Band of Brothers

I was going to start this blog with a review of the current all-time box office king, AVATAR. And we will get to that review and plenty of other reviews, but I've been on a tangent of thoughts and feelings regarding another piece of work. I've started HBO's miniseries, Band of Brothers. This is my second time through the boxset and some interesting thoughts are coming to the forefront this time around. Especially on the topic of, well, courage. And bravery. And sacrifice.
For those of you unfamiliar with Band of Brothers here's a quick rundown: Band of Brothers was originally a book written by Stephen Ambrose. It details the true exploits of the para-troopers of Easy Company of the US Army 101st Airborne. Easy Company was at the forefront of most of the huge operations in the war and became known as the go-to company when the tough missions came about. They set precedents in field operations. Let me say that again. They set PRECEDENTS in field operations....that means the plan of action they came up with during missions were later taught in training courses. Heady stuff.
I have just finished the 3rd disk in the set which includes the Battle of the Bulge. Easy Company sets up a perimeter around the city of Bastogne and become surrounded by German tank divisions. It is the dead of winter and they are almost out of ammo, medical supplies, and food. They also do not have the appropriate clothes for the weather. The weather is so harsh that German and American soldiers keep running across each others front lines.
Imagine that for a second. You are freezing and hungry, buried in a foxhole. You have a handful of bullets left and you can hear the enemy 50 yards away singing Christmas carols. The medic keeps coming around to see if anyone has their personal first aid kits because he does not have enough morphine or supplies to help you if you get shot. The higher ups keep dropping supplies but because of the weather the drops land behind enemy lines. Imagine that is you and ask yourself, how would I act under these circumstances?
Before each episode the surviving members of Easy Company talk about what it was like to experience these things. One survivor talks about fear, and how if you let it, fear would ruin you and you could not function at all. They talk about accepting the fact that they were going to die. And how your ability to think through all the fear is what enables you to survive.
As I continue to watch, I keep asking myself "Could I do that?" And the one thought that keeps running over and over in my head is: "That could have been me." But the simple fact of my birth date kept this from happening. I am afraid of war and have no desire to ever participate in one. And I am thankful that I hopefully will never experience one in person. To make choices in a matter of seconds that decide life and death is unfathomable for me and to many of us. We are unable to relate to anyone who has been in a war, or a firefight, or even, for some of us, a simple fistfight. But even through all the fear and thankfulness of not being in a war, there is always that little part of me that keeps coming back to "Could I do that?" or, more importantly, "Am I good enough?" Am I strong enough to face my fears and still think in a rational way, still act in a rational way, all while under the threat of death? I think, for men especially, all of us want to know the answer to this question. Do I have what it takes? John Eldredge wrote in his book, Wild at Heart, that men have a inner desire to seek a battle and fight for something, to focus our strength into protecting that which is most valuable to us. In many ways we are each fighting little battles everyday. We fight to stay true to ourselves, and protect our families and our homes. But for us protection takes the form of providing and upkeep. It's that true sense of battle that leaves us pondering, that mystery of warfare that makes us ask "Am I good enough?" It's a genuine curiosity, but one that you hope is never fulfilled.
As I continue journeying through each episode, I find myself thinking about the men of Easy Company and what they had to endure for our sakes and our countries, and it leads me to thinking about those who now are serving across the world, in Iraq, in Afghanistan. We take so much for granted that we tend to forget about these people. When you are getting up in the morning to eat your cornflakes and fetch the paper, there is someone somewhere having to face their own question. And the answer will, more then likely, lead to life or death.

Band of Brothers is a 10 part miniseries from HBO and was produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. It stars a huge array of actors most notably Scott Grimes, Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston(that guy from Office Space), and Donnie Wahlberg(NKOTB!). There are a lot of great movies that may lead you to the same thoughts and questions. Saving Private Ryan, A Thin Red Line, and The Hurt Locker are some good examples. But Band of Brothers is heads above all of these.

Grade: A