The Herbert Sobel Debacle [Part 2] The Chain Reaction (Band of Brothers/Easy Company)

It’s crazy how a miniseries from 25 years ago still makes me want to know as much about that story as possible. Can’t get enough of military documentaries. Just so much respect for the men that made these tales.

As a soldier who went form E1-O4 (and a Soldier who had a "Rendezvous with Destiny" in 2003) I believe COL Sink did the right thing. To uphold the rule of law as a leader is one of the toughest things to do, even when you disagree with the decision. without order there is no cohesiveness, without cohesiveness there's no unit. etc, etc.

2:28 Lt. Meehan proved that Sobel didn’t have to be an asshole but chose to be one.

My observation based upon 22 years as a Marine infantry officer is that Col .Sink was required by unwritten tradition to relieve the leaders of the complaining soldiers. I have witnessed relief of several executive officers after reporting incompetence of their immediate commander. Subsequent to relief of the XO, the CO is relieved. The idea seems to be that in furtherance of good order and discipline, relief is necessary to avoid rewarding disloyalty and to warn future whistleblowers that the offense complained of must be so unbearable that the whistleblower is willing to give up his career. Similarly, the officer upon which the Caine Mutiny is based is recorded on YouTube speaking at a presentation at which he related that that he was relieved, a new XO replaced him, then the captain was relived, and, lastly, the new XO was appo0inted to command --- all to avoid the whistleblower profiting from his report.

Sobel ran the risk of getting fragged on D-Day had he jumped with Easy Co. IMHO.

(Army veteran, officer) Meehan got Easy Company (5th company in the regiment) because he had seniority. The 1st Sergeant the men hated died while serving his country; we need to cut those guys some slack - only the survivors were able to present their side of the story. If Winters had been given the company for D-Day, the story might have been about Meehan. In combat, they don't promote the best, they promote who is left. It says something about Winters that even after being promoted out of the company, the men still looked upon him as their leader.

Thank you for posting this bit of history. Much appreciated.

My Dad Talked About The War & I Remember Him Mentioning Captain Sobel. I Keep Hoping To See Him In These Old Video Clips. Thank You.

I love Simon Pegg in that role - he's like, "Look at me guys with my American accent. Let's go to a ball game and eat hot dogs and enjoy watered down beer."

I think Sink did the right thing with the limited options he had before D-Day. Can’t predict that the CO’s plane would be hit with a lot of battalion staff. It’s just war, that’s all it is - Hoot - Delta Force Somalia. God bless all those souls and thank you sir for the info

Relieving Sobel was the best course of action. Sink probably realized Sobel was not well regarded, but that the other officers of East AND THE NCO's gave the Company a lot of stability, high morale and the ability to function under fire; despite Sobel's incompetence.

Decisions have to be made; actions have to be taken. Everything has the Butterfly Effect.

No one should be permitted to be an officer until they have absolutely mastered field navigation.

Thank you for filling in the blanks on the story of E, 506th PIR. Keep up the good work.

Sobel's own incompetence is what made him so mean. It's not uncommon in any situation. Add in the pressure of military command and you've got a real asshole on your hands.

Sink waited far too long. His repeated inability to function in a field exercise, from Camp Mackall on to England, as well as his notorious inability to perform land navigation, should have seen him relieved much earlier.

There's two types of officers who achieve promotions, and eventually the rank of General/Admiral... those whose performance, competence, and character merit the promotion/rank... and those who obtain their advancements in "other ways". And I'll leave it at that.

This is yet another outstanding video on your channel Sir! It would be fascinating to be a proverbial fly on the wall observing you conduct your research. Your viewer numbers appear to be growing and the comments your viewers leave are also very informative. Finally, in response to your question, I thought the whole Sobel/latrine debacle was extraordinary. THANK YOU once again for all your efforts in publishing all this detailed information on your channel. ✅👍

Col. Sink did what was best for the regiment. Sobel was said to be inept as a combat leader but he was a competent staff officer

I'd like to thank you also I'm fairly new to Band of Brothers it has really got under my skin I visited Aldbourne last June and had a little look in the museum went and sat on the bench at the church and left some flowers at the graves of the Barnes family every little bit of this jigsaw is creating a greater picture your contribution has added quite a few pieces many thanks from all of the fans Mg essex uk