[thenightwriterblog] The Night Writer: The end of the war

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Posted by The Night Writer:
The end of the war
http://thenightwriterblog.powerblogs.com/posts/1175213326.shtml


   No, I haven't set a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, but the
   Fundamentals in Film class finally completed the [1]Band of Brothers
   mini-series last week.
   There were 10 episodes, plus the documentary "We Stand Alone
   Together", in the mostly true-to-life story of E company, paratroopers
   of the 101st Airborne in World War II. With our bi-weekly schedule it
   took awhile to get through them all, even with watching two episodes
   each time. The boys were very excited to begin the series and were
   generally pretty riveted throughout with lots of questions and
   commentary. I don't know yet what impressions it made on them (and I'm
   fully resigned that I may never know) but I know it will stick with me
   for a long time.
   I debated with myself for some time before introducing the series to
   teh class, and spoke with the fathers a couple of times about it. The
   language in the series is frequently extreme, and the violence is
   often sudden and explicit. On the other hand, it was a chance to
   feature some history lessons, introduce a more realistic and human
   sense of the "up close and personal" nature of war to a video game
   generation raised on "Halo" and "Doom", and to impart some lessons in
   leadership and grace under pressure.
   I dealt with the language issue right up front with the guys,
   explaining how it became a form of bonding for the soldiers who were
   undergoing severe hardships together, but even at that the men were
   aware that it wasn't appropriate in general society and were careful
   of their language around women - a distinction commonly disregarded
   these days. I also reminded the young men that "out of the fullness of
   the heart, the mouth speaks" - whatever comes out of their mouths
   communicates a lot more than just the words themselves. Finally, I
   directed them to pay attention to Dick Winters, the main character in
   the ensemble cast, and the way he controlled his words (even when
   wounded) and swore only for effect in getting his men moving again
   when they froze while out in the open and under fire.
   Winters was also an example of leadership - a quiet man of faith,
   committed to the well-being of his men but also able to order them
   into harm's way when needed, but with the tactical skills to keep the
   men alive as well. While not flashy or self-promoting, he quickly
   gained the universal respect and admiration of his men and his
   superior officers and his example was a model for men like Sgt.
   Carwood Lipton and in stark contrast to the "leadership" of Easy
   Company's first CO, Captain Sobel, and to the company's CO during the
   siege of Bastogne, Lt. Dike. Lipton's leadership during the Battle of
   the Bulge -- his focus on the men and the mission -- gave the class a
   lot to talk about after we watched the Bastogne episode (a
   particularly gory and challenging episode that saw a lot of the men
   we'd come to know get killed or seriously wounded). That particular
   chapter also showed how it was possible for a group of men to do more
   than they thought was possible while under the harshest conditions.
   It was also interesting for the class to see just how screwed up so
   many of the military operations became, from the errors on D-Day that
   led to so many of the paratroopers being dropped in the wrong place,
   without much of their equipment and groggy from the air-sickness pills
   they were ordered to take (for the first time), to the High Command
   being caught by surprise at the Bulge and the 101st being sent in,
   again without proper equipment, winter clothing or even enough weapons
   and ammunition. Despite the almost catastrophic errors and
   miscalculations, the men on the ground succeeded thanks to their
   training, their character and the bond between them that allowed them
   to function as a highly-effective team. The mini-series often made me
   wonder how today's media would have focused on the blundering (without
   acknowledging how massive a complicated the D-Day invasion was or the
   logistics of maneuvering several hundred thousand men in a short
   period of time) and overlooked the successes.
   Today the Battle of the Bulge would be the German equivalent of the
   Tet Offensive, and though the Viet Cong and the Germans both
   ultimately lost these battles decisively, the end result was
   dramatically different. Back then General McAuliffe was celebrated for
   his bold response of "Nuts!" when the Germans sent their surrender
   demands to his besieged forces; today he'd be criticized as a
   blood-thirsty maniac unconcerned about the soldiers he was keeping in
   harm's way in the Belgian quagmire.
   That's not to say that Band of Brothers glorified the war. The series
   did an excellent job of portraying the hardships and sacrifices -- and
   sometimes all-too-human failings and frustrations -- of the men of
   Easy Company and the 101st Airborne. Especially in the later episodes
   when it was clear that the war was winding down and that the surviving
   members might just live through it after all, the loss of their
   friends and the apparent futility of the war weighed heavily on the
   men and, to some extent, on our film class. While there was little
   action in the episode where Easy discovers the Landsberg concentration
   camp ("Why We Fight"), it was one of the most powerful and affecting
   in the series. Combined with the last episode ("Points") where Easy
   takes and occupies Berchtesgaden, these concluding segments did a good
   job of showing the costs, personally and nationally, of war for even
   the winners.
   After we finished episode 10 and then watched the documentary "We
   Stand Alone Together" featuring interviews with the real Easy Company
   survivors (a very moving experience after having come to "know" their
   actor counterparts over the past few months), it indeed felt to me as
   if a long war was over. I was left with a deeper appreciation and
   admiration for what the men had sacrificed and achieved and knew that
   I would have a hard time measuring up under the same circumstances. I
   don't know what the young men of the class got out of it, or even if I
   or they will be able to measure its affects over the next few weeks,
   months and years, but I don't think any of us will be the same.

References

   1. http://www.amazon.com/Band-Brothers-David-Frankel/dp/B00006CXSS/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-9833981-8644962?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1175212440&sr=1-1