[The following is in regards to the infamous American Easy Company in World War II; in particular, their training regimen.]
What Winters objected to, beyond the pettiness and arbitrary methods, was Sobel’s lack of judgement. The man had neither common sense nor military experience. He could not read a map. On field exercises, he would turn to his X.O. and ask, “Hester, where are we?” Hester would try to locate the position for him without embarrassing him, “but all the men knew what was going on.”
Sobel made up his mind without reflection and without consultation, and his snap decisions were usually wrong. One night at Toccoa the company was out in the woods on an exercise. It was supposed to be on the defensive, stay in position and be quiet and let the enemy come into the killing zone. “No problem,” as Winters recalled, “just an easy job. Just spread the men out, get them in position, ‘everyone be quiet.’ We’re waiting, waiting, waiting. Suddenly a breeze starts to pick up into the woods, and the leaves start to rustle, and Sobel jumps up. ‘Here they come! Here they come!’ God Almighty! If we were in combat, the whole damn company would be wiped out. And I thought, ‘I can’t go into combat with this man! He has no damn sense at all!’ “
Source:
Ambrose, Stephen Edward. “We Wanted Those Wings.” Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2004. 25, 26. Print.
Further Reading:
Major Richard Davis "Dick" Winters
[Easy Company, 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Company,_506th_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)
Another fun fact about Captain Sobel - he went on to play Ross in Friends.