Post by reconmart on Feb 15, 2013 22:11:15 GMT
When I started re-enactment back in 2000, most Nam groups were battle weekend orientated, and displayed at a few Mil shows, as time went on more groups would give up battling and do more shows, it seemed at that time no one could get all the Nam groups together, some groups feeling they were better than others and it would be beneath them to mix with other 'lesser' groups, I thought at the time, why don't they all get together and have a week long event, away from the public, no standing around, just getting out there and hump the boonies, we did this in 2002, when Gunmart came down to wales and did an article on the VLHG, that got more new members into re-enactment, I started off with Seal Team One, their shit was wire tight, Then I started 3rd Force Recon Company up, we had an ex SF guy train us in all sorts of stuff, patrolling, IA/Contact Drills etc, then in between battle weekends, we would practice all the stuff we had learned, plus reading tonnes of books on Force Recon and contacting the Vets Via email, this made reenacting one hell of a kick, yes guys do watch films and get great enjoyment from them, but its the guys that show you shit and the books that gave me the buzz and the guys from my Recon team 'RattleSnake' that made battle weekends something else, we had a good small NVA unit, that would hunt us down, we would be out there all day, sometimes the night as well, thats when that little bit of training would come into play, it wasn't a case of just getting in a line and mooching though the bush, every yard you trod, you would be checking the ground in front of you, strip scanning the bush,-20 yards-50 yards-100 yards, any bit of movement, anything/everything, knowing your team mates would be doing the same, always ready, always ready.
To me that is what reenactment is all about, then putting pics up on the website, I had a mother of a reconner email me thanking me for honouring 3rd force and that her young son was with 3rd force recon in 1969 and that he had passed away a little while back, that lady gave me her home address 'AND' phone number, I felt so proud and yet such a fake, I send her a christmas card each year, bless her. I never have liked doing public shows, there are a lot that do like displaying and I love seeing them all there, the Cav guys and SOG have it nailed, outstanding! why can't ALL the groups come together for a humdinger of a private meeting, wouldn't that be great, even people that just collect stuff turn up and do their thing, the Wales site is perfect for that, make as much noise as you like there. It could happen. I now Paul Walker and me tried this when we were in the group DELTA-TO-THE-DMZ a few years ago, but it was mainly members from that forum and not a lot of other groups wanted to attend, the 101 LRRP's came to one meet and it was a good weekend, theres no real reason for this post, Just need to get things off my chest, I had arranged for a battle weekend in wales, with some people interested, but that went bye the bye, so I'll just finish off my bottle of red wine and think about redecorating the hallway this weekend.
To me that is what reenactment is all about, then putting pics up on the website, I had a mother of a reconner email me thanking me for honouring 3rd force and that her young son was with 3rd force recon in 1969 and that he had passed away a little while back, that lady gave me her home address 'AND' phone number, I felt so proud and yet such a fake, I send her a christmas card each year, bless her. I never have liked doing public shows, there are a lot that do like displaying and I love seeing them all there, the Cav guys and SOG have it nailed, outstanding! why can't ALL the groups come together for a humdinger of a private meeting, wouldn't that be great, even people that just collect stuff turn up and do their thing, the Wales site is perfect for that, make as much noise as you like there. It could happen. I now Paul Walker and me tried this when we were in the group DELTA-TO-THE-DMZ a few years ago, but it was mainly members from that forum and not a lot of other groups wanted to attend, the 101 LRRP's came to one meet and it was a good weekend, theres no real reason for this post, Just need to get things off my chest, I had arranged for a battle weekend in wales, with some people interested, but that went bye the bye, so I'll just finish off my bottle of red wine and think about redecorating the hallway this weekend.
