Ambrose explores the formation of Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, which trained at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, in 1942. The men’s motivations for volunteering for the 101st Airborne varied, but Ambrose believes that a combination of idealistic love of country, a desire to be the best, and a willingness to obey distinguished them from other men.

Ambrose describes the leadership of E Company, noting that the first officers were career officers. As basic training continued, noncommissioned officers rose from within the ranks. The training the men engaged in was physically challenging, a point Ambrose makes by describing the arduous runs the men completed on nearby Mt. Currahee, which had a 1000-foot elevation. Training also involved learning basic soldiering skills. Those who made it through the training did so because of “an intense private determination and because of their desire for public recognition that they were special” (19).

Preparation for fighting involved learning to care for their rifles, which they were told to treat “as they would treat a wife, gently” (20) and practice jumps off a 35-foot tower on the training grounds. The most important training was to learn “instant, unquestioning obedience” (20) to their commanding officers. The rigors of this training created a sense of camaraderie that Ambrose describes as being closer than that of brothers (21).