It was clear that Landers's words received almost everyone's approval, and Luz winked from the side.
Winters was slightly taken aback when he heard this, but he quickly understood that although Landers said it, it represented the heartfelt feelings of all the brothers in E Company.
No matter whether he agreed or disagreed with this statement, it would have negative implications and effects.
Agreement, while it could bring him closer to his brothers, would only cause them to be more dissatisfied with Lieutenant Sobel, potentially leading to future disadvantages for Lieutenant Sobel and the leadership of E Company.
However, if he disagreed, some brothers in E Company might suspect that he was in league with Lieutenant Sobel, making it easy to lose the support of his brothers.
Lieutenant Dick Winters quickly found a solution.
He paused for a moment, and then answered earnestly, "Lieutenant Sobel does not hate E Company, soldier Landers."
Winters then glanced at Landers and slowly said, "He only hates you!"
Laughter immediately erupted in the ranks.
"Thank you, Sir!" Landers looked embarrassed, but clearly also a little unwilling.
This was a joke; although it wouldn't get Lieutenant Sobel to leave, it diluted the entire team's frustration.
"He hates you too."
"He hates you too, Muke!"
After this joke, the people in the ranks started joking with each other.
Parks admired Winters' quick wit, which showed the wisdom of a high-quality commander.
Lieutenant Sobel waited for the soldiers of E Company at the Battalion HQ, but they were two minutes late, which gave Lieutenant Sobel enough reason to lecture them.
He walked coldly in front of the formation and ordered Winters, "Lieutenant Winters, I want all canteens unhooked from belts, and their caps open."
Winters stood ramrod straight, always maintaining a soldier's demeanor, even under Lieutenant Sobel's repeated provocations: "All of E Company must unhook their canteens and open their caps."
"Listen to my order, everyone must pour the contents of their canteens onto the ground," Lieutenant Sobel said.
"Listen to the commander's order, you must invert your canteens!" Winters ordered.
"Right now, Lieutenant Winters," Lieutenant Sobel called out.
"Pour!"
All the canteens of the E Company brothers were inverted, and the water inside flowed onto the ground with a gushing sound.
Lieutenant Sobel really wanted to find a soldier who had made a mistake, so he would have a better reason to lecture Winters.
But he was a little disappointed; clearly, the brothers of E Company had all complied well.
All the canteens were full.
Christenson quietly winked at Parks, who was standing in the same row, and smiled slightly.
Clearly, if it hadn't been for Parks' reminder, Christenson would have been in trouble tonight.
Sobel, who was about to lose his temper, found no fault, frowned, pointed his finger at Winters, then motioned for Winters to walk aside with him, and with a dissatisfied expression, faced Lieutenant Winters, staring at him and saying, "How are you leading my company? You were two full minutes late."
Winters glanced at Sobel and whispered, "Two minutes is within a reasonable range for cross-country marching, Lieutenant!"
Sobel suddenly took a step closer, looked at Winters angrily, and said sternly, "Lieutenant Winters, don't talk to me about reasonable.
My order was for you to march here without a minute to spare, but you were two minutes late.
That's a fact; you violated my order." Sobel began to walk back and forth in front of Winters, growing somewhat exasperated as he spoke.
"You make me look bad.
We are not D Company, nor are we F Company; this is E Company.
Under my leadership, we will be the first and best company in the regiment." Sobel no longer cared about much; he stood in front of Winters again, looking at him, "I want you to find six people, and put their names, their mistakes, and your suggested disciplinary actions on my desk before 1:30 AM tonight.
Is that clear?" The last sentence clearly carried a commanding, threatening tone.
"What kind of mistakes, Lieutenant Sobel?" Winters frowned, but still decided to obey the order; he was not a soldier who habitually violated orders.
"You go find out!" Lieutenant Sobel said, then ignored him and turned to walk into the barracks.
It seems the result is still the same.
Parks couldn't help but smile bitterly.
He had originally thought that by reminding Christenson, Sobel wouldn't find any faults, but he didn't expect Sobel to be such a genius, actually finding such an excuse to punish people.
"Thank you, Parks!" After dismissal, Christenson ran over and patted Parks on the shoulder.
"Sobel left me speechless, but luckily it was you, otherwise he definitely wouldn't have let me off easy tonight!"
"It's nothing, I just understand Lieutenant Sobel better than you do!" Parks smiled.
"God knows how the 506th Regiment produced an officer like Sobel!" Christenson shook his head.
"Good night, Parks, I think I won't be able to get up tomorrow morning, damn early morning exercises, damn Sobel!" He cursed in a low voice and walked into the tent.
"Christenson, at least you can sleep well tonight!" Parks smiled and shouted at his back, then tidied his gear and entered the tent.
"Lieutenant Sobel is angry, and it's clear that some of us are in for a lot of trouble!" White was already lying on his bed, fully clothed.
Odem Moore was taking off his uniform and couldn't help but stop when he heard this: "This is really hard on Lieutenant Winters.
God knows which unlucky guys he'll pick to punish.
I hope I'm not one of them; Winters is a good man."
"A good man also has to obey Lieutenant Herb Sobel's orders." Cobb sat by the bed listlessly, "I don't want to be chosen by Winters to complete those impossible tasks."
"Alright, stop arguing, I think Lieutenant Winters definitely has a way." Parks smiled, "I remember an old saying in China: 'When there's a policy from above, there's a countermeasure from below.' Why don't we be more optimistic?"
"Is there such a proverb in China?" White looked at Parks.
Of course, this wasn't a proverb, but Parks didn't intend to explain.
He also lay on the bed and laughed, "Maybe it's just something like cleaning toilets?"
"Let's hope so!"
There was no more talking in the tent.
It had been too tiring tonight, and there was no interest in talking.
In short, whenever Sobel was mentioned, the atmosphere was always very heavy.
In fact, just as Parks had predicted, Lieutenant Sobel's problem did not embarrass Winters.
The next morning, at Battalion HQ breakfast in the mess hall, Lieutenant Winters' friend, Lieutenant Lewis Nixon, brought up the topic.
"How did you do it?" Nixon carried his breakfast tray and walked alongside Winters, then sat opposite him at the dining table.
"I found six people to clean the military latrines." Winters' lips curled slightly, and he smiled.
Nixon also laughed: "Which six unlucky guys?"
"MacDonald, Toye, Patrick Christenson, Lipton, Muke, and Guarnere."
"Why them?" Nixon couldn't help but glance at Winters.
"It was their turn to clean anyway!" Winters laughed.
Nixon burst out laughing, sat in his chair, and looked at Winters, saying, "Sobel is truly a genius.
I had a drill sergeant just like him in prep school, I understand people like him very well."
"Louis, Michelangelo is a genius, and Beethoven is also a genius."
The resolution of this matter greatly satisfied the soldiers of E Company, and they all admired Winters' creativity.
"Hey, I told you long ago, Winters would definitely find a solution.
I knew he was a good man and wouldn't bear to see his brothers abused by Sobel," Cobb said loudly as soon as he entered the tent.
"Cobb, shut up! That's boring!" White, who was sitting by his bed polishing his leather boots, couldn't help but say, "You didn't say that, Parks did!"
"What's the difference?" Cobb shrugged.
He looked at White's shining leather boots, "White, do you have any plans today? It's hard to get through Saturday if you don't go to Town to have some fun.
Let's go together!"
"No, Cobb, I already have plans, I'm really sorry!" White didn't even look at Cobb.
"Hey, don't be like that, brothers stick together! Don't leave me alone to pick up girls!" Cobb spread his hands.
"Still no, Cobb, I'm going with Parks." White whistled.
"Parks!" Cobb looked at Parks again.
Parks shrugged, then said, "Don't look at me, Cobb, if you can cover all my expenses in Town tonight, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't let you come with us, do I?"
"Shit!" Cobb cursed resentfully, watching Parks and White stride away, then turned his gaze to Ed Heffron, who was still left in the tent, "I say, brother…"
"Don't look at me, Cobb! I have plans too!" Ed Heffron was expressionless and turned to leave the tent.