I guess I should have realized someone was going to cut through my post like a tornado through a trailer park? After years of active duty and watching tactical events, these days, I mostly focus on the display aspect of the hobby. Not that this should make any difference. But I'm sure it will to someone...
That's why I rarely do stupid "public" events. Second, perhaps try and actually get into the period and not just dress up. If you've been in this hobby for 30 years, how is it you can't "feel" the time period? And why continue if it's just playing dress up and busting caps?
It's impossible to "feel" a time period (seriously, it took me five minutes to quit laughing once I read that, knowing you were serious when you wrote it), when nobody else around you is. Every single event I have ever been to in several different time periods and locations, folks have wanted to talk about the latest stuff they just found, movies they'd just seen, research they had just discovered new information from. Maybe you do events every single weekend with the same people and feel no need to catch up with what they're doing. More power to you then, but for at least 99.999% of everyone else in the hobby they seem to want to talk about things that are really going on.
And that, Dorothy, is where you're going astray. I've seen it done numerous times in WWI reenacting and ACW. Hell, I've seen it done well in WWII also, for that matter. Why are you doing this? Are you one of those guys who takes off his uniform the instant the battle is over? Who leaves very early Sunday morning or worse, Saturday night? Do you have any Axis friends? Or are we just them nazzzis?
Actually, I'm one of those guys who re-enacts, and more importantly, doesn't make blanket assumptions about folks I have never met. Even more so, I realize that no specific group is any better than another when it comes to uniform choice. I know all too well that you can't assume that just because someone wears one kind of uniform that it means I can assume they'll act a certain way. Maybe you'll realize that yourself someday. My choice of who I hang with is limited to folks I am friends with. I don't pay attention to the color or insignia on their uniforms in that regard. Why do you? Why would you automatically assume just because I do US I hate German re-enactors or never talk with them? Where on earth did you read that in my post? Your ideas that only the Allied folks pack up early is pretty asinine as well. I've seen plenty of other folks do that as well, regardless of the uniform they were just wearing, in spite of your elitist attitude toward Germans. By the way, the "I was issued this" comments have been made by others I have heard, not me. I never said I was the one who said that.
So, they're your friends, you reenact together, but all you can talk about is modern BS? WHY? A goodly part of the problem is you're just thinking like a modern AMAIRICUN instead of a 1940's American. If you don't want to try and relive the period, to "feel" it, then why are you doing it? Hell, you could just go play paintball or airsoft a LOT cheaper and easier too. First Person can really let you feel the time period and will allow you to get more enjoyment out of it ? it's hard, you have to actually TRY something different vs. it jsut coming to you all nice and neat on a platter.
It's tough to "feel" a time period (by the way, thanks for the good laugh, I'm still chuckling at that phrase) when everyone around you is talking about the neat stuff they found at a show recently, what their kids or other guys who aren't there are up to, etc. It's more so difficult when you don't see some of these people for long periods of time and you'd like to talk with them and perhaps catch up with what's going on with their lives. Maybe you do events in some kind of Utopia, but after all these years, I have never been to an event where EVERYONE is in first person. Now that I think on it, I've never even seen more than one or two folks do this and it never lasts for very long anyway.
So, they're your friends, you reenact together, but all you can talk about is modern BS? WHY? A goodly part of the problem is you're just thinking like a modern AMAIRICUN instead of a 1940's American. If you don't want to try and relive the period, to "feel" it, then why are you doing it? Hell, you could just go play paintball or airsoft a LOT cheaper and easier too. First Person can really let you feel the time period and will allow you to get more enjoyment out of it ? it's hard, you have to actually TRY something different vs. it jsut coming to you all nice and neat on a platter.
We were discussing why Amis always cut out as soon as the battle is over. Why is that?? Hell, we're all reenactors... do you think we're REALLY evyil nazzis? Come on over, we don't bite -- we drink beer.
And where exactly did I write
anything about not talking with the Germans or looking down on them? What exactly has happened to you that makes you feel oh so superior to everyone who doesn't' wear your uniform? You asked earlier if I talked with the German guys. If any of the local guys acted like you, I sure wouldn't!