Noah Halili - Major Winters as the Mentor Archetype

 In the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers, one of the most significant characters is Major Richard Winters. He acts as the commanding officer for Easy Company for the early parts of their journey. Generally, he is regarded as a strong leader and many of the paratroopers in Easy Company held him in high regard. Ken Miyamoto writes that the mentor in the hero’s journey is someone who helps a hero through advice and training. During Easy Company’s operations in WWII, Major Winters becomes a mentor figure and the miniseries outlines three particular examples of his mentorship of his subordinates. 

The first instance of Winters’ mentoring takes place during the D-Day paratrooper landings. During this operation, Winters lands alongside Private John Hall and the two of them head into the forest to search for allied forces. When they first meet, Private Hall is visibly shaken and panics about having lost his radio kit during the drop. Winters, sensing Hall’s distress, calms him down by offering advice stating, “If you were in my platoon, I’d tell you you were a rifleman first and a radio man second” (Band of Brothers). When Hall worriedly asks if everyone else is as lost as they are, Winters calmly responds saying, “We’re not lost private. We’re in Normandy” (Band of Brothers). In this sequence, Private Hall is clearly scared and convinced that he has already failed. However, Winters takes him under his wing and offers him advice that helps Hall relax and focus on the task at hand. 

Similarly, the second example of Winters as a mentor involves him giving advice to Lieutenant Lynn “Buck” Compton. At the time, the two are driving and Winters is reprimanding Compton for gambling with the men. Lieutenant Compton defends himself stating that he was only trying to bond with the troopers and did not see any harm in some bets. Winters offers him advice stating, “Never put yourself in a position where you can take from these men” (Band of Brothers). At this point in the series, Winters and Compton are equals from a rank standpoint, however Winters has two more years of experience with Easy Company compared to Compton. He takes this time to give advice from his own experience and warn Compton away from creating tension with his troops over meaningless bets. 

Lastly, Winters acts as a mentor for Lieutenant Fredrick “Moose” Heyliger. When Winters is eventually promoted to Executive Officer of 2nd battalion, Moose is the officer that takes over command of Easy Company. Before his first operation as commanding officer, Heyliger meets with Winters. During this meeting, Winters asks numerous questions making sure that Moose has planned for everything and is prepared to commence the operation. Later on in the series, Moose is walking with Winters as they discuss his new position. Moose expresses concern at his ability to replace Winters, however Winters offers wisdom stating, “You know where they came from, you know what they’ve been through. Just hang tough. Train your new platoon leaders, and trust your noncoms” (Band of Brothers). Once again, Winters uses his immense experience with leading the company to help mentor those around him. In this way he embodies the role of the mentor described in Miyamoto’s article. 


Source:

https://screencraft.org/blog/breaking-down-the-character-archetypes-of-the-heros-journey/ 

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