If you like war memoirs — and WWII memoirs in particular — then you have to read Band of Brothers.

Hell, even if you don’t like war memoirs (or don’t know if you like them) but do like to read about how ordinary people find the courage and capability to do extraordinary things, then you should read it, because Band of Brothers is so much more than a clinical recounting of battles or analysis of soldiering.

It’s an inspiring story of how a motley crew of freewheeling young bucks became one of the most elite and effective light infantry units to fight in the European theater, and it follows them from beginning to end, from their grueling basic training to jumping into Normandy on D-Day, holding the line in the Battle of the Bulge, and, in the end, drinking Hitler’s champagne in the Bavarian Alps.

Band of Brothers also made me #thankful365 that Hitler had to fight the GI Generation and not our current crop of spineless, self-absorbed, “safe space” Peter Pans and Pams that can’t even stomach the basic realities and responsibilities of adulthood, let alone fighting the Nazi war machine.

Methinks the latter would have rather stayed home, smoked a bowl, and spluttered a few “sieg heils”…

What did you think of this episode? Have anything else to share? Let me know in the comments below!