Full Length | Band Of Brothers | Episode 8

Lipton had pneumonia. Luz mentions it to Webster as he walks into the company CP to find out which platoon he's going to. Martin was pissed at Webster because he knew it was Webster's idea to get Malarkey off the patrol. He wasn't going to be on the patrol originally, but was picked to lead it in Malarkey's place. Everyone who attends a service academny (Westpoint, Naval Academy, Air Force Academy) is commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant (or Ensign for the squids) when they graduate. The other conventional ways to commission are getting a degree as an enlisted man then attending OCS, or going to college under a ROTC program. The vast majority of officers in the military come straight out of college and start their careers at 22 or 23 years old. They are, by and large, pretty f**king useless until they've had a year or so of platoon leader time. That gives them time to learn from the NCOs and junior enlisted in their platoon, all of whom have more experience than they do. A platoon sergeant, who generally holds the rank of Sergeant First Class in the Army, has been in for 10-15 years. He is functionally second in rank and authority to the kid fresh out of college, but most of the time (at least in combat arms units) that PSG is going to be running the platoon and mentoring that young officer for at least the first year or so. The best officers are prior enlisted, and we call them Mustangs. They are generally very good because they already have years of experience soldiering. I served under Westpointers, ROTC graduates, and Mustangs during my time in. My PL in Iraq was a ROTC kid, but he was smart enough to listen to those of us who already had combat experience when he got to us, which was most of the platoon including the privates.

PP82

I have EASILY watched Band of Brothers 75-100 times through and I have never, until now, noticed Cobb in that MPs jeep. Good eyes

JP11

The “Oak Leaves” mentioned when Nixon is talking to winters refer to a promotion. Captains wear two silver bars as insignia of their rank, majors wear a gold oak leaf, so Winters was promoted from captain to major.

Craig

Agreed, they remember far more details than any of the dozens of reactors I’ve watched reacting to BOB.

Craig

Good call by Winters. The actor who played the new young lieutenant (James) (recent grad of West Point) is Tom Hanks' son.

Clay F

Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention, at this point in the war, Malarkey had spent more time on the front lines than any other member of Easy, so that's why it's mentioned a few times through the episode how he seems tired, needs a break, etc..

celilmandir

Ten times more lives would have been lost, if not more, if the US had had to invade Japan.

celilmandir

SKR_13

Webster was generally well liked by the men, though the officers didn't have too much of a great opinion of him. He was a good soldier, but never volunteered for anything, and always seemed to want to find a way to do the bare minimum, seemingly lacking any ambition. Eion Bailey, who plays Webster, took a couple weeks vacations in India while everyone else was sweating their balls off filming Bastogne and The Breaking Point, since his character was "injured" and thus not needed for these 2 episodes. The producers told the other actors to channel their envy of him into their character's annoyance toward his, when he returns from the hospital. Tom Hanks provided the "voice" of the German soldier that Easy left on the far side of the river, thinking he was too wounded. A few men from Easy tried to end his misery by lobbing grenades at him. Cobb was the one who finally killed him. At the end of the episode, you can see Cobb sitting in a jeep with some MPs. He got into an altercation with Lt Foley (the Lt who was actually leading the patrol back in '45) and Johnny Martin had to pull his gun out on Cobb to put an end to that skirmish. Cobb was court-martialed and a frustrated Colonel Sink said "Foley, you could have saved us all a lot of trouble. You should have shot him."

celilmandir

Aldous I absolutely agree it’s a great film but like you said action wise it’s unrealistic

Thomas Mitchell

Hacksaw Ridge is an amazing story, but I have to admit that the action in that movie makes it impossible to watch for me. It is so over the top and unrealistic, almost to the point of making a mockery of the war and the veterans. When the guy use a dead Japanese as a human shield while walking forward and shooting a machine gun I had to turn it off. I am of the opinion that if you try and make war movies that are based on true events and real stories, you owe it to the veterans and the viewers to not make a mockery of war.

Aldous Orwell

We will never truly know the sacrifice made by the soldiers of WW2, but shows like this are the closest we can get without being there ourselves. This show really should be required viewing for everyone, so that people can understand what these men did for all of us. The world today might be sad and depressing sometimes, but it would be infinitely worse had the Axis forces been allowed to succeed.

Aldous Orwell

Sergeant Martin was pissed at Webster for convincing Lt. Jones to take Sargeant Malarkey's place because then Martin was called in to lead the patrol instead of sitting it out.

Aldous Orwell

Your reactions are amazing! Idk if anyone has recommended it but I think you guys would enjoy another ww2 film called hacksaw ridge it has Andrew Garfield in it and it’s a fantastic film!

Thomas Mitchell

I have to say I am deeply impressed at the things you remember, you even remembered the guy that was drunk that he was the same guy that was upset that someone had the pin from episodes ago. It took me 3-4 times watching this series to even put many of the things together.

Peter Schön