#robert strayer

[bleedingcoffee42]

[hbowartournament]

Character Tournament: Round One

Robert Strayer vs. William Quinn

Robert Strayer

William Quinn

Voting ended onJul 1

learn how to steal this poll

[lyselkatzfandomluvs]

Band of Brothers screencaps/edits (517/?)

Robert Strayer

December 18 2002: Last jump

[incorrectbandofbrothersquotes]

Strayer: Major Horton is on leave in London.

Sobel: …how bizarre

Muck: how bizarre ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Luz: how bizarre ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[winnix85]

How others see Strayer

Dick Winters (most from <Biggest Brother>): 

Strayer was not an effective combat leader. His map-reading skills were lacking, partly since he did not see a need to attend the training classes, and he seemed all but incapable of making a firm decision under pressure. What Strayer excelled at was selecting top-notch staff officers. “Horton was also a helluva lot smarter than Colonel Strayer”

In Eindhoven: when Easy company suffered fifteen casualties, Strayer was having a pleasant dinner party at the batallion HQ.

In Bastogne: Winters often found Strayer’s information vague and confusing. He cast questioning glances at Nixon, who would respond by rolling his eyes. After these briefings, Nixon would walk back to regiment to meet with Major Hester for clarification. “Strayer had no goddamn idea what he was supposed to do”

In Bastogne: Winters saw little of his commander (Strayer) as the siege of Bastogne deepened. Strayer had “a warm sleeping bag and a deep foxhole,” Winters derisively recalled, and seemed loath to leave them.

On Christmas Eve 1944, when Harry built a small fire: Colonel Strayer burst in through the small circle, shouldering men aside. “Let me in there,” Strayer said. Reaching the fire, the colonel turned his back to it and bent forward, poking his butt out over the small flame....Around him, his officers shook their heads and exchanged smirks.

During the attack on Foy: Strayer was missing when Dike froze. Sink was looking for him.

Bill Guarnere (<Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends>): “Maj. Robert Strayer, our battalion commander, was a smart man, because in order to be a good leader of a full battalion, you had to have good men under you. He had a knack for picking the best officers there, so it made his job much easier. All the best officers came to Easy Company, and most of the men in HQ company were former E Company men. We admired Strayer, because he got all the credit, while all the officers underneath him had all the brains. I could have done his job if I had men underneath me like Salve Matheson, Lewis Nixon, Dick Winters, Clarence Hester, Fred “Moose” Heyliger, all the best.” [put it in another way: Strayer got no brain, the officers underneath him got no credit]

Babe Heffron (<Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends>) :”At one point I looked up and saw our battalion commander wearing fur-lined boots. I thought, Where the hell did he get them from?! Some of the officers took care of themselves first, even though the men on the front line were the ones in need. The higher the rank, the less you saw of them. Whether it was back on garrison or in combat, some of them were soldiers’ soldiers, and others we considered outsiders. Winters was a soldiers’ soldier. He took care of his men. He was the best leader Easy Company ever had.” [Babe wasn’t specific with “battalion commander”, it could either be Strayer or Winters. But he went on to praise Winters as “solders’ soldier” so he could only be talking about Strayer wearing fur-lined boots in Bastogne]

David Webster (<Parachute Infantry>): Speirs got a Mercedes but Strayer also wanted it. Strayer ordered Speirs to give it to him tomorrow. Speirs loaded his M1 with armor-piercing bullets and shattered its window, drove it to a cliff and slid out of the driver's seat just before the car plunged into the abyss.

[odds-to-endings]

...Robert Strayer requested permission from Colonel Sink to march 2nd Battalion...to the railway station in downtown Atlanta. The 2nd Battalion group, numbering 586 men, set off from Toccoa on Tuesday December 1, and arrived three days later clocking a marching time of 33 hours and 30 minutes, covering a distance of 118 miles. Not to be outdone by the ROTC-trained Strayer, [West]"Point" man Wolverton [commander, 3rd Battalion] was given permission to transport 3/506 by train to Atlanta and from there make the journey (estimated to be around 136 miles) to Benning on foot. The idea was to smash the Japanese army distance-marching record and in doing so generate extra publicity for the 506 PIR, who were still an independent unit looking for a home.

Ian Gardner, Airborne

[bleedingcoffee42]

Photos from Ambrose's Strayer files.

[bleedingcoffee42]

Command Charts from Winter's Personal file