Devils in Baggie Pants

During World War 2, The United States experimented with a new form of combat fighting called airborne. Until such time all combat was hand to hand and in the trenches. The use of airborne units gave the United States a distinct advantage. The Germans called our airborne units "devils in baggie pants." Airborne is part of the Infantry unit, they go through basic training for Infantry first then Airborne school after. Airborne training is three weeks long with a pass rate of eighty-nine percent. In basic training the company commander was cancelling passes left and right on the guys in the barracks. He was rough but I thought a bit too rough.

In the series Band of Brothers, they followed EZ Company of the 506th Airborne Division. EZ Company is led by an incompetent Captain Soebels. When Soebels tries to administer discipline on his executive officer, LT Winters, Winters requests a court-martial. Winters is placed in battalion mess until the court martial issue is over with. The non commissioned officers all write a letter to the battalion commander saying they will not serve under Soebels due to his incompetence. The Battalion Commander kicks one out of the Battalion and demotes one to a private. As the men walk out of the Colonels office and pass Lt. Winters, they all salute him. Before the first jump into the European campaign, Winters is reinstated and Soebels is sent to France to run another airborne school for non-combat types such as chaplains, doctors etc.

After the first jump on d-day an American Soldier comes across some German Prisoners of War that are being guarded. He offers them cigarettes and a light, then executes them all but one. In my opinion this was a war crime then as it would have been today and he should have been tried for it. Was he? There isn't enough information provided in the videos or the book to let us know. I was trained on the Geneva Convention and everything it covered when I went through basic and ait.

I tried to watch the Pacific series of the Band of Brothers but I couldn't make it past the third disc. There were way too many personal relationships and our men moving in with women on thirty day r and r. I couldn't follow the combat for the love stories. Maybe it was me but after the third episode I stopped watching it.

After the Americans made Calentine, they had replacements coming into the unit to replace the dead, injured, maimed etc. Those that had been there a long time had a real attitude with the replacements, starting with the unit citation medal. They felt because they weren't there on d-day they didn't earn them even though the unit had. Therefore, they forced the replacements to remove their unit citation medals, which in my opinion was wrong.

After Carentine, was Operation Market Garden. They were finally leaving England for good. As the American's arrive into the Market Garden, the citizens have doned orange flags and is in a festive, celebratory mood. Some women don't fair so well as they are having all of their hair cut off, for having sex with the Germans. That night on patrol the Americans come across a father and his little four year year old son. The boy is a beauty, but has never tasted chocolate before and the expression on his little face was absolutely priceless and the soldiers face who gave it to him was priceless. As our military was passing people on the street, especially women with children, they would hand them a boxed meal for the woman and her child. As the Americans and British are advancing to their next objective, the Germans seem to have the upper hand and we lose most of our support. One of our injured soldiers is hiding in a barn when six German soldiers enter. One finds the bloody bandage of the American, and he fights hand to hand with the American who wins.

As the American's progress they get to the point where Hitler has killed himself. The American troops are loaded up into trucks and going to their next assignment, Eagles Nest. As they arrive, they find the Germans have blocked the road with a lot of rubble and have to wait hours on a demolition team to clear the road. As boredom overtakes some of the men the leaders have to come up with assignments to keep them occupied, despite the fact that the war is over, they still haven't earned enough rotation points to go home.

One day Colonel Winters sends out a patrol to see if they find anything. They do. One of the men runs all the way back to the rear looking for our officers. When they arrive, it is a concentration camp. One of the men Wiegot is Jewish and speaks fluent German. He asks why they are there and the man says in German, Juden(Jew). The Colonel starts giving them food and water until the battalion doctor comes by and tells them to stop because the men are starving and will eat too much. Poor Wiegot had to tell them they were being locked back up and they were taking their food. The General declared Marshall law and ordered every abled bodied man and woman to the camp for burial detail.

This is a highly recommended documentary series to watch. It is pretty factual, and it shows you what it took to bring down one of the worlds evil maniacs.