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The unvarnished truth about Captain Herbert Sobel – Marcus Brotherton

He was a hated man. He was an admired man. Anyone I’ve ever talked to who served under Captain Herbert Sobel—the one-time commander of Easy Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne—has an opinion about him. Some of the veterans from this elite group (the WWII paratroopers commonly known as the Band of Brothers) describe Sobel as…

He was a hated man.

He was an admired man.

Anyone I’ve ever talked to who served under Captain Herbert Sobel—the one-time commander of Easy Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne—has an opinion about him.

Some of the veterans from this elite group (the WWII paratroopers commonly known as the Band of Brothers) describe Sobel as an inflexible tyrant of a drill sergeant. They say he was a man who drew hard lines over petty issues. He was a poor map reader and an all-around lousy leader. He was so incompetent he was going to get others killed in battle, thus he needed to be removed from his position of leadership, which he was.

Yet other describe Sobel as a strategist. They say he became an integral part in shaping the company into the best it could be. Sobel’s role as a drill sergeant was not to win any popularity contests, but to harden young men into combat soldiers. Men lived because Sobel chiseled them into top warriors.

Sobel died in 1987 at age 75 after shooting himself in the head, and none of his family members attended his funeral, but even these parts of his life have not quite been portrayed accurately in times past.

via www.marcusbrotherton.com

Here's a more nuanced look at Herbert Sobel.

He's far more human that David Schwimmer's portrayal of him in the HBO series.

Read the whole thing.

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Responses to “The unvarnished truth about Captain Herbert Sobel – Marcus Brotherton”

  1. jim

    Thank you for posting that.
    I’ve never been in the military, but this fascinates me on a couple levels. The first is that the men who have accomplished great deeds are just that: men.
    The second is that everything I do as a father can be impactful on his son.
    When thinking of Capt. Sobel after watching the video the first time, from my perspective as a Gen X’er I remembered a speech about Capt. Queeg; something to the effect that while I was in school he was the one manning the borders.
    One final thought, and this one infurates me: He died of malnutrition? While at a VA Hospital???? That’s horrific and scandalous.

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  2. Greg Benefield

    I had the honor of living in the same neighborhood as Carwood and Marie Lipton but unfortunately never had the opportunity to meet Carwood as he died prior to us moving in. Marie was a complete charm and had such a glowing personality and always had great stories to tell about all the men from Easy Company as she knew them all. For many decades they attended all the gatherings and she told me that on one of the events there was a young man in attendance that nobody knew. He was too young to be a member and was alone and standing by himself and wasn’t making the usual conversation. Somebody went over to this visitor and introduced himself and found out it was Sobel’s son.
    Marie said that everyone came over to meet his son, who I assume was Michael according to the linked article, and how they had been wondering for years what happened to the Captain. Apparently Michael wasn’t quite sure how the group would accept his attendance since the HBO series didn’t exactly paint a great portrait of his father and he was apprehensive to attend. But he did attend. And just like the article described, many tears were shed that day.
    With age came wisdom and everybody in attendance knew that the reason they survived and were still alive was due to the drive of perfection that Captain Sobel demanded of them and himself.
    Its possible that Marie told me what happened to Captain Sobel, if she did I didn’t retain it but thanks to Marcus Brotherton for writing a great story.

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  3. juvat

    Interesting story and confirms a saying of mine. “Not everyone who smiles at you is your friend, nor everyone who yells at you, your enemy”.
    Glad to see you’re back up and running.

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