Annoying re-enactors interacting with the public...

[willysmb44]

After going through this and other threads recently, I can’t help but wonder about all the people who post here saying, “I don’t understand re-enacting” and questioning why anyone does it. Why would you troll through a part of the forum you have no interest in and post stuff like that? For example, I don’t understand at all why people would want other people’s medals and really don’t get why anyone would want a Medal of Honor. I have nothing against people who want stuff like that, it’s just not my thing (just like I’m not into original WW2 German stuff, either). But you don’t find me trolling through forums dedicated to stuff I’m into and me questioning why anyone would want to do or collect it.

Sorry, I just don’t get and I see it here all the time. :think:

[cco23i]

I always laugh when I get a guy who stands there and tell me "If you were really in the service you couldn't handle it", to which I replied, "Yup, I tried it for 27 years and never did get the hang of it", all he did was shut his mouth and walk away. It was funny as hell.

 

Scott

[Dirteater101]

I always laugh when I get a guy who stands there and tell me "If you were really in the service you couldn't handle it", to which I replied, "Yup, I tried it for 27 years and never did get the hang of it", all he did was shut his mouth and walk away. It was funny as hell.

 

Scott

 

14 years in the guard, 2 trips to "gods catbox" and a few other "choice" places, and i still get accused of "just playing" military.

My favorite was when our base hosted a "stagedoor canteen" event. And I had acquired authorization (signed off by 3 generals no less)to bring my extensive weapons display. After having many vets and current military members from all branches paw over most of the collection. I kept getting asked my a lot of officers and senior NCO types "You sure do know a lot about these things, you ever military?". Apparently they (and most of the public) just see a outdated uniform, Not the MP that interrogated them at the gate the day prior.... Rare for someone to make the connection that a good majority of persons that put up displays seem to be Current or prior military.

 

Maybee they think we are payed actors or something?

 

payed???

[neilhg]

ive been reinacting since i was 14 and had a good impression and also i had one "officer" come up to me at and event and told me my feild jacket was wrinkly and wanted me to iron them or he will make me do push up. so im supposed to iron my uniform in the feild? you learn somthing new everyday

[Justin]

I've seen upside down Sgt stripes once...

[Justin]

Doubt post

[RSeneff]

WOW, after 21 years in the USMC, Vietnam to Desert Storm, Retired and finially got to where I can afford to spend some money on trying to put together a good WWII Marine impression now have found out I can't. Seems that I am too old. Maybe a little heavy, got grey hair. Seems that all the years doing has ruled out me being able to enjoy somethin I've wanted to do for a long time. Guess I won't be seeing any of you experts at any event now except as a visitor dressed in my blue jeans and retired hat. Sometimes doing causes you to miss out, but at least somebody has the freedom to do.

[neilhg]

WOW, after 21 years in the USMC, Vietnam to Desert Storm, Retired and finially got to where I can afford to spend some money on trying to put together a good WWII Marine impression now have found out I can't. Seems that I am too old. Maybe a little heavy, got grey hair. Seems that all the years doing has ruled out me being able to enjoy somethin I've wanted to do for a long time. Guess I won't be seeing any of you experts at any event now except as a visitor dressed in my blue jeans and retired hat. Sometimes doing causes you to miss out, but at least somebody has the freedom to do.

thank you for your service. maybee you could go as a high ranking officer?

[PvtTamura]

WOW, after 21 years in the USMC, Vietnam to Desert Storm, Retired and finially got to where I can afford to spend some money on trying to put together a good WWII Marine impression now have found out I can't. Seems that I am too old. Maybe a little heavy, got grey hair. Seems that all the years doing has ruled out me being able to enjoy somethin I've wanted to do for a long time. Guess I won't be seeing any of you experts at any event now except as a visitor dressed in my blue jeans and retired hat. Sometimes doing causes you to miss out, but at least somebody has the freedom to do.

 

 

I'll just keep my mouth shut. :ermm:

[cco23i]

Hell boss do Marine aviation! We are doing Navy and soon to portray Marine as we keep being asked to portray different ground crew units.

 

Scott

[USMCRECON]

they're reenacting a current war???

 

Why not just enlist and fight in it?

A very good point! My guess would be that they wouldn't be able to go home in the afternoon when the event is over.

 

I found it very annoying that I couldn't go home at the end of a day during my tours in Vietnam, Grenada, the Gulf War, and Somalia.

[sgtbrown]

WOW, after 21 years in the USMC, Vietnam to Desert Storm, Retired and finially got to where I can afford to spend some money on trying to put together a good WWII Marine impression now have found out I can't. Seems that I am too old. Maybe a little heavy, got grey hair. Seems that all the years doing has ruled out me being able to enjoy somethin I've wanted to do for a long time. Guess I won't be seeing any of you experts at any event now except as a visitor dressed in my blue jeans and retired hat. Sometimes doing causes you to miss out, but at least somebody has the freedom to do.

 

I'm too old to do much of anything military now, but when I was just "old" I portrayed that crusty old lifer sergeant (or CPO when doing Navy) that routinely ate Second Lieutenants for breakfast. You know the type - life member of "The Sergeants Mafia". And a lot of Vets understood and reacted to the way I interacted with the 90 day wonders around me.

 

Nowadays, I portray a civilian tech representative allied with our AAF ground crew display. Here, I can be as old as I want.

 

Tom

[sgtbrown]

Some years back our British unit (51st Highland Div - Black Watch) was involved in a re-enactment at an active Army base. Saturday night one of the base mucki-mucks came to the area where we were having our tacticals and said he had been watching us and was impressed with the tactics being used. He said they had a Special Forces unit undergoing training at another part of the base. Then came the punchline: "I want you guys to hit the SF camp at breakfast tomorrow. Give em hell!"

 

It was a foggy morning. We surrounded the SF camp and hit it just as they were getting chow. They reacted to the gunfire but, frankly, they messed their drawers when out of the fog came WWII US troops, British troops and especially German troops. It was like a dream scene out of some movie. We overran the camp.

 

At this point I will draw the curtain as the Special Forces CO pulled his men into formation and reamed them a new one for getting overrun by a bunch of "God damm civilian re-enactors." He later congratulated us on a job well done.

 

Tom

[cco23i]

While I was on active duty (and still reenacting) my reenacting group was tasked to play the "bad guys" for a base ORI, well we did and the security police commander was removed and stationed elsewhere as we kicked their butts. It was a good time except the 2 hours a sleep a night and then a full shift and then agress all night, NO IT WAS A FUN TIME!!!

 

 

Scott

[Alonzo]

Some years back our British unit (51st Highland Div - Black Watch) was involved in a re-enactment at an active Army base. Saturday night one of the base mucki-mucks came to the area where we were having our tacticals and said he had been watching us and was impressed with the tactics being used. He said they had a Special Forces unit undergoing training at another part of the base. Then came the punchline: "I want you guys to hit the SF camp at breakfast tomorrow. Give em hell!"

 

It was a foggy morning. We surrounded the SF camp and hit it just as they were getting chow. They reacted to the gunfire but, frankly, they messed their drawers when out of the fog came WWII US troops, British troops and especially German troops. It was like a dream scene out of some movie. We overran the camp.

 

At this point I will draw the curtain as the Special Forces CO pulled his men into formation and reamed them a new one for getting overrun by a bunch of "God damm civilian re-enactors." He later congratulated us on a job well done.

 

Tom

 

 

That Sir is freaking hilarious.

Years ago I was doing some research on the firearms used at eh Custer Battle...the research was live fire test of the accuracy capabilities of all guns used that day in 1876 at ranges encountered on the field. I asked for a couple volunteers from the local Armored regiment. The troops came out and we went through a basic instruction on the Trapdoor carbine. When they saw the 45-70 cartridge a couple of them were in shock noting it was a lot bigger then the 5.56MM round they were using in the C-7(M-16). When it came to live fire they did very well and results for the soldiers compared to recreational shooters was rather interesting. Mind you this was not re-enacting though all volunteers, some non shooters as well had an absolute blast. The data was complied and presented a the Annual Custer Battlefield Museum Historical Associations annual symposium in 1992.

[USMCRECON]

Some years back our British unit (51st Highland Div - Black Watch) was involved in a re-enactment at an active Army base. Saturday night one of the base mucki-mucks came to the area where we were having our tacticals and said he had been watching us and was impressed with the tactics being used. He said they had a Special Forces unit undergoing training at another part of the base. Then came the punchline: "I want you guys to hit the SF camp at breakfast tomorrow. Give em hell!"

 

It was a foggy morning. We surrounded the SF camp and hit it just as they were getting chow. They reacted to the gunfire but, frankly, they messed their drawers when out of the fog came WWII US troops, British troops and especially German troops. It was like a dream scene out of some movie. We overran the camp.

 

At this point I will draw the curtain as the Special Forces CO pulled his men into formation and reamed them a new one for getting overrun by a bunch of "God damm civilian re-enactors." He later congratulated us on a job well done.

 

Tom

Were you wearing MILES gear? If not, how would you know if they had killed you. If you kept walking toward them, even after being "killed" several times, eventually you're going to walk into their lines. Just wondering..........

[willysmb44]

Some years back our British unit (51st Highland Div - Black Watch) was involved in a re-enactment at an active Army base. Saturday night one of the base mucki-mucks came to the area where we were having our tacticals and said he had been watching us and was impressed with the tactics being used. He said they had a Special Forces unit undergoing training at another part of the base. Then came the punchline: "I want you guys to hit the SF camp at breakfast tomorrow. Give em hell!"

Re-enactors have often been asked to play OPFOR. When I was active duty, a unit on the other side of the airsfield from us needed some OPFOR guys, and my Brigade got tagged for that. The orders rolled downhill until they hit by Battalion. I was tagged because the Brigade XO knew I was into this stuff. He wanted us to play hell with them, so he gave me only one order; "Don't break the ROE and be creative as you can." "Hooah, sir!" I said and off I went.

I walked right into their enclosure dressed as a UPS guy once (borrowed the hat and jacket from my neighbor who loved the idea), and they didn't even notice I was wearing a MILES vest, was pointed to their TOC unsupervised. I walked right in and took notes of their positions, walked into the tent, pulled a M-16 out of the box I was carrying and wiped out the entire staff. Nobody took a shot at me at all, as I walked right back out, and soldiers kept running past be, thinking OPFOR was somewhere else.

The next day, they wanted us to break up patrols. I drove right up to their dismounted group in my WW2 Jeep, dressed in a M1942 jumpsuit (wearing a MILES vest but again they didn't notice) and yelled at them, "The whole German army is right behind me, and they ain't stopping for sh**!" My people said they easily got around that group as they stood on the trail, asking among themsevles what the heck was that all about, and were quickly wipted out to the man.

The XO of that unit wanted me butt nailed to his wall for all that. I wasn't playing fair, he said. The complaints got all the way to my Brigade CO (who is now a pretty well-known General) who I was told later said, "Let me get this straight, a Ordnance LT led a bunch of wrench turners and wiped you all out, and you think he's got the issue?" This was answered by a lot of staring at the floor. I would have given anything to have been there for that!

[TenthA86]

We got to play with a SF unit like that one time in the snow. They gave us all BFA AKs and we set a classic L ambush, hid in snow caves & let 'em walk past us. They had even been warned that there were "unfriendly locals" in the area, and the entire ODA walked right into the KZ. All our guys got off 1 clip and headed for the next county before they laid down any effective supression fire. Unfortunately we walked right into the B team over the next hill, who cheerfully returned the favor, but we all died laughing.

 

From where we were lying "dead" you could hear the Sr NCO (I think he was a Master Sgt) rip that team a new one. Nobody had MILES on - it was just based on the honor system - and according to that MSG, we got credit for the entire team, including the CPT & CWO. The bad thing was that this was their "Mountain" team that we hit, and it was a bunch of old farts and kids that hit 'em. Oh yea, they hit us that day and the next 10x harder and made our lives miserable, but that first firefight was worth it all.

 

I learned a few new words that weekend - didn't know you could do 'that' with a SAW!

[Darktrooper]

I was helping a local NG unit (back in ILL) by playing OPFOR. It was a SF unit, part of 20th group, and they were training up some people to go to the SF Selection course. They had me in one scenario Drive a Hmmwv into a linear ambush. After waiting for a half hour someone walked down the road and they set off the ambush early. So I Drove down the road honking the horn and flashing the high beams. half the team had already run across the killzone to secure it, the other half was still on the right side. As I drove by I could see the dumbfounded faces. It was great, never got shot at.

[sgtbrown]

Were you wearing MILES gear? If not, how would you know if they had killed you. If you kept walking toward them, even after being "killed" several times, eventually you're going to walk into their lines. Just wondering..........

 

This was in the late 80's-early 90's when MILES gear was just starting to show up. These guys didn't have it. Back then training, like re-enacting, was on the honor system. For the most part, the SF guys didn't shoot because they were so flabbergasted at what they were seeing come out of the fog. But the fact remained we caught them with their pants down at morning chow. That's the reason they got chewed-out.

 

Tom

[Darktrooper]

Some years back our British unit (51st Highland Div - Black Watch) was involved in a re-enactment at an active Army base. Saturday night one of the base mucki-mucks came to the area where we were having our tacticals and said he had been watching us and was impressed with the tactics being used. He said they had a Special Forces unit undergoing training at another part of the base. Then came the punchline: "I want you guys to hit the SF camp at breakfast tomorrow. Give em hell!"

 

It was a foggy morning. We surrounded the SF camp and hit it just as they were getting chow. They reacted to the gunfire but, frankly, they messed their drawers when out of the fog came WWII US troops, British troops and especially German troops. It was like a dream scene out of some movie. We overran the camp.

 

At this point I will draw the curtain as the Special Forces CO pulled his men into formation and reamed them a new one for getting overrun by a bunch of "God damm civilian re-enactors." He later congratulated us on a job well done.

 

Tom

That would have been Hilarious to watch. Would have been awesome if right before you attacked a bagpiper kicked up with Scotland the Brave! :thumbsup:

[USMCRECON]

This was in the late 80's-early 90's when MILES gear was just starting to show up. These guys didn't have it. Back then training, like re-enacting, was on the honor system. For the most part, the SF guys didn't shoot because they were so flabbergasted at what they were seeing come out of the fog. But the fact remained we caught them with their pants down at morning chow. That's the reason they got chewed-out.

 

Tom

If their training sylibus didn't call for possible engments with an eneny force (i.e. OPFOR, when they saw you they might have just thought you were a bunch of guys just fooling around......who knows.

[CNY Militaria]

The latest stories on this thread show that there are a lot of interesting and funny training/OPFOR stories out there! Would be an interesting thread on its own.

[VP_Association]

The Cold War Warrior: This poor soul served between wars. And he’s never gotten over the fact that he “missed” his chance. He’ll try to shoehorn his boring “laundry service aboard the destroyer I served on in the mid 80s” stories into any time he can. He might know a lot about WW2 and his collection is nice, but you get the feeling he only shows up to talk about his unrelated life.

 

I would not be so quick to dismiss all us "Cold War Warriors". I flew maritime reconnaisance aircraft (P-3s) during the 1980s and 1990s with the USN and USNR. The maritime patrol community flew an awful lot of dangerous missions during the Cold War - in fact, some of us would say that virtually every mission we flew was dangerous (my old squadron VP-8 lost an aircraft and everybody on board on a training flight over northern Maine just before I arrived in the unit, a few months after I left they crashed an aircraft in Sicily doing landing practice). A number of Privateers, Mercators, Neptunes, and Orions were shot down by the Russians, Chinese, North Koreans, and North Vietnamese during the Cold War era. In fact, you may recall that a Navy EP-3 was struck by a Chinese interceptor over the South China Sea within the past ten years or so and the crew just barely got that aircraft down alive (as I recall it practically flipped over on its back due to the damage sustained and it took the combined strength of both pilots to keep it from rolling over while they brought it in for an emergency landing in China). I personally flew ELINT and photo recon missions over Soviet naval anchorages off the coast of Libya during the 1980s and was illuminated by SAM and AAA radars all the while and could have been and expected to be shot down at any minute. It was called the "Cold War" because it really was a war, just a strange different kind of war where most of the fighting was done by proxy and the rules were somewhat unsettled. So, although I can understand the "laundry service about the destroyer" bit go easy on the Cold War Warriors. We had a job to do too and we did it. In fact, the Cold War is one of the few wars that we've won since the end of WW2.

[jumpwings]

I remember at a tactical, me and Tom Gow infiltrated the enemy lines, snuck around them on their backside, we could hear them talking in their camp, see them aswell, so close we could have reached out and touched them...

 

Then nite time, we separated, I got my parka on, helmet on, and slung my rifle and walked amongst the "German" lines, checked out all the positions and stuff, noted the fact they had wires (on reflection, should have cut them), got back to my lines and reported (Pete, ye remember?)... At one point, a "guard" shot his flashlight at me, but my silhouette must have been similar to a falshimjaeger wi the long coat etc, and my relaxed demenour, I dunno... But I pulled it off... and yep guys, done tacticals....

 

anyway, I still have loads of blanks from several tacticals I have attended...

 

Ohh, and talk of Army stories, I've heard a story going round the UK circuit of some UK Rock Apes led by a certain TA officer twat who got them ambushed by some re-enacors a few times, and eventually this twat got slung out the forces in any case... :w00t: