Band of Brothers, Ep. 10: Points
Jan. 30th, 2023 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerEpisode 10 of Band of Brothers, "Points", is about the winding down of the war in Europe. At the end of the previous episode, the soldiers learned that Hitler killed himself. Within the events of this episode, set in May-August 1945, the German army surrenders. That doesn't mean all the Americans turned around and went home. The military had a points-based system (hence the title of the episode) for determining which soldiers would be sent home and placed on terminal leave, and who would remain stationed in Europe— or sent to the Pacific.
Two threads I thought were interesting in this episode are 1) men continued to die even after the war was basically over, and 2) the mixed feelings some soldiers had about wanting to go home vs. wanting to continue the fight.
In terms of #1, casualties were way down once the shooting phase of the war stopped. The problem was some men started to get careless without a clear and dangerous mission to keep them focused. Soldiers got injured in accidents. The case of Sgt. "Shifty" Powers, one of the men of Easy Company, was sad. He didn't have enough points to go home but was selected by the company commander. The regiment allowed each company to select one soldier to get a special pass home. While Shifty was departing, the truck he was riding in was hit head-on by a drunk driving soldier from another regiment. Shifty survived but with multiple injuries, spending months in hospitals before getting home-home.
In terms of #2, most of the characters are portrayed as being happy to go home. Maybe a few who had the points were like, "Nah, I'll stay and fight more," but that wasn't the predominant attitude. Most with the ability to leave seemed ready to take it, and those without wished they could. Major Winters was one of those who wasn't sure. Col. Sink, his long-time regimental commander, talked to him about staying in the military as a career. Winters wasn't sure. He definitely wasn't happy watching his men fool around and get hurt in Austria, so he put in to a transfer to a division being sent to the Pacific. The general in charge of that division interviewed him but turned him down, saying, "Your men have earned the right to have you as their leader."
Such do-I-stay-or-do-I-go decisions were rendered moot days later. Japan surrendered on 15 August, after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Edited to add: Nixon encourages Winters to come work at his father's company after the war. Winters considers the offer seriously. He's already at best ambivalent about staying in the military, plus he feels a very tight bond with Nix. The conversation occurs in a very bromantic scene between the two men where Winters is mostly naked (because he's about to dive into a lake for a swim). 'Shippers online cry tears of job about all the possibilities here. The real-life Winters has said in published interviews that there was nothing romantic about their relationship; it was just a close friendship between two men. As I man I appreciate that. I've been pushed away from close friendship with other men many times because they think only romantic partners can be close and thus fear that close friendship would make them gay.
Two threads I thought were interesting in this episode are 1) men continued to die even after the war was basically over, and 2) the mixed feelings some soldiers had about wanting to go home vs. wanting to continue the fight.
In terms of #1, casualties were way down once the shooting phase of the war stopped. The problem was some men started to get careless without a clear and dangerous mission to keep them focused. Soldiers got injured in accidents. The case of Sgt. "Shifty" Powers, one of the men of Easy Company, was sad. He didn't have enough points to go home but was selected by the company commander. The regiment allowed each company to select one soldier to get a special pass home. While Shifty was departing, the truck he was riding in was hit head-on by a drunk driving soldier from another regiment. Shifty survived but with multiple injuries, spending months in hospitals before getting home-home.
In terms of #2, most of the characters are portrayed as being happy to go home. Maybe a few who had the points were like, "Nah, I'll stay and fight more," but that wasn't the predominant attitude. Most with the ability to leave seemed ready to take it, and those without wished they could. Major Winters was one of those who wasn't sure. Col. Sink, his long-time regimental commander, talked to him about staying in the military as a career. Winters wasn't sure. He definitely wasn't happy watching his men fool around and get hurt in Austria, so he put in to a transfer to a division being sent to the Pacific. The general in charge of that division interviewed him but turned him down, saying, "Your men have earned the right to have you as their leader."
Such do-I-stay-or-do-I-go decisions were rendered moot days later. Japan surrendered on 15 August, after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Edited to add: Nixon encourages Winters to come work at his father's company after the war. Winters considers the offer seriously. He's already at best ambivalent about staying in the military, plus he feels a very tight bond with Nix. The conversation occurs in a very bromantic scene between the two men where Winters is mostly naked (because he's about to dive into a lake for a swim). 'Shippers online cry tears of job about all the possibilities here. The real-life Winters has said in published interviews that there was nothing romantic about their relationship; it was just a close friendship between two men. As I man I appreciate that. I've been pushed away from close friendship with other men many times because they think only romantic partners can be close and thus fear that close friendship would make them gay.
