War Is Over - Band Of Brothers Episode 10 Recap - Points

As a reminder, these recaps are not meant to be a frame-by-frame retelling of the episode with my thoughts; rather, they are reactions to details or storylines as I view them through my lens in the Army. Enjoy!

Just like this episode is bittersweet, such is this blog. I enjoyed going back through the series knowing I was going to share thoughts on each episode. Sure, I will continue my twice-a-year rewatch of the series from now until I die, but it was slightly different this go round knowing I was taking notes and sharing my personal insights with all of you. This same series from fellow BoB enthusiast, raccoon boy WSD, would have been him saying how every episode is awesome over and over again. I hope you enjoyed rewatching and reading some of my thoughts. 

Austria

Holy moly I know it's a TV show so they truly enhance the beauty but Austria is absolutely breathtaking. I've never been in person but every shot of it in this episode reminds me to add it to my bucket list of destinations. Perhaps one of the worst parts of deployments in the Middle East is that it's flat out ugly almost to the point of being depressing. Desert for as far as the eye can see and even when you consider you're in the birthplace of civilization along the Tigris river as I was for a time, it still doesn't change the fact that you look around and don't consider the land to be anything other than desolate. 

Photos

It was not surprising at all that MAJ Winters wanted to trade for the photos of Easy Company. War is horrible in many ways but in others, it's memorable. Specifically, the bonds you form with the men you serve with and having mementos of that time is valuable. We didn't have a photographer follow us around but I always had my digital camera on me and I'm so glad I did. One day when my daughter has to write a paper or do show/tell, maybe she will ask me if I have any pictures from my time in Iraq. I actually have an entire hard drive full. In the moment, you don't think you'd want to remember where you are or what you're doing but I believe most Veterans appreciate having pictures to share with loved ones or the internet. 

Engineers/EOD

As I mentioned before, waiting on Engineers and/or EOD can be a pain sometimes because they take forever and you can't leave until they arrive. The Germans blocking that road was an all-time annoying move (in a war filled with other actions that could also be described as annoying, to put it mildly) and not being able to get past those boulders must've been frustrating. The idea that they would hit grenades with a rocket launcher and magically clear the entire road is some full blown Joe type behavior. I will say this though - when they do arrive and they let you ignite the explosion that they created it can make the wait worth it in the end. 

Speaking of, taking the Eagles Nest was an all-time flex for Easy Company. They beamed with pride when they got the call to make that happen. They also produced one of the greatest pictures to come out of WW2.

Polishing Silver

One thing I never understood was the guy who was polishing the silver when they arrived at the Eagle's Nest. Did that guy know the war was over? Was he aware Hitler killed himself? Did he know no one was coming back? Who was he polishing that silver for? 

I would sometimes run into Bedouins in Iraq who were completely oblivious to the world. They didn't know what electricity was. They didn't know who Sadaam Hussein was. Seeing us might as well have been like seeing people from the future. Take away all forms of communication and I suppose that's how you stay in the dark. I guess the silver polisher just hadn't talked to anyone in a few weeks and was going about his business as usual.

Endless War

Think about what these men went through - jumping into Normandy, advancing through Europe, the Battle of the Bulge - and then being told if you don't meet this arbitrary number we came up with we are going to send you to the Pacific to fight on the other front of this war. The elation you felt hearing the war in Europe was over only to be told you weren't going home had to be some of the worst feelings these men felt. I mentioned how the deployments now are typically for a specified amount of time so I cannot relate to this except to say I applaud the resolve of these men.

One other thing I can't relate to was when Harry said he had the points needed and was going home. I cannot imagine being a platoon leader and effectively saying to your men, "Hey guys it's been real but I'm going to head home while you stay at war and continue to risk your lives." Not sure if that's truly how it went down but I would never leave my platoon behind. 

PTS

The only men who can truly understand war are those who waged it themselves. Shifty saying that he wasn't going to know how to explain everything to his friends and family back home is extremely relatable. Sure, you can tell stories or write blogs but unless you've been there you can never fully appreciate what it was like and this is what leads many men to suffer from PTS. The inability to have someone you can talk to and relate to makes you feel incredibly alone. My wife is an incredibly supportive person. My family has always been there for me. But none of them will ever fully appreciate what I did or saw, which is why I'm so grateful to remain friends with many men I served with as well as have a podcast with other Veterans. 

Officers going to officer

We see a few examples of how officers can act in this episode.

• Spears telling his men to find the guy who shot SSG Grant, allowing them to beat the ever living snot out of him to within an inch of his life, and then nearly shooting him is an example, albeit extreme, of how protective officers feel about their men. When the men all simply took a few steps back instead of urging Spears not to shoot speaks volumes about the relationship they all shared.
• Officers sometimes become perturbed if Soldiers are able to get one over on them. When Moore stole those photo albums of Hitlers, he hadn't done anything wrong. But Spears wanted them for himself and was annoyed that they disappeared, likely at the hands of one of his Soldiers.
• "You say 'sir' when talking to an officer." I would say most officers are not jerks about rank, unless it's a situation with someone you don't like. In other words, if one of your NCOs forgets to say "sir" one time you're not gonna make a fuss about it or even say a single word. However, if it's someone you don't like or has wronged you, that's when we see folks "pull rank" as they say. 
• Sobel. Just an absolute knob for not initially saluting Winters, which prompted him to spout the famous line of, "We salute the rank not the man." Obviously Sobel was annoyed that Winters now outranked him, especially when you consider that when we met Winters he was a 2LT and in the years since he was promoted to Major while Sobel stayed as a Captain that entire time. What made this especially good was Winters wasn't that type of officer who thought his rank defined who he was as a man. He never really "pulled rank" on anyone, which is evident by Nix smirking after the Sobel dress down. 

Wrapping Up

Although bittersweet like I said at the top, the last few minutes of the episode into the interviews will always be my favorite part of this episode. You were with these men for 10 episodes and you don't want it to end but you're warm inside knowing that most of them led beautiful lives following the war. Hearing how everyone ended up always makes me smile. I'm sure they all fought their own battles mentally the rest of their lives but otherwise they didn't let the war bring them down. Rather, they allowed it to give them an appreciation for the lives that lay ahead of them. 

Two lines from the interviews will always stand out for me:

"One part of the big war. That's all. And I'm proud to be a part. Sometimes it makes me cry." I get choked up typing what Bill Guarnere had to say about his time in Europe. To have that perspective that despite a book being written and adapted into a TV series, to have fought in major defining battles, to be highly decorated, only to say you're just a small part is incredibly impressive. 

"Grandpa, were you a hero in the war? And Grandpa says no. But I served in a company of heroes." I'm crying now just like I cry every time I hear Winters say that line. These men were not out for accolades or awards. They did the job their country called on them to do. They were extremely proud of the work they did and rightfully so that their story was told. It was extremely fitting that the series ends with that last line. 

I will never tire of this series and I encourage you to tell your friends to watch if they haven't already. As far as mini-series go, there is not any better. Yes, I watched the Pacific and it pales in comparison. Not to say the men who fought in the Pacific were not equally heroic, but the series just isn't as good. I am hopeful yet skeptical of the new Masters of the Air series coming out next week but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. 

I'm glad the world knows of the story of Easy Company - to say they distinguished themselves in a war filled with heroes would be selling it short. 

Lastly, here is my personal ranking of the episodes (along with those recaps):

1. Episode 2 - Day of Days
2. Episode 7 - The Breaking Point
3. Episode 10 - Points
4. Episode 5 - Crossroads
5. Episode 8 - The Last Patrol
6. Episode 4 - Replacements
7. Episode 1 - Currahee
8. Episode 3 - Carentan
9. Episode 9 - Why We Fight
10. Episode 6 - Bastogne

Currahee