Being the Best

Superlatives define Easy Company. Fittest, toughest, and hardest working describe each man's personal goals. As an all-volunteer unit, the trainees had already distinguished themselves by choosing the most hazardous and difficult program, the 101st Airborne paratroopers. They chose the challenge for practical reasons, knowing that the training would weed out those not up to the gold standards designed to keep men alive. These men bring special values of high expectations for their fitness, respect for hierarchical authority, and a desire to be among the best. Knowing they'd face intense battle conditions, they make soldiering a competitive sport, challenging each other to excellence, every day and every drill. Eventually, the concepts that a person exercises with consistency become second nature, and at the moment when their survival depends on the correct execution of a maneuver, the repetition they practiced during intensive training allows them to perform successfully. This ability to respond automatically forges a company into a well-oiled machine. The Army rewards the best with medals and commendations, but Easy Company doesn’t fight for those. Their identity as the Screaming Eagles Airborne paratroopers motivates them. Being the best not only for their integrity but for the well-being of their comrades-in-arms is worth fighting for. 

The Brotherhood Mindset

Easy Company owes its success against the superior firepower and manpower of the German Wehrmacht to a brotherhood mindset. The selection process for the elite 101st Airborne paratroopers weeds out men unsuited to teamwork. From day one of basic training, grueling marches and drills prioritize mutual dependence. The men regularly support each other through sleeplessness, exhaustion, hunger, and loneliness in preparation for real battlefield conditions. Easy Company learns camaraderie through intermural competition with other companies on maneuvers, in jump school, and at the bars drinking beer. Each man has an intense desire to be the best and makes sure the man next to them excelled, too. On the battlefield, they become brothers willing to sacrifice themselves for the safety of one another and ready to die to protect the men who fight beside them. The German paratroops also have impressive discipline and training, but their cohesion relies on dedication to a cause that not all buy into. In a matchup of national systems, the Third Reich with its aggressive nationalism and racial fanaticism goes up against American democratic ideals and open society. Americans feel morally superior to Nazi Germany in the development of soldiers who bring a brotherhood mindset to the fight.

The Importance of Strategic Leadership

The style of troop management responsible for the legendary success of Easy Company is strategic leadership, also known as leading from the front. As part of the prestigious 101st Airborne infantry, the men are a cut above the rank-and-file soldier. Highly motivated to be the best, they choose to volunteer for the riskiest Army division: paratrooping. Whether going through basic training or into battle, the men want to follow officers capable of formulating a workable battle plan and leading by example. These essential qualities of strategic leaders become clear in counterpoint to the drill sergeant stereotype. In the story of Easy Company, Dick Winters and Herbert Sobel exemplify these two types, respectively. Winters trains as hard as his men to build them up for the hardships they would encounter. On missions, he brings a cool head to assess the enemy's position and develop tactics even under fire. When necessary, he leads the charge to inspire his men to courage under pressure. Sobel believes in the discipline-and-punishment approach. He subjects the men to excessive training to break down their independence. His petty harassment develops into humiliating treatment and damages his trustworthiness. His inflexibility transfers to the battlefield where he lacks the creativity to develop tactics. The men follow Sobel, a tyrant, out of obedience to his authority. They follow Winters, a strategic leader, out of respect for the man.