Chapter 1. “We Wanted Those Wings”; Camp Toccoa, July–December 1942

Summary 

In the summer of 1942, a transformation begins taking place. At this point, the Germans had been waging war in Europe for three years, and now, America was starting to prepare forces to join the fray and support its allies. In Camp Toccoa, Georgia, Colonel Robert Sink takes on the challenge of filling the ranks of the Army’s new 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), 101st Airborne Division. From a pool of 500 officers and 5,300 enlisted men who voluntarily try out for the new tactical PIR, only 148 officers and 1,800 enlisted men make it through basic training. It is Colonel Sink’s responsibility to develop their fitness, prepare them for jump school, and ultimately build a regiment to lead into combat. The regiment consists of four companies—Easy, Dog, Fox, and Battalion HQ—who regularly compete to outdo each other.

From the beginning, Easy Company is built differently. Under the command of 1st Lt. Herbert Sobel, they endure a physical regimen unlike any other. Lt. Sobel demands a level of physical endurance that some would term cruel. While most of the members of Easy Company hate Lt. Sobel for his harsh nature and oftentimes brutal conduct, in hindsight they credit their physical readiness to his contribution. Second in command is Lt. Clarence Hester, and beneath him are officers S. L. Matheson, Lewis Nixon, Walter Moore, and Dick Winters, who is known to be supportive and caring of his men. The sergeants are promoted from within the original group of privates when the Old Army cadre types quit as the training becomes too intense. First Sgt. William Evans; Staff Sgts. James Diel, Salty Harris, and Myron Ranney; and Sgts. Leo Boyle, Bill Guarnere, Carwood Lipton, John Martin, Robert Rader, and Amos Taylor ascend the ranks. These are the men who will lead Easy Company wherever it is directed.

After basic training concludes at Camp Toccoa, it is time for the soldiers to make way to their next portion of training, and Colonel Sink decides to get a little creative. After reading in a periodical that a contingent of Japanese soldiers had marched 100 miles in seventy-two hours, he announces that his men can do better. The companies of Dog, Easy, Fox, and Battalion HQ set out to march 118 miles to Atlanta. They are successful, completing the march in seventy-five hours. Every man of Lt. Moore’s 3rd platoon of Easy Company makes the march themselves, and their reward is to lead the parade through Atlanta.

Analysis

The chapter title quotes the sentiment among the men that summarizes how they feel about their arduous basic training. As the United States prepares to fully join World War II, men train in the current war tactics in military camps across the country. The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) pioneers America’s first extensive use of paratroopers, infantrymen who enter the battlefield by jumping out of an airplane. In recognition of the risk and the physical and mental endurance required, the regiment is an all-volunteer force. The opportunity attracts a unique profile of men whose values suit them to form a brotherhood. They share idealism about the cause for which they fight, respect for authority, and pride in accomplishment.

Volunteers are weighed, measured, and selected for service in the 506th or flushed out and sent elsewhere as the guts of a ferocious fighting force are formed. Their effectiveness can be directly correlated with their preparedness. The men who train them to be the best soldiers they can be are unique individuals. Easy Company’s leadership provides a combination of challenge and encouragement that ultimately makes the men under their guidance better in many ways. The self-serving commanding officer Lt. Herbert Sobel pushes the men beyond their limits at the expense of their dignity, seeing them as soldiers first and people second. The quiet and supportive platoon leader 2nd Lt. Dick Winters, on the other hand, keeps the men’s focus on the value of each man’s contribution. Winters is so in contrast to Sobel that a silent competition between the two for leadership of Easy Company brews. On the one side, Sobel is a disciplinarian who utilizes fear to get everything he can out of a soldier, while Winters inspires men to give their best and all simply because of how much they like and respect him. Winters is like a supportive father, while Sobel is like an abusive one, and the men of Easy Company try hard to please both, though for completely different reasons.

The point of training is to drill the basic tenets of a role so that, over time, the skills needed for that role become second nature. By the time basic training finishes, every man in the company has mastered his own specialty. They are capable of handling the basic functions of any job in the platoon, and each private is aware of the duties of his superiors and could take over for them if the need ever arises. If anything is to happen to a member of their platoon, the others will be able to react on the fly and keep moving. This ability improves the group’s efficiency, especially in battle, where casualties are almost guaranteed. With basic training at Camp Toccoa now complete, the members of Easy Company prepare for whatever should come next.