Reenacting Safety Question

Quote from: GulfportEagle77 on December 23, 2008, 12:20:29 PM

I've wanted to get into WWII reenacting for sometime now, and have been looking for German units in my area.

Johann, first, tell us where you live?

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I have a question about safety during the battles, that hopefuly someone on this board can help me out with. In my research on the hobby, I've come across a couple of instances where reenactors were shot on accident by other reenactors using live ammunition. I think both cases I read about were dealing with ACW reenactors (not sure if that matters or not).

Not gonna lie, it's happened. However, it's rare... rare as an honest member of Congress rare, though. Really! Just friggin' rare. I know some folks will tell me not to even say anything, but it has happened once or twice. I've never been at an event where it did though and I've been doing WWII since 1991. 99.99999999% of events are extremely ANAL about safety (as well they should be), but I will tell you that there are NO guarantees in this hobby. You can get hurt, however it's gonna be you tripping and falling or something dumb... not getting shot.

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I was just wondering if anyone could shed some light on this issue for me, is this something that happens infrequently, and what kinds of precautions are taken to make sure that blanks are used during battles?

Again, it's ultra rare. Precautions? Most have an ammo inspection and go over safety. Look, no one WANTS this to happen, so they check, but it's on YOU to be a big boy. To police yourself. Here's a bit from something Great War Militaria had written about WWI reenacting years ago... it still holds true for WWII also:

It's all there for you to experience, and what you get out of reenacting is directly determined by what you put into it. You can live for days in a bunker without the modern world intruding--living like they did, without a bath or comfy bed to sleep in. You can get drenched to the skin, muddy all over, and still fight to hold or retake a section of the line, during a downpour. You will throw grenades into an enemy trench, take part in all-out assaults on the enemy's line and then face the thrill of repelling a mass of men swarming over your barbed wire into your trenches. Experience being part of a raiding party and storming the enemy's trenches. Or, if you're careless, you might have your throat cut by a silent raider while strolling through your own rear lines. You can be a machine-gunner, a mortar man, or just a grunt--it's all up to you and your involvement in the hobby. One thing we can promise you is that by the end of the event, you will be totally exhausted, as you never have before. And... you will find muscles in your body that you never knew were there. You will also acquire a new outlook on the term "re-creation" as opposed to "reenactment."

And on top of this, you just need to understand that YOU are responsible for YOUR actions. You have to have control and some discipline. Common sense rules. Last thing, if you want to be safe, perfectly safe, stay at home! War is frakked up, war is dangerous. Reenacting war can have dangers too, there are no guarantees, no assurances of safety—just the event. You get out of it what you put into it. It's not some modern "happy-happy, joy-joy, politically correct, everyone is permitted to win thing.

Does that answer your question?? dragon

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