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Post by oldcontemptible on Dec 21, 2009 13:33:01 GMT -5
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Post by sgt4tharmored on Dec 21, 2009 15:36:12 GMT -5
nice
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TAFF
1st Lieutenant
Posts: 1,322
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Post by TAFF on Dec 25, 2009 9:45:44 GMT -5
You must be talking up British units on your side of the pond because we don't have that problem over here in the U.K. Infact they ran a poll a while ago on the U.K. forum after someone had a paddy about 'Too many Para's' and found that of the few groups in the U.K. portraying British Airborne Forces as their main impression, 2/3rds of them actually portrayed non-'Parachute Regiment' units, either Airlanding Brigade or Corps/Service units! Some had secondary 'Parachute Regiment' impressions (often along with both ground infantry and other units), there were plenty of individual noddies doing 'Para' (usually badly, but noddies tend to do anything badly so that's not an issue) but very, very few groups portraying 'Parachute Regiment' full time. Overall it was found that the majority of Brit. groups also portrayed non-Airborne/Elite/Commando/S.A.S. Gucci units, most were line Infantry with a good showing of support arms, Corps and Services being represented. Obviously if you look at the composition of the British Army then; many units won't be represented in a way that accurately reflected the size of the unit or the amount of scrapping they did. But after years of getting huffy myself about such thing's I decided to chill out a bit and just encourage people to do whatever it is they find interesting but do it to the very best of their ability. I think everyone goes through a stage of getting some sort of unit, nationality, theatre 'chip' on their shoulder, I know I did, but I think that can be taken as a sign of how much they care about a certain topic. Ultimately it was a bloody big and quite long war, no one unit, branch or nationality can legitimately claim to have done it all by themselves. It took a combined multi-national effort on land, air, sea and the home front to defeat the Axis. If we choose to only remember one small part of it then I think better that than the whole damn lot being forgotten. I suppose in the U.S. you often don't have the same motivation as many do over here when portraying Brits.. The regional/family history tends to be more of a factor with many over here when they decide what to reenact. Whereas in the U.S. I'm assuming that's more of an issue with people portraying U.S. forces, portraying the 'local' unit or what family members served in. The most popular U.S./German units reenacted in the U.K./Europe are the famous/glamouress ones Airborne, Rangers, Waffen S.S., Fallshi. etc., some Infantry, but usually the more well known/famous Divs. like U.S. 1st, 3rd, 4th, 29th, German G.D. etc. It's just the way the hobby runs, people tend to do what's well known unless they have a particular reason/inclination or the means (i.e. own Tanks, Aircraft, Battleships) to do something else. Realistically I'd say it was no more authentic to have ANY Infantry soldier 'slightly chunky', they didn't have the luxury. Off-course the age range for Paratroopers tended to be younger because of the need to have the fittest/reckless ones in that role, the rest of Airborne Divs. had a similar age range to what you'd find in a non-Airborne Infantry Div. on active Service. But one thing you didn't see was a 'fat infantry soldier' be he death-ninja Pathfinder or less glamouress county Regiment, they all had to have at least a basic level of fitness and physical toughness to be able to stick the job, irrespective of how they arrived on the battlefield. And this isn't a 'fat rant', what I'm saying is really it's no more of an insult to be 'far too old and much too large' portraying one thing as another, so we have to accept that this is a hobby and it's never going to be perfect. Equally someone may be the right/typical age and size but lack the means and knowledge to obtain the right uniforms and kit to be accurate, perhaps they lack the skills and training so make no more a convincing 'W.W.2 soldier' than any other random untrained bloke in old Army clothes. That's what I enjoy about the hobby, there are so many ways to screw up what we do, age and fitness are but two of them, there are many more pitfalls to avoid before we can claim to be doing it right. We could start dragging 18 year olds off the street, brain-washing them with hours of Vera Lynn, forcing them through 60 year old training then make them reenact. Unfortunately many of that age group so inclined are doing their fighting for real in a certain third world toilet at the moment, God love em. They are going through the same s#it that their grandads went through on some other battlefield, in some other war. I know I've posted stuff on here before but here's something fairly new incase anyone wonders what I actually look like when not being shirty on here: i99.photobucket.com/albums/l294/JonnyMansell/Arnhem%202009/IMG_0174.jpgTaken at Arnhem this Sept. out at Ginkel heath, just wondering why the wireless has gone quiet Airborne but not 'Para', though technically too old and nowhere near fit enough! I fullfilled a little ambition by staying in B.D. and smock for the duration to find out how warm it actually does get. The results were fine on the back of a moving Jeep but I was sweating like a pig as soon as I got off and started to move around, how they managed it back then I don't know!
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Post by Radford on Mar 12, 2010 18:06:41 GMT -5
Mate, my unit's been around for 20+ years. I'd like to see more line infantry units out there, but here on the west coast, I've seen them start and collapse while 1st Airborne keeps going strong. As Sgt. Tombstone said, the 1st AB has existed since the formation of the CHG in 1978. No other unit in the club has had a record length of unbroken service since then. Gary, 20+ years does not reach all the way back to 1978! Actually, the CHG 1AB grew out of the remnants of the old Coldstream Guards of the Guards Armoured Division after the split where the guys who had access to Jack Rabbit Trails peeled off and formed their own organization; the California Military Collector's Association. This was the early 1980's. By the time the CMCA and CHG re-merged, the 1AB had come into being, and the Guards Armoured withered away.
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dutch508
Private
Major, US Army Retired
Posts: 4
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Post by dutch508 on Mar 1, 2013 1:21:03 GMT -5
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Post by reddevil1311 on Jan 12, 2014 16:01:54 GMT -5
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