Devildoc
Verified Military
So I am home, sick, essentially couch-bound, and on a whim I downloaded Band of Brothers. Like every other owner of the Y chromosome I have seen the series, a few times. I knew the series was based on the book, but of course didn't know how closely it held to the book. I was very pleased. You can watch the show first then read the book or vice verse; either can be a stand-alone or a companion piece to the other.
There are no surprises to the book. If you saw the series, you know who is who, you know the battles, you know what happens. Of course the book fleshes out the people in much better detail than the series could do and the book gives one an opportunity to become more familiar with not only the specific battles in which Easy Company participated but also the "big picture" in which Easy Co was a micro participant.
Some of my take-aways, as with other books regarding WWII, were about just how awesome the US was in WWII with regard to starting a whole unit from scratch, inventing a TOE, building doctrine, devising standards, embracing risk. I just can't imagine our government and military doing those things today. Also, looking at how promotions occurred during WWII because of injury/death...going from E1 to E7, or receiving a battlefield commission in 2 years.
I enjoyed the book, and now will have to rent the series and watch it again with the book in mind.
There are no surprises to the book. If you saw the series, you know who is who, you know the battles, you know what happens. Of course the book fleshes out the people in much better detail than the series could do and the book gives one an opportunity to become more familiar with not only the specific battles in which Easy Company participated but also the "big picture" in which Easy Co was a micro participant.
Some of my take-aways, as with other books regarding WWII, were about just how awesome the US was in WWII with regard to starting a whole unit from scratch, inventing a TOE, building doctrine, devising standards, embracing risk. I just can't imagine our government and military doing those things today. Also, looking at how promotions occurred during WWII because of injury/death...going from E1 to E7, or receiving a battlefield commission in 2 years.
I enjoyed the book, and now will have to rent the series and watch it again with the book in mind.
