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canyonwalkerI said several days ago I wasn't going to write a lot of blogs about Band of Brothers. "Maybe two," I thought to myself. That contrasts with the Chernobyl miniseries, about which I've written sixteen blogs— plus possibly one more to come! I'm glad I didn't say "Maybe two" out loud or commit it to writing because now that I've started writing about the series— see my initial blog entry about the series from yesterday— I realize that I've got a lot more to say about it than I initially thought. BoB is twice as many episodes as Chernobyl... I'm absolutely not expecting this to run to 32 entries!
This blog is about Ep. 1 in series, "Currahee". It tells the tale of the soliders of Easy Company from their training as paratroopers through their staging in England up to the point where they board aircraft for Operation Overlord— i.e., D-Day. As I began to draft blogs about the series I mused that the training montage stretched over 2 or 3 episodes and thus got a bit boring. Nope, it's all in one episode. That's part of how I realized I'd have more to write about than I initially thought.
The main character in this episode is Captain Sobel, played by David Schwimmer (pictured). He's the main character in the sense that he's the focal point of the episode, as the company commander and drill instructor training the men to be elite soldiers. In the narrative sense, though, he's not the main character... he's the villain.
Sobel is an unnecessarily harsh task master, constantly punishing the soldiers for the smallest infractions, real or imagined. Even worse, the soldiers realize as their deployment becomes imminent, Sobel will be a terrible battlefield commander. In war-game exercises it's clear that Sobel can't read maps or navigate in the field, can't think on his feet, and dismisses helpful advice from his subordinates. The non-commissioned officers in his company meet secretly and agree that if he leads them into war, they'll all die. The noncoms stage a mutiny of sorts. The regiment commander, Col. Sink, punishes two of the noncoms but realizes that ultimately he can't punish them all. He sidelines Sobel to a training role and assigns the company a new commander.
As I began watching BoB I groaned through a lot of this episode. "Oh, look, it's the sadistic-drill-instructor trope again, Bo-o-oring!" But in retrospect I recognized it's more than just a trope. There's a deeper story element there... and a teachable lesson, too.
The deeper story element is that Capt. Sobel's overly harsh command not only molded the men into capable soldiers but gave them additional reason to bond. They bonded with each other over the shared adversity. ...And not just the adversity of training being hard because it needed to be, but the adversity of dealing with a hated superior who was way harder than he needed to be— and later, life-threateningly incompetent.
The teachable lesson here is about the difference between leadership and command. In an authoritarian system like the military, any halfway intelligent person with a rank on their uniform can command. Subordinates do what you tell them because they pretty much have to. The system invests the commander with enormous power to deal with those who don't. But leadership is different from command. Leadership is when you not only tell subordinates what to do but inspire them to do it well.
Yes, you can make subordinates do things by commanding them. You can use fear of consequences as a motivator, as Capt. Sobel does. But you don't get the best results out of people that way. They'll do things only well enough to avoid the your wrath. People who are inspired will find ways to do things better. They'll offer helpful suggestions... where those rules by fear are afraid to speak up. Those who are led, as opposed to commanded, see the leader's success as their own. Meanwhile, those who are ruled by fear rather than respect ultimately look to dig a pit under their commander.
Keep reading: Band of Brothers Ep. 2: Day of Days
This blog is about Ep. 1 in series, "Currahee". It tells the tale of the soliders of Easy Company from their training as paratroopers through their staging in England up to the point where they board aircraft for Operation Overlord— i.e., D-Day. As I began to draft blogs about the series I mused that the training montage stretched over 2 or 3 episodes and thus got a bit boring. Nope, it's all in one episode. That's part of how I realized I'd have more to write about than I initially thought.
The main character in this episode is Captain Sobel, played by David Schwimmer (pictured). He's the main character in the sense that he's the focal point of the episode, as the company commander and drill instructor training the men to be elite soldiers. In the narrative sense, though, he's not the main character... he's the villain.
Sobel is an unnecessarily harsh task master, constantly punishing the soldiers for the smallest infractions, real or imagined. Even worse, the soldiers realize as their deployment becomes imminent, Sobel will be a terrible battlefield commander. In war-game exercises it's clear that Sobel can't read maps or navigate in the field, can't think on his feet, and dismisses helpful advice from his subordinates. The non-commissioned officers in his company meet secretly and agree that if he leads them into war, they'll all die. The noncoms stage a mutiny of sorts. The regiment commander, Col. Sink, punishes two of the noncoms but realizes that ultimately he can't punish them all. He sidelines Sobel to a training role and assigns the company a new commander.
As I began watching BoB I groaned through a lot of this episode. "Oh, look, it's the sadistic-drill-instructor trope again, Bo-o-oring!" But in retrospect I recognized it's more than just a trope. There's a deeper story element there... and a teachable lesson, too.
The deeper story element is that Capt. Sobel's overly harsh command not only molded the men into capable soldiers but gave them additional reason to bond. They bonded with each other over the shared adversity. ...And not just the adversity of training being hard because it needed to be, but the adversity of dealing with a hated superior who was way harder than he needed to be— and later, life-threateningly incompetent.
The teachable lesson here is about the difference between leadership and command. In an authoritarian system like the military, any halfway intelligent person with a rank on their uniform can command. Subordinates do what you tell them because they pretty much have to. The system invests the commander with enormous power to deal with those who don't. But leadership is different from command. Leadership is when you not only tell subordinates what to do but inspire them to do it well.
Yes, you can make subordinates do things by commanding them. You can use fear of consequences as a motivator, as Capt. Sobel does. But you don't get the best results out of people that way. They'll do things only well enough to avoid the your wrath. People who are inspired will find ways to do things better. They'll offer helpful suggestions... where those rules by fear are afraid to speak up. Those who are led, as opposed to commanded, see the leader's success as their own. Meanwhile, those who are ruled by fear rather than respect ultimately look to dig a pit under their commander.
Keep reading: Band of Brothers Ep. 2: Day of Days
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Date: 2023-01-17 11:10 pm (UTC)