Sobel's live was saved when he got transferred, because Easy Company would have killed him in action on the first day in Normandy.

@@HansJuergBangerterwould he have been in the transport that Mehan was in ? He got killed

@@thomasbest8599 the survival of Easy Company depended on that Sobel wasn't in command, he would have been finished off by one of the NCO's if he would have jumped with Easy.

@@thomasbest8599 the Germans had a word for people like Sobel in military training, they called em SCHLEIFFERS =Grinders, you can't be a grinder and then being part of the troops in war situations..the chances you get finished off by the soldiers you tyrannized especially whn you are as incompetent as Sobel are great.

Mark Clarke should have been sacked and court martialled for opting to 'liberate' the OPEN city of Rome, thus permitting a large body of German troops to avoid being cut off and captured. The Germans then established another defensive line, which cost lots of allied lives. Clark put personal 'glory' and boosting his own ego above professional military duty. He was a disgrace, but was never held accountable for it.

Maybe only because he was followed up by someone like Winters. He laid the groundwork, but still maybe it was only half of the equation.

His legacy is one of a tyrant. His former troops made sure of that when they helped create that HBO tv show.

he made nothing for them,,only a poor menory

He wasn't a leader. Easy Co. had great platoon leaders, NCO's and soldiers. Had not the men under him been great, Easy Co. would've been and unmitigated disaster.

@@ffjsb You are missing something. So let me point it out to be a devils advocate. Sobel did not push those men so hard from the sidelines. His physical training was harsh, but he also did it, beside those men. He did not stand on a grandstand, or drive alongside them in a jeep, he pounded the ground at the same time they did. That is worth remembering. Would Sobel have been a good combat commander? I do not think so, but that does not make him a bad trainer, if if you personally do not agree with his techniques. The men of Easy Company were amongst the fittest troops anywhere in the world when they went into action. That physical fitness was one of the things that helped keep the survivors alive. Physical fitness is not an inconsequential thing on the battlefield.... A modern army needs a lot of different types of commanders, obviously you want good combat commanders, but you also need good logisticians, good trainers, good staff officers. You can be an excellent Logistics officer and a terrible Combat officer, a superb combat officer and a terrible staff officer, but that does not remove the very simple fact that you need ALL of them.... Sobel was not a good combat officer, he was however a very good training officer, and most likely would have been an absolutely superb logistics officer....

@@alganhar1 He didn't really "train" them, he just punished them with physical workouts. The vast majority of training is done by NCO's, NOT officers. Sobel was also a student at jump school, not the trainer. How can you train men for combat when you're terrible at tactics, and can't read a map????

I can ask for more. I can ask for competence.

@@andymiller6661 I agree!! But it seems he served well after he jumped into France. Or that's what was reported by one person. I'd like to know what his full combat experience was.

He could've realized the world keeps getting progressive and being stuck in his ways wasn't worth losing his whole family, so, if I was his son, I could've asked for him to be a better dad. Also, did you know the generation before "The Greatest Generation" didn't think they were all that great? Look at what was said about them. “Parents themselves were often the cause of many difficulties. They frequently failed in their obvious duty to teach self-control and discipline to their own children.” - Problems of Young People, Leeds Mercury, 1938 “We defy anyone who goes about with his eyes open to deny that there is, as never before, an attitude on the part of young folk which is best described as grossly thoughtless, rude, and utterly selfish.” - The Conduct of Young People, Hull Daily Mail, 1925 “Cinemas and motor cars were blamed for a flagging interest among young people in present-day politics by ex-Provost JK Rutherford… [He] said he had been told by people in different political parties that it was almost impossible to get an audience for political meetings. There were, of course, many distractions such as the cinema…”- Young People and Politics, Kirkintilloch Herald, 1938 “The Chairman alluding to the problem of young people and their English said his experience was that many did not seem able to express or convey to other people what they meant. They could not put their meaning into words, and found the same difficulty when it came to writing.” - Unable to Express Thoughts: Failing of Modern Young People, Gloucester Citizen, 1936 "I heard somebody say the other day that everybody was getting too darned lazy and nobody wants to work anymore. That's the truth if I ever heard it." - 1952 Alabama newspaper The Evergreen Courant "The trouble is everybody is on relief or a pension - nobody wants to work anymore." - Wisconsin Gov. Julius Heil 1940 "What is the cause of unemployment and hard times? The manufacturer and business men say it is because nobody wants to work anymore unless they can be paid enough wages to work half of the time and loaf half of the time. The working man says that hard times are caused by the determined stand the employers have made to beat down wages. Now why is it these things exist during a Republican administration?' - 1922, The Mulberry News in Kansas "Faced with a shortage of labor when unemployment is widespread, peach orchardists in York and Adams counties are complaining that, 'Nobody wants to work anymore.' There is work, it is reported, for 15 to 25 peach pickers in every orchard in the two counties, but only two to five pickers are at work because of the unavailability of labor." - 1937, The Gazette and Daily newspaper in York, Pennsylvania “Probably there is no period in history in which young people have given such emphatic utterance to a tendency to reject that which is old and to wish for that which is new.” - Young People Drinking More, Portsmouth Evening News, 1936 “How to bring young people into membership of the Church was a pressing problem raised at a meeting… Sunday School teachers in the audience had found that children were apt to leave Sunday School when they had completed their day school education. They were not following on into the church.” - Why Do Young People Neglect Religion?, Shield Daily News, 1947 “…in youth clubs were young people who would not take part in boxing, wrestling or similar exercises which did not appeal to them. The ‘tough guy’ of the films made some appeal but when it came to something that led to physical strain or risk they would not take it.” - Young People Who Spend Too Much, Dundee Evening Telegraph, 1945 “It’s an irony, but so many of us are a cautious, nervous, conservative crew that some of the elders who five years ago feared that we might come trooping home full of foreign radical ideas are now afraid that the opposite might be too true, and that we could be lacking some of the old American gambling spirit and enterprise.”- The Care and Handling of a Heritage: One of the “scared-rabbit” generation reassures wild-eyed elders about future, Life, 1950 That almost looks like what people say about kids today, huh? It's the same narrative, parents not doing a good job of disciplining their kids, kids are rude and selfish, no one wants to work, younger people leaving the church, technology is making kids dumb and lazy, lack of men taking part in combat sports, kids not caring about history, etc. It's all the same rhetoric that seems to just get kicked down from one generation to another in order to point fingers as to why things aren't perfect. Some of those comments came after WWII, so, they didn't even care about the vets then. People really thought what we now call the greatest generation was gonna be the downfall of society and now boomers and gen-xers are doing the same to the youth of today.

Was thinking of McClellan.

Good point. There are a lot of invisible unpredictable qualities that combine to make winning teams.

my sisters ticket been on the same day, but she stood just 1 week longer in the USA before flying back to Europe.. i stayed a few more weeks, been wondering why the Americans wondering they got attacked... been from Europe, best of my class in History, i knew a lot of stuff the USA did wrong the last 200 years and also well informed what the USA did after WW2, so i just wondered why it took them so long to strike back against the USA! i understood their motivation, while no supporting their methods! i am sure, you will not know how the USA and UK destroying the Iranian democracy to replace it with the emperor wich got replaced by the mad religious you have so plenty in the USA, too!

That is how I remembered when it aired. Sept 9, 2001 was the premier, only to be delayed for part 3 due to 9/11. I think it took almost the better part of a week to get back to airing it.

​@@REALfish1552because they were playing episodes weekly with the exceptional of the premiere two parter.

I was working at Defence Plaza Sydney, joined HMAS Sydney on the 17th of the 9th, and deployed 11th October 2001

@@Arltratlo I'm assuming you meant SHUT down. But if you survived getting SHOT down, that's pretty cool too, lol

He once attempted suicide that caused damage. Could be he did it himself .Stranger things have happened

You speak truth good sir.

*alienating How would he have gone down as one of the best?

nope

waaay overboard, for a BS leader of men to battle

I do believe that the skills needed to lead people in battle are not necessarily identical to the skills needed to train people for battle. It is possible to be good at one and not the other.

In basic training, there's a teacher and a group of students. While Sobel had some positive traits for teaching, the students had to have a POSITIVE WANT TO LEARN. The men of Toccoa actually had a NEED TO LEARN: do your job right and you continue to LIVE. What's the alternative if lessons for war are not learned and put into practice? Death and/or defeat. It's definitely a PARTNERSHIP, teacher and student.

I agree, he might have been good during training, but he would have been terrible as an actual combat commander. While Winters was just as good as Sobel during training, but a much better combat commander.

Well he got to bang Jennifer Aniston so it's not all bad 😂

He was probably too arrogant and proud to ask for help.

I've watched many interviews with the actors who played the men of Easy Company. The overriding message is they were incredibly proud to represent those heroes. Even the British actors portraying their role with incredible pride.

Wrong. He was a SOB. But his training helped saved lives. The men appreciated his training after the fact. The fact they are still talking about him is amazing.

Right and his training was simply textbox nasty. A better man could have achieved more with the same training but with real understanding Came across a Flight Lieutenant once whose father as an Air Commodore, she was nice but dim..

*battle!

he got what he deserved being incompetent and relying only on his rank for leadership cracking under pressure.

Those who knew him best (his family abandoned him in the end. Classic narcissistic tendencies - he was never gonna change, and it is just plain exhausting living in their world.

He deserved everything he got, because he brought it on himself.

@@CorePathway , There is no denying that he provided the best possible training and it kept a lot of guys alive. Airborne was still a relatively new concept and this man pumped out some hard soldiers. Dick Winters would know and said so himself (as well as many others). I don’t doubt that he was crazy but the results speak for themselves.

@@ffjsb Way to pass judgment based on how a movie portrayed him. You are right in that he deserved what he got ... a Bronze Star and the knowledge that his tough training saved lives. You could only hope to get what he deserved.