Band of Brothers

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Question: BoB is virtually free from major script "errors" like in Saving Private Ryan. I am referring to strongly questionable military tactical behavior, which bother me a lot with SVP. (Miller making his own interpretation of military priorities, the strange assault on the machine gun nest etc.). To which extent did the BoB crew consider the script "errors" of SPR when they made BoB? Or is it a mere coincidence that the feeling of military amateurism one gets from watching SPR, is completely gone with BoB?

Airborne Ranger

Chosen answer: The makers of Band of Brothers were very particular about getting things right. It helped immeasurably that BoB was initially based on the book by the military historian Stephen Ambrose, who based it entirely on interviews with the real individuals. Scripts for the episodes were shown to some of the surviving members of Easy Company, and their suggestions were incorporated into the show, as, indeed, were they. It's not so much that they actively considered the 'errors' of SPR - it's more that the source material (the recollections of those who were really there) that was available to them was so accurate that none of these types of errors ever entered the equation.

Tailkinker

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Question: How does the ranking actually work? Winters seems to be promoted but keep the same title, is this right?

Answer: Winters was promoted from 2nd Lieutenant to 1st Lieutenant during training (at Toccoa). He was promoted to Captain and Major during the war. 2nd and 1st Lieutenants are usually just called Lieutenant but, other than that, he was always referred to appropriately.

Zwn Annwn

Carentan - S1-E3

Factual error: In this episode we see Blithe get shot in the neck and are told that he died in 1948. In reality he was shot in the shoulder and survived. He later served in Korea and was promoted to master sergeant as well as receiving the paratrooper of the year award. Blithe died in 1967 while on active duty in Germany.

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Richard Winters: That night, I thanked God for seeing me through that day of days and prayed I would make it through D plus 1. I also promised that if some way I could get home again, I would find a nice peaceful town and spend the rest of my life in peace.

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Trivia: 40 members of the cast had to go through a ten day bootcamp in which they were called by their roles in the series. Their boot camp instructor, Captain Dale Dye, was also in charge of doing the bootcamp for the main cast of Saving Private Ryan. Dye played the role of Colonel Robert Sink in the series, and a Colonel in the war department in the film. Dale Dye has also starred in, and been a military advisor on many other TV series and films for years, he's an extremely well respected man in the film industry.

Kelsey H.

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