Herbert Sobel - Tumblr Posts
Are you still there?
/Part 1 /
Richard Winters x reader
Okay, I know that some of the things about her enlisting are completely unrealistic, so forgive me, but in the end this is fiction so I hope you understand.
If you want to know more, here is a link :): ANC
Four years since 1939. That’s how long I have been training to become a nurse or as the soldiers called me a Red Cross Girl.
36 months of basic training with informal military training after. I did it to become a being who could do something in the middle of this bloody play of power.
I had given it up, the dream of becoming a teacher, for this. For the fact that in November 1939, my father and brother got locked down into Finland, to fight. To fight for their roots. I want to do my part now, in here. To bring back peace, for it hopefully can be brought back.
“You are on the opposing sides”, you may think. No, I am not. Both of my countries were attacked, and I don’t blame either for responding. You see, for four years, I lived in Finland, from the age three to the age of seven. My fathers side of the family is Finnish. My great grandfather came to America to look for a job, married another Finnish immigrant and started a new life. Then my father was born, later on he found a beautiful wife from Minnesota, and when I was three, we came to look for our roots. Being the first ones from our family to come back. I am fluent in Finnish, my father made sure of that.
Now here I sit, at the age of 24, in a train, going towards Camp Mackall. My heart was racing and my palms were damp with sweat. This was truly it, here I was going to see Colonel Robert Sink, and be an unhappy surprise once again.
“Ma’am we’re here” a young boy with a kind smile said at the door. I must have been more in my head than I thought. I give the boy a soft smile: “Thank you”
I take my suitcase and slowly step out. The more you know, there is a jeep waiting at the station. With a dark haired gentleman behind the wheel. “Sir, pardon? Are you possibly from Camp Mackall?”, I ask softly. He did not look happy and I had no intention of making his day any worse.
“Captain Herbert Sobel. I was assigned to bring you to Colonel Sink Mrs.Winters”, how did he manage to make such an easy sentence so mean spirited I have no clue. I just continue smiling and step in. “Pleasure to meet you captain, it seems you already know my name, but still allow me to introduce myself. Sonja Winters”, I say kindly.
He just nods and starts the vehicle. The rest of the ride is very quiet. But if someones eyes could set fire to their view, boy oh boy, there would be a fire hazard in North Carolina.
----------------------------
My breath catches as we arrive at the camp. I gulp and let Herbert help me out from the jeep. “Follow me, Mrs Winters”, he says curtly and starts leading the way. The place was huge! Completely and utterly giant!
We walk for quite a while till we come to stand in front of an office. From the door and my orders I already knew who was in. As we get a permission to enter, my heart stops at the door. There inside, I see a familiar red head. The head of the man who had the hold of my heart. I only just notice Herbert salute the colonel and then take his leave.
When I come to stand at attention in front of the Colonel, I can feel the baby blues burrow into my brain. Sink just smiles and says “At ease, you better sit now, we have much to discuss”
“It’s lovely to meet you in person, sir” I smile and timidly sit beside my husband, who is looking more broken inside than ever. He nods and takes out some papers, some of them being letters from me and my head nurse.
“Lt. Winters I know that this is a surprise for you, a big one at that”, he begins, “but your wife is here to work as a nurse for the Easy Company.” He can clearly see the pain in my husbands gaze even as he remains stoic.
“With all the respect, sir, do you think it’s safe to have her in that position?”, oh how I’ve missed his voice. His soothing voice. I bite my lip and dare not look at him.
“We have been ordered to try to raise the morale of soldiers and at the same time raise productivity and resources in the army. Having the nurses from the ANC and the red cross, would do both “ Sink sighs, “I don’t necessarily agree with the idea of women being assigned like this, no offence Mrs. WInters, but we have to try. And Easy is a remarkable company, with you there keeping her safe”
“It’ll be easier for you to know where she is, and at the same time your assert will keep the men from harassing her. She is a married nurse, a risk on itself. This is only a try and if she becomes a distraction, she will be removed”
I look at Sink in the eye at the last sentence and I see the clear weight he put on those words. “Sir, I believe both me and my husband will be able to focus on our duty at hand. I have come here to do a job the same as everybody else”, I reason.
Sink nods. “You both have damn good marks. I trust both of you on this, and that is why I chose you”. After a long discussion and some paperwork we are done. But only with two sentences from Dick. I knew my husband, he was mad. He wouldn’t shout, but this demeanor oozed his distress.
“Take Nurse Winters to the officers barracks, that will be the safest place for her lieutenant. Welcome to the company! Dismissed”and with that I was left alone with my dear husband.
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The first steps we take in the hall are very quiet. Then I open my mouth. “I miss you”, I whisper and keep my eyes ahead. Dick gives a long sigh while carrying my suitcase. “This is not the place for such discussions, Nurse Winters”
I keep my eyes ahead, but I can feel them watering. His voice is like a whip to my heart. “I understand, sir”, I say louder this time. I can see his expression falter. We walk quietly side by side to the barracks. I can feel the long looks and hear the questioning as we pass people.
When we make it to a barrack, he lets me in first. I can see that there are three beds in there. Two filled, one empty. From the belongings I can see that one of the beds is definitely my husbands. I hear the door being shut behind me as Dick too steps in.
Once the door is shut I open my mouth. “Dick, please, we have gone through this once already”, I beg as I look at him. For the first time he looks me straight in the eye. “You know that I love you, you know we can’t do this like this”, I rasp.
“Sonja, we did discuss you joining the nurses, and yes you going near the battlefield, but we never had any conversation about you joining a company full of men”, his voice was stern as ever, eyes not holding their usual warmth. He pinches the bridge of his nose as he continues: “You could be attacked by your own comrades, you could become the reason they are too distracted to do their duty” He is looking down at me. His tall stature towering my 5′5 frame.
“I want to do my duty too, Dick. I want to help!”I shake my head as I speak “I was deemed fit for this program, I-I don’t want to be useless”,I whisper looking down at my hands.
My heart skips as he raises his hand to take mine. “You were never useless”, he whispers back raising my chin up. We take our time just looking at each other. He breaks the silence. “Why didn’t you tell me about this? We’ve been writing, why didn’t you write to me”, he looks so confused it hurts.
“We weren’t sure of it till couple weeks ago, I didn’t want you to... well get worried and react like this”, I say tenderly cupping the side of his face. There are no words to describe how good it feels to be near him. Smell him, hear him, feel him. “I miss you so”, I sob. My sob does it for him, and he pulls me against him. My arms around his waist and his cheek on top of my head. My sobs turn into a small giggle. “I love you, god I love you”I whisper. I feel his hold getting tighter at my words.
“I love you too”he whispers and kisses my hair. All I can think is the fact that he is holding me again, my Richard is holding me, telling me he loves me. Until the door opens with a bang and we jump apart.
We are met with a chuckle and a man with a smirk and bushy eyebrows.
--- This will probably be rewritten, but for now I want to see how people react to this idea---
Are you still there?
/ Part 3 /
Later in the chapter, the medic names are made up from the fact that what names were common!
The following morning was interesting indeed. Lewis had been very productive and gotten me PT gear and my WAC dress greens, which included a hobby jacket, “garrison” cap and a pretty skirt. I was extremely grateful, until he gave me my OD’s, which of course were made for men. The issue of being unhappy didn’t come to place until he saw me in them. And he laughed so loud it startled the men who wear near our barrack.
“Oh my, my, you look like you’re gonna spread your wings and take off like a flying squirrel”, he snorts coming over to me and playfully flaps the sides of my jacket. I look at him very unimpressed, and then quickly slap his hands away. But then sigh. “I should’ve kept the skirt”, I giggle. But all in all it isn’t so bad, I have my medics patch and good pants. They are a little tight on the hips, but nothing unbearable.
And off we went, him escorting me to my first field exercise with Herbert Sobel. Oh boy.
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“Nurse Winters, what is the meaning of this, you look more unpresentable then any of these men!”
The screaming of Sobel starts straight away as I stand with the men from the second platoon. “No excuse, sir”I say knowing he was commenting on my jacket. He looks ready to snarl, once again. “I’ll let you off, since you are only a woman after all, find a belt for tomorrow, or I will have to find an adequate punishment.” I just look ahead my eyes cold, so that’s how it is. “yes, sir.”
I feel like he assigned me with the second platoon just to torture my husband. And me. He was in for a surprise, if there was one thing me and Dick would not waver from, that was our duty.
-------------------
I quickly started learning that I already had some knowledge to the matters we were going through. Enough for me at least. My main job for now was keep up with the men and when needed, have a plan on how to transport the “wounded” and if that was not possible, how to make a good long term plan for their health and the stamina and safety of the other men.
I was thinking and whispering with Eugene Roe as two of our men: Joe Toye and “Popeye” Wynn were “wounded”. Joe had a shoulder wound and Popeye had an upper thigh wound. Both we’re now patched up with Popeye having a syrette tied to his jacket.
“We have to take one man off the line, to help Popeye near the Jeep, and once we drag Joe far enough he can start walking. One of us has to stay here, in case there comes an urgent need for a medic”, I whisper.
Roe looks at me little uncertain, but nods. “We’re gonna need to call the jeep towards the edge of the woods, but still near enough, we can’t wait too much, since Popeye’s wound is a heavy bleeder”, he backs up with his Louisiana drawl.
We report our plan, and luckily, we get the knowledge that we just saved more than two men, we the good decision of one of staying near the line.
“But Winters, Roe, next time call for back up, we need all the good men in the line, when someone needs to be carried, try and get help along with the jeep. Even if it feels obvious, remember clear orders”, Dick says nodding as he looks over our work.
I feel pride swell up in my chest, not because we did surprisingly well, but because I got good objective critique. Learn, Sonja, learn everything you can.
--------------------
When the maneuver is over, everyone looks more or less annoyed. Sobel turned out to be the epitome of good in theory, terrible in practice. My thighs were also on fire, even if I had good physical training, the crouched running in high speed for surprisingly long distances is rough.
“So, how does it feel now?”, Skip asks as we sit together to eat. I was once again chatting with Skip. It felt good to have people who actually reacted well to my arrival.
Joe was apprehensive still, but yesterday when we talked, he realized that I was just a proper farm girl from Minnesota. Nothing fancy even I used pretty words, I was just a curious soul.
I shrug: “I was scared it was going to be worse, with all you told me yesterday. Apart from the reprimands I got for my height and lack of muscle tone, I feel like I got very just treatment”, I smile and take a mouthful of the food on my plate.
Skip snorts and looks at me like I had gone crazy. “The man screamed at you, because you aren’t able to carry a man thrice your size, but instead you dragged him, come on “, he shakes his head. I shrug once again.
“I’m here to do a duty, I’m assigned with you because I was deemed fit, and if I want to be fit enough I have to work for it. He cannot let me off”, I explain my side. Sobel had yes screamed at me for dragging Denver Randleman when he was wounded, but Christ I was happy I was even able to move him. I knew I should do better, but for now I just need to work harder.
Bill shakes his head : “You’re a fucking skirt, ain’t no man carrying Bull from this company either” And continues to shovel down his food.
Skip grins at me. “you see Nurse Winters, we fight your corner, even if you are green and weak”. I glare at him playfully. I know that’s what most of the men thought, but Skip was not one of them. He really had been there for me today on the field. Him and Penkala. If I did something wrong, they quickly did something to make me correct it.
But when it comes to others, it had been a tough day. Joe Liebgott was constantly on my neck, I heard the way he spoke about me, I heard the way him and some of his friends said I did not deserve my place here. In all honesty, I couldn’t blame him. I was a woman, it was easy for them to think that I was just some hussy who crawled up the right thigh. I needed to deserve my place here, i needed them to see that I was more then just big doe eyes and pinned up hair.
“What will you do when we are jump training?”, he asks suddenly. I was not jumping into Normandy, so I was not taken in for the parachute training. I swallow quickly and answer: “I’ll be doing PT or then preparing at the hospital. I cannot believe how big that hospital is, it truly is wonder”
Skip smiles at my happiness. It was easy for me to talk to him like this. One-on-one. I was still too nervous to open my mouth when I was in the middle of all the men. “You really like helping people, huh”,he chuckles.
I nod and continue eating quietly.
------------------
Couple weeks later, I was a new woman. I knew my routine and I was dedicated to make it perfect. I still had very few friends, but they all seemed to have accepted my presence at least. Skip was still my safety blanket among the men. Me and Richard had made the decision of being very chaste and professional, even in private. Lewis decided it was a good reason to tease us for being the epitome of purity, but we saw it as a fair and responsible thing to do.
The men did not know about him being my husband either, for the record the army had so many people with the same name, that it was not surprising that they didn’t even suspect it. Although it was harder and harder for me every day to hear one nameless sergeant keep pestering people about my husbands calm and correct ways.
Today was my day, well it was a field exercise designed for medics. Many simulated casualties so that we could practice our bandaging, improvising and so forth.
“Come on, I’m wounded plant me just a little one”, George tried pursing his lips as I bandaged his leg, making a improvised splint. I shake my head and bring two of my fingers first onto my lips then plant them on his.
“There you go”, I say as I finish the bandage. He looks at me in mock horror, “You just put your dirty fingers into my mouth!”, he gasps. I roll my eyes smiling.
“I put them on your mouth, you’re wounded, you have bigger worries”, I reason and look at him like a mother would look at a misbehaved child. He just mouths words mockingly and pats my head like I was his best dog to torture.
Then what I see next makes me freeze, some of the medics truly sedating Sobel. Oh Christ no. I stand up and job over to them. “What do you think you are doing?”, I ask sharply at the two medics, Webb and Jackson, who are now trying to pull down Herbert’s pants.
“Fuck of broad”, they snort and try to keep going. I purse my lips and kneel next to them. “I may be a nurse, but I am a part of this company. You are risking this mans health, which goes against every vow you’ve made. You may think I am just an ignorant woman, who wants to play a soldier, but I’m here to do my job. You might not care about him, but this is not the way to go”, I quietly advice them.
They look at me raising their eyebrows as if they had to care what I’m saying. Webb then shakes his head and snorts grasping the front of my collar to bring me closer.
“Oi, hands off the lady Webb!”, comes a raspy voice. Behind us comes Joe Toye with a makeshift sling. Webb doesn’t move at first not thinking Joe could be series.
But once Joe stands behind us and growls “What did I just say?”, the hand comes off right away. “Nurse Winters had the balls to tell you off. I don’t care the fuck you are doing to that on the floor, but you ain’t disrespecting her”, he says seriously while looking at Webb and Jackson both.
“Sorry Winters”, they both mumble. I sigh and stand shaking my head. “Just don’t hurt him”, I whisper and go to help with the evacuating.
Joe stops me before I can go. I smile at him tenderly “Thanks for that Joe, it means a lot.” He shakes his head and one corner of his mouth raises up: “Just fighting for your corner, Bambi”
I walk to the litters with a smile on my face. The nickname is ridiculous, but hey, I was finally fitting in.
--------------------
“So no one reported?”, Nixon asks as we sit on our bunks. I shake my head: “Nope, I tried to tell them off Lew I really did”, I sigh and look at my hands.
He chuckles: “Don’t say that anywhere else, they’ll ask you to identify”. The door opens and Dick steps in. Straight from the latrines. I smile at him in my PT gear. It felt nice, the shorts. I was not really a fan of anything restricting me from the waist down. Oh no Sonja, do not phrase things like that ever again.
He smiles at me too and then does something surprising, he walks over to me and lays a kiss on my forehead. “You really impressed the men yesterday, I heard what you did”, he whispers. I shrug, it was nothing he wouldn’t have done.
“Wanna plant one on me just as congrats?”, I ask in a tender whisper. He chuckles and gives me a sound kiss. I grin widely and take a look at my book Seitsemän veljestä. The Seven brothers, a Finnish novel. My brother send it to me one Christmas. Now the spine looked torn, Sobel had had his fun looking at it while throwing our things all over the place. When I saw the state of my books I almost cried. Luckily one of the soldiers from F-company, David was his name, was able to tell me where to get some cheap books.
“You sicken me you know, ever since she came in you’ve become a freaking dog”, Lewis throws from his bed. Dick once again rolls his eyes and starts to neatly fold his clothing. “She is my wife, Nix. And we have been perfectly professional, you of all people know that”, he grunts taking his boots off.
Nix chuckles, the sound a strange thing on it’s own. “I hit a nerve”, he sings and happily plops down once again.
And once again thank you @iilovemusic12us ❤️
Cpt. H. Sobel: *Bullies Lt. Dick Winters, and his overall company, with the most insane orders (which are impossible to comply to), and gives him the option to a) suck it up, or b) take him to be Court Martialed*
Lt. D. Winters: *decides to take him to be court martialed*
Cpt. H. Sobel:
LMFAO THIS MAN WATCHED THE FIRST EPISODE AND SAID
“Man, Sobel sucks.”
IM OUT OF TOWN AND MY DAD JUST TEXTED ME AND SAID HES WATCHING BAND OF BROTHERS ALL WEEK
I’m fine I’m fine I’m fine
Sobel while making Easy run Currahee again
IM FEATUREDDDD
BAND OF BROTHERS - fandom text posts
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