Annoying re-enactors interacting with the public...

[mpguy80/08]

Or worse, a prior Service ENLISTED MAN, usually from a non army service or non combat arms branch who insists on protraying an infantry officer. If someone shows up at an event with equal rank, the next event, his rank will be one greater than that. Keep in mind, they may have only been a wrench turner or bomb loader or some such, never led a troop a day in their time in the service, but insist on portraying an officer... a leader... and wind up really sucking at it. Yes, I've dealt with one of these too... LOL

 

Wayne

 

... And to be completely fair I must add here that I've seen officers on Active Duty portray Privates while reenacting as well. I am also aquainted with a few who were enlisted on active duty, who are the defacto "Commander" of their unit, and do a bang up job of it while not letting the "rank" go to their head.

 

Has anyone ever done a Tactical battle and ran up against the 232nd SS Gas Gun Brigade? You know, those guys that field massive amounts of MG34, MG 42, G43s and MP40s, with a small smattering of Kar98s? Just sayin'... LOL

[Garandomatic]

Man, I'd love to, but as far away as I am, I'd have to be a lot younger or "singler" to do it! Whenever Dad's away, the kids are animals. Last night while I was getting a Purple Heart at an auction, the one boy tackled the other IN a local treasure of an iice cream joint, causing a rather loud bit of flatulence... In the restaraunt... For Pete's sake...

[rmoore456]

... And to be completely fair I must add here that I've seen officers on Active Duty portray Privates while reenacting as well. I am also aquainted with a few who were enlisted on active duty, who are the defacto "Commander" of their unit, and do a bang up job of it while not letting the "rank" go to their head.

 

Has anyone ever done a Tactical battle and ran up against the 232nd SS Gas Gun Brigade? You know, those guys that field massive amounts of MG34, MG 42, G43s and MP40s, with a small smattering of Kar98s? Just sayin'... LOL

 

Yep and don't ever question the authenticity of the ratio between automatic weapons to rifles in reality. The response is they bought them let them play with them.

 

Ray

[Dirteater101]

Ohh... the

 

German machine gun supremacy Brigade....

 

 

These guys re fight ww2 by all having mp-40's or some sub gun. Than have a half dozed "gas guns" that are set so low that you can not tell if their shooting or farting... only the new people have a k98...

 

Or the German units at a normandy event that has a mix of g43's and svt-40's with the mp44's thrown in.

 

Yeah, not a good idea to ask these guys for their paperwork on their NFA weapon... It did not go over well... Better a sight organizer than the ATF...

 

Yeah there is a good deal of "bad" weaponry being used by reenactors. I was guilty of this about 15 years ago with a "dreadful" commando mkIII thompson copy... But still better than the percussion cap guns being used in 1812 and rev war reenacting....

[PvtTamura]

Ohh... the

 

German machine gun supremacy Brigade....

 

 

These guys re fight ww2 by all having mp-40's or some sub gun. Than have a half dozed "gas guns" that are set so low that you can not tell if their shooting or farting... only the new people have a k98...

 

Or the German units at a normandy event that has a mix of g43's and svt-40's with the mp44's thrown in.

 

Yeah, not a good idea to ask these guys for their paperwork on their NFA weapon... It did not go over well... Better a sight organizer than the ATF...

 

Yeah there is a good deal of "bad" weaponry being used by reenactors. I was guilty of this about 15 years ago with a "dreadful" commando mkIII thompson copy... But still better than the percussion cap guns being used in 1812 and rev war reenacting....

 

 

My favorite was an event I went to, where some German re-enactors had a full auto MG42 of strongly questionable legality and I got in trouble with the (lets call em the "safety patrol") for carrying a clearly airsoft CAR-15! :thumbdown:

I also loved how that poor MG jammed every 3-5 rounds...poor thing was either really dirty or having a bad day...

[Sgt_Rock_EasyCo]

My favorite was an event I went to, where some German re-enactors had a full auto MG42 of strongly questionable legality and I got in trouble with the (lets call em the "safety patrol") for carrying a clearly airsoft CAR-15! :thumbdown:

I also loved how that poor MG jammed every 3-5 rounds...poor thing was either really dirty or having a bad day...

 

Sure, when a non armorer type throws together a weapon of that sort the timing and head space are probably not right. Throw in lack of maintenance, bad blanks or belts and you have a weapon that does not work.

 

Although I do love watching the Germans and all their automatic weapons claiming fire superiority. They seem to ignore the M2 MG, three .30 cals, bazooka's, rifle grenades, mortars, and smg's of the allied forces. Their answer to our rifle grenades was to reduce the effectiveness of them to only light skinned vehicles and personnel.

 

Never mind that armored cars, half tracks and on rare occasions tanks were taken out by Allied rifle grenade fire. Nope, that won't do because the Germans don't have enough mortars and they can't hit broad side of a Sherman with their panzerfausts. So a direct hit on a half track has no effect, you had to get the hit inside the half track. Light armored tanks, armored cars or medium tanks would not be affected by direct hits by any number of rifle grenades. The panzershrek, if shot, would kill any Allied armored vehicle. The Bazooka would take three hits in 3 seconds in order to disable any armored vehicle. A frontal bazooka shot on any german tank was ineffective. You had to hit it from a side shot of 45 degrees or greater. DUMB!

 

While the panzershrek was somewhat more effective than the bazooka and rifle grenades- the german weapons and armor so superior and the allied ones so inferior so as to put forth fairly unrealistic rules.

 

This all happened when we regularly destroyed the "invincible" SS units. We had several rifle grenadiers and took out the Germans from a good distance and they were unhappy to say the least. They neutered the riflle grenade and required more shots from Bazooka's.

 

 

Rock

[cco23i]

I also love the never ending panzerfaust, we did a reenactment at Campbell in 93 or 94 and this one German must have had 200 panzerfausts AND was bulletproof!!!

 

Scott

[Darktrooper]

I also love the never ending panzerfaust, we did a reenactment at Campbell in 93 or 94 and this one German must have had 200 panzerfausts AND was bulletproof!!!

 

Scott

 

Yes, The man with the Iron Underwear.

 

How about the reenactor who gets made field commander for the battles, and doesnt have the tactical/ common sense god gave the common doorstop....

 

These are from when I did Revolutionary War:

 

Our Field commander thought it was a great idea to march forward to within 30 yards of the Colonial Line with a loaded (1lb black powder charge mixed with some cornmeal) 6 pounder brass cannon pointed straight at us.

 

Another event our organization partnered with the B.A.R. (brigade of the american revolution) for a joint event. The commander was giving us instructions on his hand signals. If he waved his right arm up and down, we were supposed to do a right wheel. If we waved his left arm in the same fashion we were supposed to do a left wheel. Now my dad, the ever sarcastic retired cop, asked what do we do if you wave both arms because we can't fly.

 

Same event, after being in the "battle" for a hour burning powder left, right, and center (i went out with 60 black powder paper cartridges) and used every last one. We the British were supposed to lose, scripted battles (2x the brits win, 2x the colonials win), and the commander says to club our muskets (turn them upside down), but to do that we have to grab the barrels. The barrels that are searing hot from firing 60 rounds..... Way to go genius! I just set mine down, then waited for the opportunity to take a hit in the shade.

 

 

 

 

Another is the ones that scream and stop the battle for safety violations for no other reason than because we had cut off his escape route from the battlefield, and he didn't want to surrender.

[jumpwings]

Or the guy who wants to be an officer "cause I'm old" and he reckons a guy his age would have been an officer, srgt or wotever...

 

Ot what about the guy who wants millions of stripes, something about a master srgt....

 

And dunno about you guys over the pond, but here we have evening dances and ye get the fellows dressed up in Class A festooned in medals, awards, campaign ribbons and qualification badges cause "they would have had them" which is just an excuse to wear "bling"... Ye know, "Christmas Tree Syndrome"... And they try and justify "well, actors would wear" etc ad nauseum, when they're really just on a jolly dinner and dance and there is no public displaying, or educational presentations and they're just getting drunk and falling about in a drunken slumber (and bragging about it on forums with photos)

[dg0223]

This is the first time I've ever clicked on the "Reenactors" page on the forum, and it'll definitely be my last. You guys are hilarious, poking fun at things you yourselves have done and ridiculing people who act pretty much like you do. Maybe some of these "reenactors" can't spend 1500 dollars on a period correct uniform like you can, and maybe they still want to play in your sandbox, although I can't possibly imagine why.

 

And then the description of the Cold War vet who was doing laundry aboard a destroyer - talk about classless.

 

It must be so nice to sit up on your high horse and poke fun at people who are so unworthy of attending your reenactments. I'm sure my comment will get deleted by moderators as being inappropriate, and I'm sure I'm on the wrong side of this discussion, but I think this world is messed up with all of the negativity in it that you certainly don't have to admonish people for participating in your hobby who you think are unworthy.

 

From my limited 34 years of life, there's one thing I'm sure of: We are all imperfect beings.

 

"Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."

[shrapneldude]

This is the first time I've ever clicked on the "Reenactors" page on the forum, and it'll definitely be my last. You guys are hilarious, poking fun at things you yourselves have done and ridiculing people who act pretty much like you do.

This seems to be a very common theme amongst, and unique to, reenactors. I'm still not sure why, but 95% of the reenactors you meet have nasty, negative things to say about every other reenactor. They question each other's wardrobe, kit, even their motivations for playacting, and not one of them seem to find anything wrong with it. For the life of me, I can't figure out why if they all hate eachother, and constantly have to justify their hobby as something honorable or noble, and denigrate others who aren't as well-dressed or rehearsed in period speak. If collecting militaria stuff caused me to constantly butt heads with other collectors, and I had to hear all the time about how my collection isn't up to par, and my motivations for collecting are questionable, I'd probably quit doing it, or at least keep it to myself and not involve others in it. Odd thing, this fantasy of theirs that so many think so little of so many others. Maybe 5% of reenactors are decent folk who accept others willingly, don't mind the awful "public" getting in the way of their historical demonstrations, and actually care about the history of other men, not their own ego.

 

 

Don't want people touching your stuff? Keep it at home.

Don't want some jerk babbling to you about the government? Stay away from military nuts and weirdos.

Don't want to get into historical debates with those less educated than you? Keep your mouth shut and don't come off like you know it all.

Don't want people questioning your kit or your motives? Don't reenact, or at least don't do it with a bunch of jerks.

Don't like veterans talking to you about their time in the service? That's a tough on there. The Marine in me wants to say screw you...but the history nerd in me is just sad beyond words that someone would be so annoyed that a veteran would want to share his story.

 

The thing about reenacting is that it seems to be a very deliberate action one takes to draw attention to themselves. Or to draw attention to the character they're portraying, but still -- it's like walking into church with a giant sombrero on your head and getting your feathers ruffled when everyone stares at you.

[jumpwings]

Guys... You will find in EVERY hobby, these kind of things going on...

 

And all the posts on here are not negative, and all them are supposed to be critiques of them who are, as ye are accusing US of being ...

 

Gawd, tell ye wot, let's see what you would rather read shall we, here goes:

 

"wow, you all look fantastic and totally authentic running firing yer blank firing toy gun, doing a "D-Day" invasion with yer uniforms from 1965 and yer modern boots, love the way you walk around in medals and stuff, is that a Dutch uniform are ye sure they where the same as the U.S. in WWII, really looks cool, especially when yer on the piss drunk falling about, some nasty people will say yer disgracing the uniform, but I say they are nasty people who should just shut up, and well, you look totally stupendous and 100% authentic, my gawd, looking at a photograph of you, I thought it was the real War photos and stuff..."

 

Is that better :w00t: :thumbsup:

[Misanthropic_Gods]

Im not a reenactor, nor have I ever done reenacting.

 

But whats with all the hate guys? This thread is all in good fun and I have had a good laugh or two. Can't we all just get along?

[jumpwings]

Im not a reenactor, nor have I ever done reenacting.

 

But whats with all the hate guys? This thread is all in good fun and I have had a good laugh or two. Can't we all just get along?

 

Absolutely, but remember the words of Harry Lime in "The Third Man":

 

"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance...

In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce?

The cuckoo clock..."

[Dirteater101]

Ahh, have to get this back on track..

 

We have forgotten the Joy ride tanker...

 

 

These guys must have a few screws loose. First most of them have some sort of tank (yeah, I know ) that is usually a really obvious post war item. Like an "easy 8" sherman or one of those diesel Stug assault guns. Have it painted in the glossiest paint I have ever seen on a military vehicle and than top it with every flag imaginable.. And than have the tendency to drive the said multi ton"death machine" like a highschooler with a learners permit!

 

Or the opposite, the guy who was driving an M-1 Abrams for a living and is now in this "toy tank" (his words not mine) and showing off. Did you know how easy it is to do high speed doughnuts in an M-4?

[cco23i]

O.K, the pilots and aircrews who weigh 300 PLUS, the pilots and AAF gunners who wear glasses. And my BIG one, the guys portraying ground crews and their uniforms are CLEAN and one guys was STARCHED!!

 

Scott

[jumpwings]

O.K, the pilots and aircrews who weigh 300 PLUS, the pilots and AAF gunners who wear glasses. And my BIG one, the guys portraying ground crews and their uniforms are CLEAN and one guys was STARCHED!!

 

Scott

 

Hahahahah, aye, I've seen something similar, ye know, a lot of clean cut uniforms in a deep trench and foxholes, or a mortar crew all crisp and clean in the pit firing a round in their full webbing and accutremonts, all "by the book" (probably an Osprey illustration book) :w00t:

[Too Much WW1 Militaria]

Being retired Army, I've never really understood the whole re-enacting thing I guess, get the living history part (if it's done right) not knocking it, but geez, wearing a uniform on your off time? LOL And, to do it right is a lot of work! And, I do guess you have the idjuits that can ruin an entire event. After reading about these guys pointing weapons at each other, honestly, if you point one at me, it had better be to send me to a better place, it's the only reason to point a weapon at another human, loaded or not.

 

John

[cco23i]

Being retired Army, I've never really understood the whole re-enacting thing I guess, get the living history part (if it's done right) not knocking it, but geez, wearing a uniform on your off time? LOL And, to do it right is a lot of work! And, I do guess you have the idjuits that can ruin an entire event. After reading about these guys pointing weapons at each other, honestly, if you point one at me, it had better be to send me to a better place, it's the only reason to point a weapon at another human, loaded or not.

 

John

 

 

Actually John it's different than active duty. I know we do ground crew to teach and educate so there's no "bang, bang" going on.

 

Scott

[Too Much WW1 Militaria]

Scott,

 

I can see that! LOL The nicest thing I can see about the re-enacting is that if you don't like something or get tired of it, you can quit without all the missing movement, UA, Article 32, and other things! LOL Like I said, it looks like a lot of work to do it right. I think there would be an age limit to it too. I can't picture myself at almost 61, portraying anthing other than a General, just given age. And, I can see where the education part is a really good thing, but, I think dealing with the idijuts would be another matter.

 

John

[Sgt_Rock_EasyCo]

Scott,

 

I can see that! LOL The nicest thing I can see about the re-enacting is that if you don't like something or get tired of it, you can quit without all the missing movement, UA, Article 32, and other things! LOL Like I said, it looks like a lot of work to do it right. I think there would be an age limit to it too. I can't picture myself at almost 61, portraying anthing other than a General, just given age. And, I can see where the education part is a really good thing, but, I think dealing with the idijuts would be another matter.

 

John

 

There are some idjuts, some "individuals", and some Band of Brothers types however:

 

Many of these guys are Cops, Firemen, Students, Prior Military, Historians, Authors, and other professionals. Almost to a man they're pretty good guys with honest intentions. Most of them are real collectors and most of them are humbled at what they're attempting to do. They spend their "away from battles" time putting together displays, educational events, hosting veterans (usually the few WWII guys left) and even visiting battlefields. Yes, they can miss the mark on occasion but when they go to private battles it's their version of having fun while performing a field problem.

 

I always approached a WWII battle as another blank fire field problem like we did in Area J at Fort Bragg. Actually, most of what we did in Area J was less realistic than a WWII Reenactment. Much of what I learned in the Infantry is attributable to and applicable to WWII. (please spare me the "modern versus WWII issues- I know the differences and taught only WWII tactics).

 

Reenactors are not "idjuts" and their battles actually have similar value as an active duty field maneuver if the unit does some training and rehearsal. Now if a group of guys with no experience or training runs around like an Iraqi Fire Drill then of course they look questionable at best. It's not a perfect entity but I've seen worse from NG, Reserve and some Active Duty units.

 

Rock

[cco23i]

I always get fired up by the "bandwagon of brothers" type who just had mommy and daddy buy his entire kit and he shows up and thinks he knows all! All well, that's why I do ground crew now, I play with airplanes and if a "paratrooper" pisses me off I tell him the airplanes "broke" and he "aint gonna make any jumps". And hell John, you can play ground crew with us as the oldest mechanic I have found was 64!

 

Scott

[Future Radio Tech]

Young'in: a kid under 15 that so badly wants to re-enact they show up at every show in the best kit they could pull together. I was one, my fiance was also one and I have watched some over the years turn into very good re-enactors several of which are even members of this forum. However, every once in a great while there is one that is so annoying that I suggest alternative hobbies to their parents. This is me Im that kid in all original WW2 or Vietnam gear (but not uniform just what i can pull together :pinch: except for Vietnam ) walking around talking to reenactors but I hope they dont find me annoying because I only want to talk about WW2 at a WW2 event :pinch: but hey I talk to all veterans hell even the cold war ones i like to hear their stories so i guess Im doing you reenactors a favor

[jumpwings]

One of our members, Oli, used to come along wi us since he was around 8 years old... I remember when he was around 13, on our trip to Italy, no one could strip down the K98 Angelo had found on the mountain, and that was between three ex forces, and a SF chap, I'm like "give it to our Oli, he'll do it"... Eventually they gave up, and Oli got it and took it apart and put it back together...

 

There ye go... :thumbsup:

 

Kids are our future... and some make better "re-enactors" than "real" re-enactors... :w00t:

[gdunk]

[/b]" The Stitch Nazis"[b] the people who point out the smallest detail of a uniform and complains as much as if it was the worst disgrace ever made in a uniform even when you have actual photos to back up your uniform.