Conflict Resolution

The conflict resolution I have chosen is the Battle of Foy, depicted in HBO's Band of Brothers series. As it is a battle taking place in World War II, the characters depicted are young to middle aged, and exclusively male. Everyone in this particular conflict is either an American or German soldier, and this is essentially the basis of the conflict. The town of Foy is being held by German forces, and the 101st Airborne is sent to root them out. At first, the Americans have to cross a large open space made extremely dangerous by German artillery and sniper fire. They take casualties, but cross the space, reaching the outer perimeter of the town.

Here they run into a conflict within a conflict; their leader, Lieutenant Dyke is essentially useless in combat, unable to adapt to a changing situation and locks up completely when under the extreme pressure of combat. Due to the command lockup, the advance into the town stops almost entirely and the 101st begins to sustain heavy casualties. The Executive Officer, Captain Winters, orders Lieutenant Spiers, an officer in a company not currently participating in the attack to assume command of Lieutenant Dyke's company. Spiers takes command and swiftly pushes into the village, and the 101st take the town in a decisive victory, capturing many German prisoners and neutralizing the town. As they believe the battle to be over, one undiscovered sniper begins to shoot again and Sergeant Carwood Lipton is forced to run out of cover to draw the sniper's fire while Private Shifty Powers, renowned in his company for his accuracy, picks off the sniper, bringing a final close to the battle.

Obviously, violence is the main method of resolving conflict for both an attacking or defending force. To systematically destroy as many enemy as possible as you advance is the surest way to a total victory. For a defending army, a similar concept is true. The best way to win defensively is to set up a situation where the enemy has no choice but to move into your gunsights and hopefully be killed. We see both cases very clearly here.