Will you be reacting as well to Saving Private Ryan? Since you had watched 1917! Figure it’s a must, seeing as you’re beginning Band of Brothers. Also hope you u get a chance to see The Pacific.
@@Matisaro I met Dick Winters when I was in high school in 2009 and he is the most humble man I've ever met. He only wanted to talk about the men he served with.
It’ll be interesting to see their reaction when they realise that the men being interviewed at the start and end of the episodes are the real life counterparts of the “characters” that survived.
The men of Easy Company universally credited Captain Herbert Sobel with turning them into an elite combat unit, but they also universally hated the man and thought he was completely incompetent outside of a training environment.
Sobel was good at creating a difficult situation for trainees to overcome and being the common foe for trainees to unite against in order to overcome that situation out of spite. But that is not a quality desirable in LEADER. Add to that his own poor marks when it comes to combat tactics and map reading.
Now this is a difficult one. I believe he was the BEST teacher for them at the time, but not to lead them into combat. He’s a great teacher, but an average leader. And they needed a great leader, so Meehan was the man for the job.
My grandpa was a WWII vet, he served in the army and fought in Italy. He was wounded by a machine gun, bullet through both his legs. He didn’t loose them, but he had to wear a cast on one for the rest of his life. This show makes me think of him, miss you grandpa. Thank you for serving, RIP.
Amazing! Your grandpa was a real one. WWII was really tough. My grandpa & his brother both fought in WWII, one at Normandy & the other in the Ardennes at the Battle of the Bulge. They made it home pretty much ok, both took a lot of shrapnel in their legs & sides, & they had serious hearing loss. All these folks were absolute legends. Can't imagine how scared they must have been. When I look at pictures they all seem so young. Just kids really.
My grandpa was in the Bulge and he never talked about it. Makes me miss him too. We have a family tradition of watching White Christmas on Christmas Eve. It opens Christmas Eve 1944, and I remember one year casually asking my grandmother if she remembered Christmas Eve 1944 and she started crying. I was horrified. She shared that her and her sister spent it sitting by the radio crying and praying because they both had husbands fighting in Europe at the time, and the boys were taking a beating then.
Yeah cause he's a good trainer of men but a shitty soldier himself lol luckily the Army actually did realize that after Dick went to the dude in charge.
If you read the books the general feeling is that Easy came together because of Sobel but that he was a mean man and utterly incompetent as a combat leader, after the war he was even disowned by his own family, he tried to commit suicide but just succeeded in blinding himself.
He also HAD to pull them up. They literally were weighted down with so much equipment that they couldn't get up from that position unassisted. Enlisted me had on average at LEAST 70 pounds of equipment Officers 90lbs. That's not including their Parachute. With Parachute the men carried between 90-120lbs over their body weight
@@anthonyanderson5302 Actually, he could of pulled the first guy up and then the first guy pulls up the second etc. He gets to look each man in the eye or eyes and show that he is right there with them. Just my opinion though.
Expect a whole season of, "Whoa, this actor is in this? He looks so young!" This is one of these series that had every Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh actor out there in the very early 00's playing American soldiers. (The series was make in England. That's why there were so many Irish and British actors.)
“Oh, some familiar faces in it” *entire fandom smirks* just a few 🤣 This show is hard to watch, but I firmly believe that everyone should watch it at least once. Wars aren’t fought the same way any more, and too many shows either try and make it look cool or heroic. It wasn’t. It was horrible. And this show truly shows that.
Most wars from now on will be fought asymmetrically. thats just how its going to go. The battles in Iraq of Division levels will be the last ones for a long time.
Sobel couldn’t handle the pressure of battle but his ability to mold boys into soldiers was amazing. He gave his men a common enemy: him. Someone they could all hate and we know that people tend to bond when they have a common enemy. He helped build easy company into the fighting force it was. He just wasn’t a strategic enough mind to lead them in battle like Winters.
I used to attend church with a man who served in the 101st Airborne and who jumped into Normandy. He has since passed away, but I had the opportunity to hear him recount his jump on D-Day. He was always humble and soft spoken. Truly part of the greatest generation.
As a french man, i watch this show at least once per year... to remember... to not make it forgotten... for my grand pa who spent 4 years in work camps in germany for all the french boys who died defending my country, for all the boys who came from elsewhere to fight to free my country... thanks for your service and for everything...
❤️❤️❤️❤️ Edit: my grandfather, a very poor “dirty Mexican” from Arizona, fought in WW2 in Germany. He said that even though there were so many ethnicities, they ceased being Mexicans or white or black or Italian or English or French, etc. they became brothers in arms. he was the best man i ever knew. He died a very proud American last year, forever a proud veteran, and he’d LOVE that you still remember everyone. I do the same!
My favorite thing about watching reactions to this episode is the introduction of Sobel. "Oh! It's Ross!" About 10 seconds later, "Oh. No, it's not. That's not Ross at all."
I've been told it was a deliberate choice by the producers of the show, to cast David Schwimmer as Sobel. As viewers would still remember him as likable Ross, but then realise this character is not so likeable. Just to give the viewers a little taste of the love hate feelings that the real men of Easy company had for Sobel.
My Dad, a Sergeant with the 101st Airborne, 506 PIR (A Toccoa man who jumped into France the night before D-Day, survived Operation Market Garden and Bastogne and was wounded for his third and final time during the attack on Foy) would never talk about his experiences during the war. I mean he would talk about things that had nothing to with the actual fighting, funny stories about him and his buddies, but never about the horrors of combat. My Dad did open up to me some, once I like him, had experienced combat, but it was through Stephen Ambrose's excellent book and the follow on Mini-series "Band of Brothers" that I really began to understand his experiences. As a side note the Toccoa Camp is about an hour north of where I live in Georgia. Back in 2002, before my father passed away, we ran (well jogged) 3 miles up and 3 miles down Currahee side by side! It was amazing!
My dad was Army, fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Had some incredible stories to tell. Watching this show and seeing what these men actually went through, left me feeling extremely emotional and even more proud of my dad.🇺🇸 He passed away 9 yrs ago. I miss him every single day.❤️
My major professor for my BA and MA in History, Dr. Stephen Ambrose, wrote the book this is based on. He is listed as Executive Producer on this and used the money he made to start the National WWII Museum.
This is the first of your reactions that I've seen, and I'm a huge BoB fan. You are so tuned in and invested already, I can't wait to see your reactions to the rest of the miniseries. The word I hear most often associated with the style of production, filming, etc. is "immersive", and it really shows in your reaction. You are definitely immersed and feeling like you're a part of Easy Company. I'm truly looking forward to more episodes and will definitely take a look at your channel. GREAT job!
This show is amazing, my brother introduced me to it years ago, and on certain holidays we do a marathon of Band of brothers and The Pacific to conmemorate the soldiers lives.
We’ve got my great uncle’s Purple Heart in a place of honor... he was one of the 82nd Airborne men shot and killed as he parachuted into battle. He’s buried in Italy along with so many others. RIP to the heroes 🇺🇸 Thrilled to have more people discovering this amazing series! Came for Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul, stayed for BoB 😁
So cool to see you mention John Adams. BOB and Chernobyl are better in my opinion, but I'm a big fan of John Adams. Loved that series. Never seen anyone mention it before, glad to see someone else liked it
This show is an absolute spectacle, my great Uncle Armon fought in the pacific theater against the Japanese . He was a part of the 3rd Marine Division and fought in Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima and was then transferred to Okinawa to over see training and logistics. The stories he would choose to tell me gave me nightmares as a kid, i cant't even imagine what other horrors he saw. During the Guadalcanal campaign he also got a letter that his brother died in a car crash before the battle. He was shipped off to the states to take care of family affairs 2 days before the Japanese invasion to retake the island, and two weeks later when he came back to fight on the island, he found out his entire unit was wiped out. This show makes me tear up because of how much i think of him and my great grandpa who also fought for the US Army repairing B-17s. Rip Specialist Armon Hernandes, and Staff Sergeant Anthony Navarro you two fought to keep us all safe.
By the time you're done with this series, you will know every one of these men as if you fought with them. I fly my flag for men like these and my father. They were truly the Greatest Generation.
A credit to you guys that I have just watched this first reaction of yours and I am disappointed when I look to see that you have not yet released your next. Some reactors you watch and they don't 'add' to the experience but you pair I would like to sit down and share a beer with :). For family historical context, I'm English and one of my grandads was 7th Armoured Division (The Desert Rats) and he was all the way through from Dunkirk to North Africa to Italy (he was at Monte Casino) to Normandy to Germany ... where he encountered the Final Solution at Belsen. He was only a little man, even as a boy I was not all that much shorter than him, but his shoulders seemed a mile wide and he was as tough as nails. Yet he was of a gentle, if gruff, nature and he taught me a few things about what being a man meant in the decade that I got to know him. As you might expect a lot of it was about being disciplined but not a 'robot' and, the one that stuck most of all, was that if you are going to be angry or hateful at someone then let it be for what they have actually done not just for what they were born as. It took me a number of years to realise that why that was foremost in his mind was because of what he had witnessed at Belsen. I don't think any of us can imagine what it must have been like to come across a place like that - no wonder he (illegally) kept his Lee Enfield rifle and had it under his bed.
Actual veteran ages on D Day (June '44): Average allied soldiers : 20/ 21 Lt. Richard Winters: 26 Lt. Lewis Nixon: 26 Col. Sink: 39 Joe Liebgott: 29 Bill Guarnere: 21 Sgt. Carwood Lipton: 24 Lt. Harry Welsh : 25 Don Malarkey: 22 Lt. Buck Compton: 22 George Luz: 22 Joe Toye: 25 Frank Perconte: 27 Lt. Thomas Meehan: 22
I agree, but I think the wait fits. We had to wait for a younger generation *that hadn't seen it* to get old enough to watch it. There haven't been too many shows that I would build my schedule around watching, but BoB is probably first among those few.
I'm so glad I finally watched this series! Our next door neighbor for 12 years was a paratrooper in Korea. Sadly he passed away during the COVID pandemic due to his advanced age and past medical issues. After seeing this, I now just how tough he was! He was a sweet man. Even though our neighborhood got few trick-or-treaters he always had a bag on hand and dumped half of it in our son's bag because he knew we'd stop there first! I always brought him Christmas treats when I baked. I'm watching this with him in my heart. ❤
This was the first thing I'd seen Damien Lewis in and I thought he was from the US at first not England. Love his performance in this. All the actors did a wonderful job of portraying the brave men that served in Easy Company. There were brave men and women and great sacrifice on both sides. Innocent people that never deserved anything they had to endure. Imagine the amount of heroic stories never recorded or told, this series is just a glimpse at one of those. They deserve our respect and gratitude, no matter if you're for or against modern war today, it was a different time and for different reasons. Rest in peace all those who sacrificed and suffered injustice over those years and the years following, may we never forget.
I highly recommend when everything calms down in the states, visit the National WW2 museum in New Orleans. I was in JROTC and we worked a small detail and toured it when it first opened. Tom Hanks and Spielberg were integral in getting it built and properly funded.
One of the most interesting moments in my life was visiting our local museum and discovering that on the WW2 floor they had veterans who would sit and take questions or tell stories to anyone that came along. It was a powerful and amazing time, we ended up spending hours talking with them.
Absolutely spot on Nikki and Steven thank you to all who served 🇺🇲 🇬🇧!! My dad served in the UK Army, that's what made me join up at 19 I'm now 47 where the hell does the time go!? Also Damian Lewis who played Major Richard Winters lost his wife actress Helen McCrory to cancer a couple of days ago, RIP, Godbless.
Thanks buddy! I loved the scene where the Brit soldier dressed like a wehrmacht Soldier is interacting with Hoobler. Funny. Remimber Churchhill, two countries separated by a common language. 😊
Simon, tell me about it. I joined U.S. Army when I hit 18, (only served 4 years), and will be celebrating 28 years out in Aug. Those were some of the best friendships, and worst enemies, I ever had in my life.
@@timhonigs6859 hey brother, i served with the Royal Signals (communications) for over 10 years, you're absolutely right Tim the friends you make are family for life godbless
@@simonalexander2354 I wish I was as smart as you. I was light infantry. Basically, everything Easy Company did, except the jumping. Oh, and the war thingy too.
I'm always so grateful when reactors watch Band of Brothers. For me WW2 is personal ~ my two favorite uncles fought in the European theater, one helped liberate a concentration camp. I've read the letters they wrote to their "kid sister", my Mom, who was then just a teenager back on the dairy farm. They were honorable, kind, decent and true ~ the very salt of the earth, and rarely spoke of what they went through. So many people don't know as much as they should about the sacrifices these men and women made for us ~ you honor their memories when these stories are shared, and so from the bottom of my heart, thank you Nikki & Steven.
My grand pop was a WWII vet, he died a few months before this show aired on HBO back in 2001. I don't believe in an afterlife or anything, but I hope I"m wrong and he's watching this along with me. 😥 I didn't hear of it until you guys, thank you both for this
One of the best TV shows ever made. So cool to have it rewatched with you guys. And when you're through I highly recommend "The Pacific" from the same production team.
Spielberg and Hanks also did Saving Private Ryan. What I really love about them is that they take the time to get to know actual military people, and understand what it's like. A classic example of this is Sergeant Lipton is telling everyone that they need to sign their insurance policies. This is a speech that every person in the military hears prior to deploying. Little touches like that endear Spielberg and Hanks work to everyone who has served. Hollywood has had a pretty bad track record of getting it wrong, and it drives Veterans crazy sometimes. Dale Dye, a Vietnam Veteran, has made a big difference in movies that he advises. He also acts, and brings an air of realism to his roles. It this he played LtCol. Sink, the 506PIR Commander. In addition, he ran a shortened bootcamp for the actors, to get them acquainted with the WW2 soldier and prepare them for the Role. There's a vlog done by Ron Livingstone during their training that's worth the watch.
Did not see this coming, I watched this show a couple of months ago because another one of my favourite reactors watched this and I adore every second of it. This show also has some “A” list actors that I can’t wait for you to notice!
I find all of these BoB reactions interesting and I'm happy y'all are part of it. While I'm not old enough to know that war firsthand, the generation ahead of me did -- my mother and her siblings still talk about those days. My grand-uncle landed at Normandy on D-Day; he lived to tell the tale -- which I don't think he ever did. But I grew up around veterans and other survivors of that war. Some of them _would_ share. So while it's not _my_ war, it's still part of my living memory. I love seeing people in the generations after mine, who don't think of that war as recent history or as something other than a couple of chapters in their high school history book that they don't quite get to, get a sense of what war and service used to be. The people weren't any better, people then are the same as people now, but their circumstances forced them into extraordinary acts. As a result, it's good to get that sense of connection to the people who fought a war (arguably the "last noble war") from eighty years ago. I can't say you'll enjoy all of this ride, but I'm certain you won't think it time ill-spent.
You two have picked several great shows/mini-series in the past. Band of Brothers is my favorite, my son and I watch this series every June 6th, and we have since he was 15, he is now 24. I have known several men who were involved in D-Day, from air and sea, nothing but respect. When I was at the Pentagon in 2001-2006, after 911, solders from Walter Reed, who were healing from their wounds, came to the Pentagon so we could thank them for their service. These young men, those who could walk, would hug us thank us for our "service," I still tear up today just thinking of that day.
One of the more powerful scenes is when Winters is talking to Buck about not putting himself in a position to take something from his men even if its a little gambling . Soon he will be asking them to risk their lives.
Wow! So glad you guys are watching this series. It is an amazing series. I rewatch it every DDay and Veterans Day. This series is very dear to me. As a young man of 19 I got to barrens at the local Legion and as they knew I was always interested in WWII I got to hear so many stories from the men that fought. But the series is dear to me because my cousin was a friend To Ron Livingston. I recall seeing him many times and was overjoyed when he did Office Space. To see him in the series and the justice he did to Lewis Nixon was amazing to watch. I hope you both enjoy what is to come but fair warning events will bring you tears. I still get misty eyed viewing some episodes as the actors did a fantastic job bring who they are to life. If you get a chance check out the HBO behind the scenes with the real Easy Company.
As some already have I would recommend The Pacific after this one. I also would recomment Generation Kill. It is also an HBO show that follows a unit during the second Iraq war.
I was airborne for 6 years, fun times jumping from a plane knowing your going to smack into the dirt below shortly after with around 100 pounds of equipment strapped with you. I was 82nd Airborne
My friends and I grew up watching Friends and we jokingly called all of Captain Sobel's scene "Ross Goes to War." And yes, that was Magneto (Michael Fassbender).
Great choice for a mini series. You gotta check out the sequel to this called The Pacific. It's another mini series made by the same people focusing on the Pacific theater.
I watch this series once a year because I want to remember my grandfather. He wasn’t in Easy company but his war was just as real. What little he talked about brought him to tears, you could see the pain in his eyes.
I love your reviews, and keep 'em coming!! This was a great show and it quite accurately portrays what the soldiers had to go through with training for the Airborne at that time in history. I graduated Airborne School at Fort Benning, GA in 2000. The course was 3 weeks long. They still use most of the training methods from WW2 (a lot of running, too). I had to complete 5 jumps to graduate (2-with full gear, 2-without full gear, and 1 at night with full gear). I remained a paratrooper until I retired in 2006. I never thought in a million years that I would jump out of planes but I'm glad I did!!
Good to see you guys watching this! This will be a real ride. Out of five men who volunteered for the paratroops, four would either be washed out or rejected. These men were thus the cream of the crop. Sobel might not have been a good combat leader, but a lot of Easy company vets agreed that the training he put them through helped make them one of the toughest units in the European front.
14:05 that’s called “fragging (your Officer)” During later periods of the Vietnam war US morale among troops were so low that in some units “fragging” happened a week on average
This series is truly ... TRULY ... the top of the line. Best ever in its genre. In fact, there's only ever been one moment in a TV-series concerning any war that has topped this and it was, bizarrely, the last three minutes of the comedy-series "Blackadder goes forth", which is set during 1917 on the Western Front during the First World War. Those last three minutes brought the United Kingdom to a complete standstill when it was first aired, and then made that whole nation weep. People are still talking about that ending thirty five years later. But those were three minutes ... this is an entire series, which lets you get to know the men involved in some of the hardest fighting during the Second World War in Europe, on an almost visceral, personal level. It has never been topped, and I am honestly not sure how it ever will be.
I watched the first episode years ago on HBO and immediately went out and bought the box set. Long before the advent of readily available streaming like we have today. Possibly the best "mini series" ever made. The best part: it's all true.
This series will make you truly appreciate what those men did to honor and serve this country. I hope you guys will watch the next series made with this one. The Pacific, it is just as amazing and helps you fully understand the sacrifice our men made during this war.
The little hint that I always liked, was Winters and the Lieutenant trying to figure out where the Invasion was going to be, by figuring out the overall flight time and distances they were doing training flights on.
I was going to suggest they watch Saving Private Ryan after this, since I couldn't find a reaction of theirs to it, but it sounds like Nikki has seen it
They need to watch it if they haven’t. I think Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan should be required viewing for young people. They need a reality check as to what people sacrificed to protect the freedom they take for granted.
My daddy was in WWII and wounded twice and suffered from life long problems of malaria. In fact, he died with a bullet still in his knee that would be too damaging to remove. He was an Army Paratrooper and Drill Sargent prior to combat. I know he was at Guadal Canal and Guam, and fought in Day-D action. He was present when the flag was raised at Iwo Jima that they've made the famous statue from. He had field commissions up to Lt.Col. When he was killed in 73 in a motor vehicle accident, he had too many commendations to be listed on his headstone, which was the VA's practice at that time... Thanks for letting this old lady, former Drill Sargent's child 😱-(😁) and long time Stikker fan brag on her daddy! ❤🇺🇲
Oh also, to be able to act on this show, all the actors had to participate in the same training the soldiers themselves went through. They wanted authenticity when it came to the actors themselves understanding what it took physically and mentally to be a soldier gearing up for war. There are plenty of behind the scenes videos available, and books from the soldiers themselves about their time in the war. Yes, you’ll likely both cry, as it really happened so it’s always harder to face. So glad you spotted Michael Cudlitz right away. He’s pretty baby faced in this show! And David Schwimmer (Ross from friends), Ron Livingstone (Jack Berger from Sex and the City), Neal McDonough (actor from Desperate Housewives), Damien Lewis (Homeland), Colin Hanks, Simon Pegg, there’s also one other TWD actor in there too, Kirk Acevedo who played Mitch one of the Governor’s men. And that’s just to name a few! Reading the books after the show really makes the experience and understanding a lot richer too.
This is one of the best miniseries you will ever watch. It's fantastic. And yes, there will be episodes that will make you cry. You will also see quite a few familiar faces as it goes on. Sobel was a bad commanding officer all around. His whole thing of putting the company through the toughest of training wasn't for them. That him was him overcompensating. That was to ensure his own glory that he didn't like to share. It's one thing to push your men it's another thing to work against them. You want them to trust you not see you as the enemy.
USMC vet here, 05-10. This is pretty tame for the most part to what happens/can happen. And oh yeah. Almost every day in recruit training, after lunch, when in the barracks. We all got online, and chug at least one. Sometimes two canteens of water, so. 1-2 quarts of water…then we ran. Until about half our platoon threw up did that for a good portion of the first two months. Good times, later, in follow on training…a senior NCO got in trouble, from people in other units, because were running up to 12 miles, in summer, with our wool sweaters on, and our flak jackets over them in our cammies, about 4 of those miles in soft beach sand, really good times. Once a month. We’d do 21 mile runs. It makes hard men, ready for discomfort, pain, etc. just bad conditions. And we still got our rank pinned on, even then, for those who don’t know, after the ceremony, those above you in rank. Would smash them into you, with out the backers on. So they jam in your collar bone region, then they pull them out, the next in line would do the same, etc, etc. it’s a right of passage, and not being weak. When we got our blood stripes as an NCO (Corporal) then you walk the gauntlet, the NCO’s senior to you would be lined up on each side, and you walk down, as they all knee you in your thighs, on each side, you better not fall or quit, or you’ll never heard the end of it, and never be trusted or viewed as useful again. Then you get pinned, or pinned first. Then that. It’s a different world, you’re not there to be nice and kind, especially in the Corps. You didn’t join a church group, or anything like that.
one of the best factual shows ever made....the book is absolutely amazing...we all wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for these people...I honestly watch this show at least once a year it's absolutely fantastic. so if you want to think about this event in "movie" terms...the 101st airborne parachuted into Normandy the night before tom hanks landed on omaha beach in saving private ryan
I watched this the year it first aired. It was life changing. I got the DVD boxed set as soon as it came out. Since then, every single year over Memorial Day Weekend I re-watch the entire series again in honor of our grandfathers who confronted REAL evil, and died to save the world. They were 17, 18, 19, and 20 when they joined. What were all of us doing at that age? There is a reason they are called the Greatest Generation. Nikki and Steve... this is going to be hard to watch. But it is also an honor to watch.
Right off the bat, you two are my favorites to have watched this series. Such genuineness, respect, and attentiveness. I'm really looking forward to seeing your journey through this series.
See that's a great moment at 22:32 Winters not only helps up each man in his 'stick', but the way it's filmed==as he takes their hands, it's like he saying 'Now, you are all my brothers...'
My granddad loved this show. We sure did watch it on repeat when he was sick. He was a Corporal in the 124th Cavalry Special, PBS did a documentary on them in the 90's called The Last Horse Soldiers. They were part of a secret mission in Burma during WW2 to clear the Burma and Ledo roads so the military could get supplies from India to China.
Here we go!! Band of Brothers!!
For our full watch-a-long reactions check out the link: bit.ly/3tb6Pk3
Thank you for doing this. Look forward to episode 6
Omg thanks you, my favorite show 😭🐏🔥
What’s the schedule for this going to be? Did I miss you saying it?
I believe the movie that Nikki is referring to near the end is Saving Private Ryan. The depiction of D-Day in that movie was incredible.
Will you be reacting as well to Saving Private Ryan? Since you had watched 1917! Figure it’s a must, seeing as you’re beginning Band of Brothers. Also hope you u get a chance to see The Pacific.
I’m not exaggerating when I say this show is life changing
Band of Brothers is one of the few series I watch multiple times and never get tired of it. Great series. Winters is awesome.
Band of Brothers and Chernobyl... two series that should be mandatory for high school history courses.
True statement!
BoB has got to be in the top ten mini series every made.
@@Matisaro I met Dick Winters when I was in high school in 2009 and he is the most humble man I've ever met. He only wanted to talk about the men he served with.
When you are done watching all of these, remember, this was all real.
Cherish their lives, and the remember their sacrifice.
It's hard to forget considering there are interviews before each episode.
Them and every other soldier who fought against Nazis.
Not all of it. 9 has a lot of misinformation.
It’ll be interesting to see their reaction when they realise that the men being interviewed at the start and end of the episodes are the real life counterparts of the “characters” that survived.
The men of Easy Company universally credited Captain Herbert Sobel with turning them into an elite combat unit, but they also universally hated the man and thought he was completely incompetent outside of a training environment.
Not all trainers are good combat leaders for damn sure. He could run and NOTHING brings men together more then hating the leader.
Great at PT, horrible at tactics
Sobel was good at creating a difficult situation for trainees to overcome and being the common foe for trainees to unite against in order to overcome that situation out of spite. But that is not a quality desirable in LEADER. Add to that his own poor marks when it comes to combat tactics and map reading.
Now this is a difficult one. I believe he was the BEST teacher for them at the time, but not to lead them into combat. He’s a great teacher, but an average leader. And they needed a great leader, so Meehan was the man for the job.
Well from all accounts, that’s pretty much what happened, he was great in the role he did, but not for others.
Sobel really isn't a bad guy, he's just upset because Rachel still refuses to admit that they were on a break.
I laughed way to hard at that.
THEY WERE ON A BREAK!!!!
And he misses his monkey.
PIV-ATT!! PIV-ATT!!
he was the US Army unagi instructor
If this show ends up in your top 5 shows of all time by the end of the series, I will not be surprised.
Perfectly said. Thank you👌
100% my favorite HBO series!!!!
+1
My grandpa was a WWII vet, he served in the army and fought in Italy. He was wounded by a machine gun, bullet through both his legs. He didn’t loose them, but he had to wear a cast on one for the rest of his life. This show makes me think of him, miss you grandpa. Thank you for serving, RIP.
Amazing! Your grandpa was a real one. WWII was really tough.
My grandpa & his brother both fought in WWII, one at Normandy & the other in the Ardennes at the Battle of the Bulge. They made it home pretty much ok, both took a lot of shrapnel in their legs & sides, & they had serious hearing loss. All these folks were absolute legends. Can't imagine how scared they must have been. When I look at pictures they all seem so young. Just kids really.
@@xajaso The bullet shattered his tibia into 30 pieces, I’m amazed he even still had a leg. The bullet was armor piercing according to him.
My grandpa was in the Bulge and he never talked about it. Makes me miss him too. We have a family tradition of watching White Christmas on Christmas Eve. It opens Christmas Eve 1944, and I remember one year casually asking my grandmother if she remembered Christmas Eve 1944 and she started crying. I was horrified. She shared that her and her sister spent it sitting by the radio crying and praying because they both had husbands fighting in Europe at the time, and the boys were taking a beating then.
My great grandpa fought in Italy also he was a part of the Sikh light infantry
Band of Brothers is a great show. But what really makes me think of my grandpa is The Pacific.
He was on Okinawa.
We actually just lost the last living member of the real Easy Company. RIP to the Band. We salute you.
Sobel was actually both despised and appreciated by those in Easy... he's credited for helping to make them such a great force
You should look up what happened to Sobel after the war. It's bad.
Yeah cause he's a good trainer of men but a shitty soldier himself lol luckily the Army actually did realize that after Dick went to the dude in charge.
@@Glory_2_Russia he got abandoned by the army after the Korean War......things got really shitty for him pretty quick.....i feel really sorry for him.
If you read the books the general feeling is that Easy came together because of Sobel but that he was a mean man and utterly incompetent as a combat leader, after the war he was even disowned by his own family, he tried to commit suicide but just succeeded in blinding himself.
@@RushfanUK then lived alone and blind at an instutution for seven years until he then died, no one came to his funeral. It is just tragic.
Nikkii noticed Lieutenant Winters pulling each man in his platoon up as they load the planes. THAT is a combat Leader.
@@ebecenti he is an incredible leader. Can't think of many better.
He also HAD to pull them up. They literally were weighted down with so much equipment that they couldn't get up from that position unassisted. Enlisted me had on average at LEAST 70 pounds of equipment Officers 90lbs. That's not including their Parachute. With Parachute the men carried between 90-120lbs over their body weight
@@anthonyanderson5302 Actually, he could of pulled the first guy up and then the first guy pulls up the second etc. He gets to look each man in the eye or eyes and show that he is right there with them. Just my opinion though.
@@paulcurlin2789 I 100% agree. I was just saying that they truly did need assistance getting up.
Winters is, to this day, considered to be the prototypical combat leader and THE example of an infantry officer.
Expect a whole season of, "Whoa, this actor is in this? He looks so young!" This is one of these series that had every Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh actor out there in the very early 00's playing American soldiers. (The series was make in England. That's why there were so many Irish and British actors.)
Made*
The amount of stars who were kids in 2000/2001 and did bit parts in this show when this was made is insane. Watch them all closely.
I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS, OMG THANK GOD YOU GUYS ARE WATCHING THIS MASTERPIECE 😭🙏🙏🔥🔥🔥
“Oh, some familiar faces in it”
*entire fandom smirks* just a few 🤣
This show is hard to watch, but I firmly believe that everyone should watch it at least once. Wars aren’t fought the same way any more, and too many shows either try and make it look cool or heroic. It wasn’t. It was horrible. And this show truly shows that.
big truth ... that's why i would hardly recommend the pacific after this
yeah pacific is def alot more brutal than this
Between this and Saving Private Ryan, you get a good feel for the real D-Day
Most wars from now on will be fought asymmetrically. thats just how its going to go. The battles in Iraq of Division levels will be the last ones for a long time.
@@chilidog3518 the war in the pacific was a different kind of war than the war in Europe
1:57--"I wasn't sure what we were getting ourselves into".....You're getting yourselves into the greatest mini-series ever made.
You're going to love this, it's the probably the best mini-series ever!
In my opinion this mini series is single handedly the greatest thing ever put on film. Absolutely incredible
Did not see this coming! Black sails and Band of brothers. The rest of this year is going to be great!!
Sobel couldn’t handle the pressure of battle but his ability to mold boys into soldiers was amazing. He gave his men a common enemy: him. Someone they could all hate and we know that people tend to bond when they have a common enemy.
He helped build easy company into the fighting force it was. He just wasn’t a strategic enough mind to lead them in battle like Winters.
By the end of this series you will feel like you personally new each of these soldiers.
The book hits even harder. Stephen Ambrose wrote some fantastic works around this period
Truth
Knew*
Best mini series ever. No one has come close to topping this.
I used to attend church with a man who served in the 101st Airborne and who jumped into Normandy. He has since passed away, but I had the opportunity to hear him recount his jump on D-Day. He was always humble and soft spoken. Truly part of the greatest generation.
As a french man, i watch this show at least once per year... to remember... to not make it forgotten...
for my grand pa who spent 4 years in work camps in germany
for all the french boys who died defending my country,
for all the boys who came from elsewhere to fight to free my country...
thanks for your service and for everything...
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Edit: my grandfather, a very poor “dirty Mexican” from Arizona, fought in WW2 in Germany. He said that even though there were so many ethnicities, they ceased being Mexicans or white or black or Italian or English or French, etc. they became brothers in arms. he was the best man i ever knew.
He died a very proud American last year, forever a proud veteran, and he’d LOVE that you still remember everyone. I do the same!
My favorite thing about watching reactions to this episode is the introduction of Sobel. "Oh! It's Ross!" About 10 seconds later, "Oh. No, it's not. That's not Ross at all."
I've been told it was a deliberate choice by the producers of the show, to cast David Schwimmer as Sobel.
As viewers would still remember him as likable Ross, but then realise this character is not so likeable.
Just to give the viewers a little taste of the love hate feelings that the real men of Easy company had for Sobel.
@@kimleechristensen2679 *That and he looked like the real Sobel*
Lol. My girlfriend said the same thing.
I've been watching BOB for 22 years, he will always be "Sobel" for me 😂😂
Best comment ever
My Dad, a Sergeant with the 101st Airborne, 506 PIR (A Toccoa man who jumped into France the night before D-Day, survived Operation Market Garden and Bastogne and was wounded for his third and final time during the attack on Foy) would never talk about his experiences during the war. I mean he would talk about things that had nothing to with the actual fighting, funny stories about him and his buddies, but never about the horrors of combat. My Dad did open up to me some, once I like him, had experienced combat, but it was through Stephen Ambrose's excellent book and the follow on Mini-series "Band of Brothers" that I really began to understand his experiences.
As a side note the Toccoa Camp is about an hour north of where I live in Georgia. Back in 2002, before my father passed away, we ran (well jogged) 3 miles up and 3 miles down Currahee side by side! It was amazing!
Yes!! One of the true greats, glad your watching it.
And poor Damian Lewis only lost his wife a few weeks ago :(
And Donnie Wahlberg (Lipton) and his brothers lost their mom recently as well.
RIP Helen McCrory
That's terrible :(
Holy shit poor guy
whaaaat? oh no that's so sad!
The moment towards the end when Winters pulls his men one by one off the ground and looks each and everyone in their eyes always gets me.
This show and The Pacific are amazing
Generation Kill often gets overlooked, but is every bit as good - albeit in a different way - as these two shows.
@@mwilsonUT Over There is great too, if you haven't seen it it's about an average Army fire team in Iraq,I haven't seen any reactions to it either.
@@mwilsonUT Agreed.... I consider 'Band of Brothers', 'The Pacific' and 'Generation Kill' to be a trifecta.
@@johnnusz8278 In my controversial opinion The Pacific doesn't really live up to those other two.
The Pacific is good but a little less refined.
You're gonna recognize a lot of familiar faces throughout this incredible series. These guys were all heroes in incomprehensible conditions
OH MY GOD! I didn’t know y’all were reacting to this! You just made my day- and I need something to get me through today. ❤️👏
My dad was Army, fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Had some incredible stories to tell. Watching this show and seeing what these men actually went through, left me feeling extremely emotional and even more proud of my dad.🇺🇸 He passed away 9 yrs ago. I miss him every single day.❤️
My major professor for my BA and MA in History, Dr. Stephen Ambrose, wrote the book this is based on. He is listed as Executive Producer on this and used the money he made to start the National WWII Museum.
You were a lucky man to have him as a professor.
Goddamn dude, what a fucking honor!
I love the series and tye book (which has soooo much more details.)
This is the first of your reactions that I've seen, and I'm a huge BoB fan. You are so tuned in and invested already, I can't wait to see your reactions to the rest of the miniseries. The word I hear most often associated with the style of production, filming, etc. is "immersive", and it really shows in your reaction. You are definitely immersed and feeling like you're a part of Easy Company. I'm truly looking forward to more episodes and will definitely take a look at your channel. GREAT job!
This show is amazing, my brother introduced me to it years ago, and on certain holidays we do a marathon of Band of brothers and The Pacific to conmemorate the soldiers lives.
One of the greatest shows ever made.
We’ve got my great uncle’s Purple Heart in a place of honor... he was one of the 82nd Airborne men shot and killed as he parachuted into battle. He’s buried in Italy along with so many others. RIP to the heroes 🇺🇸 Thrilled to have more people discovering this amazing series!
Came for Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul, stayed for BoB 😁
❤❤❤
@adam loring That’s very kind of you!
This, Chernobyl, and John Adams are all HBO specials that just absolutely captivate you the entire way. So excited for this!!!! Love you guys!!
So cool to see you mention John Adams. BOB and Chernobyl are better in my opinion, but I'm a big fan of John Adams. Loved that series. Never seen anyone mention it before, glad to see someone else liked it
Deadwood was top tier quality too
Generation kill is highly overlooked.
Band of Brothers is one of the best war pieces of all time in my opinion. It's phenomenal
This show is an absolute spectacle, my great Uncle Armon fought in the pacific theater against the Japanese . He was a part of the 3rd Marine Division and fought in Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima and was then transferred to Okinawa to over see training and logistics. The stories he would choose to tell me gave me nightmares as a kid, i cant't even imagine what other horrors he saw. During the Guadalcanal campaign he also got a letter that his brother died in a car crash before the battle. He was shipped off to the states to take care of family affairs 2 days before the Japanese invasion to retake the island, and two weeks later when he came back to fight on the island, he found out his entire unit was wiped out. This show makes me tear up because of how much i think of him and my great grandpa who also fought for the US Army repairing B-17s. Rip Specialist Armon Hernandes, and Staff Sergeant Anthony Navarro you two fought to keep us all safe.
By the time you're done with this series, you will know every one of these men as if you fought with them. I fly my flag for men like these and my father. They were truly the Greatest Generation.
A credit to you guys that I have just watched this first reaction of yours and I am disappointed when I look to see that you have not yet released your next. Some reactors you watch and they don't 'add' to the experience but you pair I would like to sit down and share a beer with :).
For family historical context, I'm English and one of my grandads was 7th Armoured Division (The Desert Rats) and he was all the way through from Dunkirk to North Africa to Italy (he was at Monte Casino) to Normandy to Germany ... where he encountered the Final Solution at Belsen. He was only a little man, even as a boy I was not all that much shorter than him, but his shoulders seemed a mile wide and he was as tough as nails.
Yet he was of a gentle, if gruff, nature and he taught me a few things about what being a man meant in the decade that I got to know him. As you might expect a lot of it was about being disciplined but not a 'robot' and, the one that stuck most of all, was that if you are going to be angry or hateful at someone then let it be for what they have actually done not just for what they were born as. It took me a number of years to realise that why that was foremost in his mind was because of what he had witnessed at Belsen. I don't think any of us can imagine what it must have been like to come across a place like that - no wonder he (illegally) kept his Lee Enfield rifle and had it under his bed.
I loaded UA-cam and this is the first video that came up. My actual reactions was "Fuck, Yes!"
Can't wait to go on this ride with you.
"This stuff is going to make me cry, oh my god". Welcome to Band of Brothers :D
what a pleasant surprise ... i'm sure you gonna love this, its a pure masterpiece ... familiar faces ... ooh you just wait
Actual veteran ages on D Day (June '44):
Average allied soldiers : 20/ 21
Lt. Richard Winters: 26
Lt. Lewis Nixon: 26
Col. Sink: 39
Joe Liebgott: 29
Bill Guarnere: 21
Sgt. Carwood Lipton: 24
Lt. Harry Welsh : 25
Don Malarkey: 22
Lt. Buck Compton: 22
George Luz: 22
Joe Toye: 25
Frank Perconte: 27
Lt. Thomas Meehan: 22
I'm so happy people are finally reacting to this AMAZING! show after all these years.
I agree, but I think the wait fits. We had to wait for a younger generation *that hadn't seen it* to get old enough to watch it. There haven't been too many shows that I would build my schedule around watching, but BoB is probably first among those few.
I'm so glad I finally watched this series! Our next door neighbor for 12 years was a paratrooper in Korea. Sadly he passed away during the COVID pandemic due to his advanced age and past medical issues. After seeing this, I now just how tough he was! He was a sweet man. Even though our neighborhood got few trick-or-treaters he always had a bag on hand and dumped half of it in our son's bag because he knew we'd stop there first! I always brought him Christmas treats when I baked. I'm watching this with him in my heart. ❤
Glad you guys are watching this. This one of the finest shows on tv. Enjoy the ride
This was the first thing I'd seen Damien Lewis in and I thought he was from the US at first not England. Love his performance in this. All the actors did a wonderful job of portraying the brave men that served in Easy Company. There were brave men and women and great sacrifice on both sides. Innocent people that never deserved anything they had to endure. Imagine the amount of heroic stories never recorded or told, this series is just a glimpse at one of those. They deserve our respect and gratitude, no matter if you're for or against modern war today, it was a different time and for different reasons. Rest in peace all those who sacrificed and suffered injustice over those years and the years following, may we never forget.
Everytime someone mentions Band of Brothers, I watch it all over again.
I highly recommend when everything calms down in the states, visit the National WW2 museum in New Orleans. I was in JROTC and we worked a small detail and toured it when it first opened. Tom Hanks and Spielberg were integral in getting it built and properly funded.
One of the most interesting moments in my life was visiting our local museum and discovering that on the WW2 floor they had veterans who would sit and take questions or tell stories to anyone that came along. It was a powerful and amazing time, we ended up spending hours talking with them.
Nicky and Steve, I was a fan of BOB from the start, so when I saw Micheal Cudlitz on TWD, my first thought was: Randleman!!
Haha me too!
Same!
Absolutely spot on Nikki and Steven thank you to all who served 🇺🇲 🇬🇧!!
My dad served in the UK Army, that's what made me join up at 19 I'm now 47 where the hell does the time go!?
Also Damian Lewis who played Major Richard Winters lost his wife actress Helen McCrory to cancer a couple of days ago, RIP, Godbless.
Thanks buddy! I loved the scene where the Brit soldier dressed like a wehrmacht Soldier is interacting with Hoobler. Funny. Remimber Churchhill, two countries separated by a common language. 😊
Simon, tell me about it. I joined U.S. Army when I hit 18, (only served 4 years), and will be celebrating 28 years out in Aug.
Those were some of the best friendships, and worst enemies, I ever had in my life.
Also, you know, the other millions of other allies...
@@timhonigs6859 hey brother, i served with the Royal Signals (communications) for over 10 years, you're absolutely right Tim the friends you make are family for life godbless
@@simonalexander2354 I wish I was as smart as you. I was light infantry. Basically, everything Easy Company did, except the jumping. Oh, and the war thingy too.
I'm always so grateful when reactors watch Band of Brothers. For me WW2 is personal ~ my two favorite uncles fought in the European theater, one helped liberate a concentration camp. I've read the letters they wrote to their "kid sister", my Mom, who was then just a teenager back on the dairy farm. They were honorable, kind, decent and true ~ the very salt of the earth, and rarely spoke of what they went through. So many people don't know as much as they should about the sacrifices these men and women made for us ~ you honor their memories when these stories are shared, and so from the bottom of my heart, thank you Nikki & Steven.
This is great. And Spielberg and Hanks are now producing a third mini series based on WW2 Masters of the Air. Can't wait!
My grand pop was a WWII vet, he died a few months before this show aired on HBO back in 2001. I don't believe in an afterlife or anything, but I hope I"m wrong and he's watching this along with me. 😥 I didn't hear of it until you guys, thank you both for this
One of the best TV shows ever made. So cool to have it rewatched with you guys. And when you're through I highly recommend "The Pacific" from the same production team.
Spielberg and Hanks also did Saving Private Ryan. What I really love about them is that they take the time to get to know actual military people, and understand what it's like. A classic example of this is Sergeant Lipton is telling everyone that they need to sign their insurance policies. This is a speech that every person in the military hears prior to deploying. Little touches like that endear Spielberg and Hanks work to everyone who has served. Hollywood has had a pretty bad track record of getting it wrong, and it drives Veterans crazy sometimes. Dale Dye, a Vietnam Veteran, has made a big difference in movies that he advises. He also acts, and brings an air of realism to his roles. It this he played LtCol. Sink, the 506PIR Commander. In addition, he ran a shortened bootcamp for the actors, to get them acquainted with the WW2 soldier and prepare them for the Role. There's a vlog done by Ron Livingstone during their training that's worth the watch.
Did not see this coming, I watched this show a couple of months ago because another one of my favourite reactors watched this and I adore every second of it. This show also has some “A” list actors that I can’t wait for you to notice!
I find all of these BoB reactions interesting and I'm happy y'all are part of it. While I'm not old enough to know that war firsthand, the generation ahead of me did -- my mother and her siblings still talk about those days. My grand-uncle landed at Normandy on D-Day; he lived to tell the tale -- which I don't think he ever did. But I grew up around veterans and other survivors of that war. Some of them _would_ share. So while it's not _my_ war, it's still part of my living memory. I love seeing people in the generations after mine, who don't think of that war as recent history or as something other than a couple of chapters in their high school history book that they don't quite get to, get a sense of what war and service used to be. The people weren't any better, people then are the same as people now, but their circumstances forced them into extraordinary acts. As a result, it's good to get that sense of connection to the people who fought a war (arguably the "last noble war") from eighty years ago. I can't say you'll enjoy all of this ride, but I'm certain you won't think it time ill-spent.
Ah, The One Where Ross Revokes All The Weekend Passes. A classic!
You two have picked several great shows/mini-series in the past. Band of Brothers is my favorite, my son and I watch this series every June 6th, and we have since he was 15, he is now 24. I have known several men who were involved in D-Day, from air and sea, nothing but respect. When I was at the Pentagon in 2001-2006, after 911, solders from Walter Reed, who were healing from their wounds, came to the Pentagon so we could thank them for their service. These young men, those who could walk, would hug us thank us for our "service," I still tear up today just thinking of that day.
One of the more powerful scenes is when Winters is talking to Buck about not putting himself in a position to take something from his men even if its a little gambling . Soon he will be asking them to risk their lives.
Wow! So glad you guys are watching this series. It is an amazing series. I rewatch it every DDay and Veterans Day. This series is very dear to me. As a young man of 19 I got to barrens at the local Legion and as they knew I was always interested in WWII I got to hear so many stories from the men that fought. But the series is dear to me because my cousin was a friend To Ron Livingston. I recall seeing him many times and was overjoyed when he did Office Space. To see him in the series and the justice he did to Lewis Nixon was amazing to watch.
I hope you both enjoy what is to come but fair warning events will bring you tears. I still get misty eyed viewing some episodes as the actors did a fantastic job bring who they are to life.
If you get a chance check out the HBO behind the scenes with the real Easy Company.
As some already have I would recommend The Pacific after this one. I also would recomment Generation Kill. It is also an HBO show that follows a unit during the second Iraq war.
I was airborne for 6 years, fun times jumping from a plane knowing your going to smack into the dirt below shortly after with around 100 pounds of equipment strapped with you. I was 82nd Airborne
I can’t say how long I’ve been waiting for this.
My friends and I grew up watching Friends and we jokingly called all of Captain Sobel's scene "Ross Goes to War."
And yes, that was Magneto (Michael Fassbender).
Great choice for a mini series. You gotta check out the sequel to this called The Pacific. It's another mini series made by the same people focusing on the Pacific theater.
Yess
I watch this series once a year because I want to remember my grandfather. He wasn’t in Easy company but his war was just as real. What little he talked about brought him to tears, you could see the pain in his eyes.
HELL YES. I've been waiting for years for your reaction to this masterpiece!
I love your reviews, and keep 'em coming!! This was a great show and it quite accurately portrays what the soldiers had to go through with training for the Airborne at that time in history. I graduated Airborne School at Fort Benning, GA in 2000. The course was 3 weeks long. They still use most of the training methods from WW2 (a lot of running, too). I had to complete 5 jumps to graduate (2-with full gear, 2-without full gear, and 1 at night with full gear). I remained a paratrooper until I retired in 2006. I never thought in a million years that I would jump out of planes but I'm glad I did!!
Yes!!! I have been hoping you two would eventually watch this amazing mini series!
Good to see you guys watching this! This will be a real ride.
Out of five men who volunteered for the paratroops, four would either be washed out or rejected. These men were thus the cream of the crop.
Sobel might not have been a good combat leader, but a lot of Easy company vets agreed that the training he put them through helped make them one of the toughest units in the European front.
Yeah I agree with what Steve said about Sobel. He makes a great training instructor, but I would not want to follow him into combat.
Damian Lewis is the man.
Band of Brothers = Winters
Homeland = Brody
Billions = Axelrod
One of the best mini-series ever...with Chernobyl.
He was great in Life as well together with the awesome Sarah Shahi.
14:05 that’s called “fragging (your Officer)”
During later periods of the Vietnam war US morale among troops were so low that in some units “fragging” happened a week on average
Three miles uphill in 13 minutes is easy....Call an Uber
This series is truly ... TRULY ... the top of the line. Best ever in its genre. In fact, there's only ever been one moment in a TV-series concerning any war that has topped this and it was, bizarrely, the last three minutes of the comedy-series "Blackadder goes forth", which is set during 1917 on the Western Front during the First World War. Those last three minutes brought the United Kingdom to a complete standstill when it was first aired, and then made that whole nation weep. People are still talking about that ending thirty five years later. But those were three minutes ... this is an entire series, which lets you get to know the men involved in some of the hardest fighting during the Second World War in Europe, on an almost visceral, personal level.
It has never been topped, and I am honestly not sure how it ever will be.
"Is this gonna make me cry?" Well, at least there arent any weddings.
I watched the first episode years ago on HBO and immediately went out and bought the box set. Long before the advent of readily available streaming like we have today. Possibly the best "mini series" ever made. The best part: it's all true.
This series will make you truly appreciate what those men did to honor and serve this country. I hope you guys will watch the next series made with this one. The Pacific, it is just as amazing and helps you fully understand the sacrifice our men made during this war.
The Pacific was a poor imitation in comparison to this show.
@@philipocallaghan I agree. The Pacific gave you no real connection to the characters.
Exactly why this is such a crazy good first episode.
The little hint that I always liked, was Winters and the Lieutenant trying to figure out where the Invasion was going to be, by figuring out the overall flight time and distances they were doing training flights on.
Yeah I hadn't noticed that before but it stood out to me this watch through, very cool subtle detail.
Contrast with Sobel who couldn't find North on map.
I was going to suggest they watch Saving Private Ryan after this, since I couldn't find a reaction of theirs to it, but it sounds like Nikki has seen it
They need to watch it if they haven’t. I think Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan should be required viewing for young people. They need a reality check as to what people sacrificed to protect the freedom they take for granted.
My daddy was in WWII and wounded twice and suffered from life long problems of malaria. In fact, he died with a bullet still in his knee that would be too damaging to remove. He was an Army Paratrooper and Drill Sargent prior to combat. I know he was at Guadal Canal and Guam, and fought in Day-D action. He was present when the flag was raised at Iwo Jima that they've made the famous statue from. He had field commissions up to Lt.Col. When he was killed in 73 in a motor vehicle accident, he had too many commendations to be listed on his headstone, which was the VA's practice at that time... Thanks for letting this old lady, former Drill Sargent's child 😱-(😁) and long time Stikker fan brag on her daddy! ❤🇺🇲
Thats what i need ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Thank you very much
Big fan from IRAQ 🇮🇶
I'm still watching your GOT reactions.
Oh also, to be able to act on this show, all the actors had to participate in the same training the soldiers themselves went through. They wanted authenticity when it came to the actors themselves understanding what it took physically and mentally to be a soldier gearing up for war.
There are plenty of behind the scenes videos available, and books from the soldiers themselves about their time in the war.
Yes, you’ll likely both cry, as it really happened so it’s always harder to face. So glad you spotted Michael Cudlitz right away. He’s pretty baby faced in this show! And David Schwimmer (Ross from friends), Ron Livingstone (Jack Berger from Sex and the City), Neal McDonough (actor from Desperate Housewives), Damien Lewis (Homeland), Colin Hanks, Simon Pegg, there’s also one other TWD actor in there too, Kirk Acevedo who played Mitch one of the Governor’s men.
And that’s just to name a few!
Reading the books after the show really makes the experience and understanding a lot richer too.
Come on people stop giving spoilers of future episodes!
This is one of the best miniseries you will ever watch. It's fantastic. And yes, there will be episodes that will make you cry. You will also see quite a few familiar faces as it goes on. Sobel was a bad commanding officer all around. His whole thing of putting the company through the toughest of training wasn't for them. That him was him overcompensating. That was to ensure his own glory that he didn't like to share. It's one thing to push your men it's another thing to work against them. You want them to trust you not see you as the enemy.
My fave reacting duo reacting to my fave show?! Let's GO!!!
USMC vet here, 05-10. This is pretty tame for the most part to what happens/can happen. And oh yeah. Almost every day in recruit training, after lunch, when in the barracks. We all got online, and chug at least one. Sometimes two canteens of water, so. 1-2 quarts of water…then we ran. Until about half our platoon threw up did that for a good portion of the first two months. Good times, later, in follow on training…a senior NCO got in trouble, from people in other units, because were running up to 12 miles, in summer, with our wool sweaters on, and our flak jackets over them in our cammies, about 4 of those miles in soft beach sand, really good times. Once a month. We’d do 21 mile runs. It makes hard men, ready for discomfort, pain, etc. just bad conditions. And we still got our rank pinned on, even then, for those who don’t know, after the ceremony, those above you in rank. Would smash them into you, with out the backers on. So they jam in your collar bone region, then they pull them out, the next in line would do the same, etc, etc. it’s a right of passage, and not being weak. When we got our blood stripes as an NCO (Corporal) then you walk the gauntlet, the NCO’s senior to you would be lined up on each side, and you walk down, as they all knee you in your thighs, on each side, you better not fall or quit, or you’ll never heard the end of it, and never be trusted or viewed as useful again. Then you get pinned, or pinned first. Then that. It’s a different world, you’re not there to be nice and kind, especially in the Corps. You didn’t join a church group, or anything like that.
Sobel instilled discipline....his attention detail saved lives.
No, just no🤣
@@Jace-xw3ly yes, definitely yes.
@@Jace-xw3ly read quotes from the actual men he trained, they credit him for surviving.
one of the best factual shows ever made....the book is absolutely amazing...we all wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for these people...I honestly watch this show at least once a year it's absolutely fantastic.
so if you want to think about this event in "movie" terms...the 101st airborne parachuted into Normandy the night before tom hanks landed on omaha beach in saving private ryan
Please don't do it once a week! Please react to it every other day! I can't wait to re-watch this with you guys! Please binge it!! 😭
I’m so glad y’all decided to watch Band of Brothers! This is the show that inspired me to join the Army and become Airborne!
I watched this the year it first aired. It was life changing. I got the DVD boxed set as soon as it came out. Since then, every single year over Memorial Day Weekend I re-watch the entire series again in honor of our grandfathers who confronted REAL evil, and died to save the world. They were 17, 18, 19, and 20 when they joined. What were all of us doing at that age? There is a reason they are called the Greatest Generation. Nikki and Steve... this is going to be hard to watch. But it is also an honor to watch.
Right off the bat, you two are my favorites to have watched this series. Such genuineness, respect, and attentiveness. I'm really looking forward to seeing your journey through this series.
See that's a great moment at 22:32 Winters not only helps up each man in his 'stick', but the way it's filmed==as he takes their hands, it's like he saying 'Now, you are all my brothers...'
My granddad loved this show. We sure did watch it on repeat when he was sick. He was a Corporal in the 124th Cavalry Special, PBS did a documentary on them in the 90's called The Last Horse Soldiers. They were part of a secret mission in Burma during WW2 to clear the Burma and Ledo roads so the military could get supplies from India to China.
I kept having flashbacks to my drill instructor making us PT after chow: "If you're gonna be dumb, you're gonna be strong!"