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For one in the US Army most of what Captain Sobel did would in reality be the realm of non-commissioned officers and he would be responsible for setting the standards and meeting those set by his commander. The first sergeant and the NCO's would be the ones doing most of the training.

I served in the army in the 90's and the old timers at the time told me that it wasn't uncommon for the NCO's to physically beat the junior soldiers if they were a problem, so in reality things were worse than the TV version. not in the open, but away from witnesses. this was stopped in the late 1980's or sometime around 1990. I've also read and been told second hand that the army would literally send untrained soldiers into battle into the european theater who would most likely be killed but no one cared because they had a lot of bodies behind them. ditto for the Pacific Theater.

third, except for the part about trying to court martial Winters, he didn't do anything bad. the airborne has always been being elite and well trained and other schools are a lot harder than how he trained his company.

and last, i have served next to some units where the commanders were not liked or respected. in one instance someone shit in the commander's humvee. last i heard they never caught the guy