Where does THIS END of the hobby need to improve MOST?

[LibertyHallVols]

By way of posting some positive examples:

Drill: Every sport practices before it takes the field to compete. However, I don't know of any/many groups that meet just to increase their proficiency in drill.

Stable local/regional organizations: A more stable set of company-level (heck, event platoon-level) organizations would do a world of good for "us".
- More depth of experience for officers and NCO's.
- Increased "espirit de corps" as each group gains in first person, drill, material culture, and other proficiencies. Plus, less time spent in the "getting to know you" period for ad hoc companies at events.
- Less time for event organizers recruiting for events: Commitment to the group creates "peer pressure" to attend events, moving this away from the event organizers and onto leadership of each group.
- Individuals have a venue to bring forth ideas for events, improvement, etc. and actually see them implemented.

...there's more, but you get the point.

[robert-m]

The thoughts that came to my mind were those as follows. They aren't meant for everyone. So I apologize ahead of time.

I know to many people that when making the change and getting into this side of the hobby are in ways not respected enough nor are they given the chance to try and improve. As those of which of my friends in the mainstream side of the hobby that are wanting to be more of a progressive and get things done the right way and want help get crapped upon by asking questions. Yeah the search links and what not are great but to many people blow up about it. I know personally 9 people that I stay in contact with through out the week DO NOT get on the forum because they are afraid that they will be gripped at or chewed out for asking a question or not having the right avatar, or correct kit. This is a great and wonderful hobby, but it will not last if we continue to shun people away that want to learn. I my self am fairly new to the forum. People don't get to me like some others that i am friends and pards with...

WE all are farbs in someway. I don't care who you are. We do not do this everyday for years on end. Yes we might do the somethings and put ourselves through things that almost 100% of the world thinks we are crazy for doing. BUT we love doing this and will continue to do so. I just really gets to me that someone that might not have the best kit and wants to learn and tries to better them self gets told to get off the forum and come back when they learn more. YOU CAN'T learn if you don't have a teacher. I had to learn how to feel my way around the forum pretty much on my own. Thank you to those who have helped me. I am still trying to figure things out in some ways.
But I am a teacher by profession. I know that If I do not do my best in my class room, my students will learn nothing. The same goes in hobbies. Just like this one. If someone is trying to improve. Don't push them away, for hobbies sake HELP THEM.

I also understand that we do not have to be here and be on this forum. But this is the only real logical choice when it comes to this side of the hobby. I also understand there are rules. It is that way in life in general, there are always rules.

I guess all my thoughts lead to one point. UNITE the hobby in a good way. If someone wants to make the move and become progressive lets help them. ( as a forum) We are the elite in the hobby as a whole. People should be able to look to us as a whole for help in any form, from kits all the way to helping a mainstream unit organize an event. the only way to help the hobby is to be active in it as a whole.

[PetePaolillo]

Lose the focus on Material! Focus on Method and Man. We tend to exclude people based on the thing that is the easiest to change. Anybody can put on good kit and look "Kewel". It is extremely evident here lately.
Fieldcraft, Drill, First Person, history knowledge, and embracing the suck is what we need to improve on. Getting yourself into the 19th century mindset in behavior and attitude should be our goal. We lose that or forget that all too often.

One last thing. Get off the computer and get to a quality event. The only way to improve is to get into the game! Nobody is improving the hobby by hanging out on the keyboard all day

[cwpilgrim]

Improvement?
Self-Improvement.
Your appearance, attitude, along with the protocol and responsibilities for the roll you are playing at a given event.
We have the pictures, memoirs and the manuals, so in most cases we have the information.

Study, practice and learn them. I see the events as the "Final Exam".

Will we ever 'arrive'? Nope.

However, as living historians, it seems we are each obligated to do our personal best in all areas.

Challenge: Before your next event, find 3 things to do to improve your impression. You know what they are.

[AndrewGrim]

We need to get back to the three legged stool, man, materials, and method. Materials is easy, there is no excuse to have Paki gear with all the good manufacturers that are approved vendors here on the Authentic Campaigner. The man, read books especially first person, swap with the rest of your mess, share the knowledge. The third leg of the stool is the most difficult, because you can’t reach it while at your keyboard, to put the method into practice you must get yourself to an event, even if it is you and your friends drilling and camping in the backyard. To learn the methods you might need to get some modern books, I would start with the Boy Scout Handbook, it tells you how to build a fire, set up a shelter, and navigate in the woods.

[PvtShot]

Gents,

1.) More organization on OUR end of the hobby.
- Seems like a new mess, unit, sub-unit, group, etc... pops up every week. Why?
- This would be an easy way to increase the quality control and help get everyone on the same page or even chapter for that matter...
- This would also help get more numbers to the EBUFU events and could also help in getting a large presence of "US" at the National events...
- This would also help to recruit new like-minded individuals as it would be less-confusing to know who, where, what to join...

2.) Be nice to eachother and learn some tolerance...
- There seems to really be some serious animosity among some of the groups out there and it really seems quite childish at times...
- There are so few of "US" out there, why can't we work together?

3.) More diverse scenarios at some of the EBUFU

4.) Getting large numbers together for the big national events, and figure out the best way to show the "others" how it should be done...
- I think this is the best way to "sell" OUR end of the hobby to the mainstreamer's on the fence...

[Pvt Schnapps]

I agree with the need to drill more, or at least study drill when we're not with others. I agree even more with the idea of reading more, especially the wonderful original sources that we find increasingly available on-line.

But my own particular wish is that people knew more about how the armies of the time were actually organized and run. Think how much easier first person would be if you could answer these questions for your various impressions at different points during the war:

*How much do I get paid? What's my clothing allowance and what does it cost to go over it if I draw, for example, an extra pair of pants?
*What's my money worth today, as opposed to last year? How do I send it home and is that worth doing?
*How much did I get for my bounty? How much is still outstanding? Who gets the balance if I'm killed?
*What happens to my stuff if I get killed -- not just the stuff in my pockets, but my clothes and equipment?
*If I get wounded, where will they send me, what happens to my stuff, and how do I get paid when I'm in the hospital?
*Same question if I'm captured -- is the exchange cartel still going? If I go to a camp, do I still get paid?
*How much is my state paying my family? If they're not paying them, what else might they be doing to help out?
*What are my chances of getting promoted? What other ways do I have of making extra money in the army?
*How do I get a furlough? What are my chances of swinging an "extra-duty" position in the rear?
*What's the difference between clothing, "camp and garrison equipage," and ordnance, and what does it cost me if I lose any of that stuff?
*Along those lines, when can I expect to stand inspection again, and what's going to happen if I'm missing any of my gear?
*How do I get new clothes? Who draws it, and do I have to sign for it?
*How often can I expect to do guard, fatigue, or detached service? Who keeps track of those things?
*What's an "Assistant Commissary of Subsistence" or does the Quartermaster take care of that?
*What does the adjutant have to do with the sergeant major and the first sergeants?
*When do I report for sick call, and who keeps track of that?

I could go on (and do -- I realize!), but these aren't terribly difficult to find out, and knowing these mundane aspects of army life would give everyone plenty of material for realistic conversations and complaints (not to mention a better understanding of the day-to-day mechanics of the armies we purport to represent). It would be even better if we could discuss the details of farming or 19th century crafts, but seems to me this isn't a bad place to start.

[estephenson]

Drill Drill drill, and more drill. Dress parade. Basic rifle maintenance. I recently got a complement on my "new" rifle ping, even though it is 20+ years old. Every rifle should be clean.

[tinman1863]

I think that the most recurring theme or opinion is attitude, and I agree. After twenty years in the hobby, I am considering letting go of everything that I have and quitting. Back in the day, this was more about getting together with friends and having a good time. The last couple of events that I did, it was more of a round table discussion on thread counts and documentation and the such which is not a bad thing but it does drive people away when there is nothing else to do. Let's face it, there are not that many people willing to make big events happen and that's sad when one thinks back to the '90s when you had the large Franklin event and so on. What was being done differently then? Can it make a come back? I really hope that we didn't drive the lifestyle and hobby into extinction. Like I said, I haven't been to a large scale event in a long time, so if my comments are misplaced, forgive me. These are just observations.

[Hank Trent]

Back in the day, this was more about getting together with friends and having a good time. The last couple of events that I did, it was more of a round table discussion on thread counts and documentation and the such which is not a bad thing but it does drive people away when there is nothing else to do.

What's funny is that my experience at the last military event I went to was just the opposite. If this thread had been started five or ten years ago, you would have heard an ear-full from me, but now I don't know what to say, because I'm seeing this end of the hobby on a quick upward curve.

The last military event I attended was Backwaters, and it was the first time I'd been in a military camp that seemed like a military camp for the whole event. No, it wasn't perfect and it never will be, and I contributed as much if not more than anyone to make it not perfect, but it took my breath away. It was like a time machine. It was what I'd always imagined reenacting could be. Maybe I was just lucky to be assigned to the right place, but it seemed to be the same everywhere in Federal camp. I'd only ever seen that kind of cohesiveness and application of research when participating as a civilian, not that that's saying much, since civilian is what I usually do and I don't get to many all-military events.

It's the incredible detailed touches of research that are actually applied during the event, that impress me. Yeah, there are the mainstreamers who just want to socialize, and the hardkewls who just want to talk stitches, but then there are reenactors who just get out there and do their best to reenact the past, and that's what I call "this end of the hobby."

Just two random examples:
--Little sticks were randomly dropping out of a tree at night, to our surprise. We were a German and two Americans. The German in his accent suggested it was a "poltergeist, a mischevious ghost." We Americans reacted sorta like, "Huh, that's interesting, hadn't heard of that." It was like stepping out of a time machine. I was watching the English language change as immigrants brought their own culture to the melting pot--in addition to all the other military-history things going on.

--Before the event, I'd been reading about torpedoes left in the road for unsuspecting Yankees to run into and be killed, and Sherman had threatened to make prisoners ride ahead on wagons to clear the roads to detonate them. It was a new bit of trivia for me, but something men at that time and place would surely have been aware of when traveling unknown roads. During the march, the CS prisoners were being marched ahead of the column. One Federal soldier near me said to another, "Why are the prisoners marching up there?" The other answered, "Probably because of the torpedoes." Again, like stepping out of a time machine. Wow.

It was like that, just over and over again. If there's any direction to go, I think that's it: More details, more complexity, more application of research. It's challenging, but I'd rather feel like I'm a 21st century person struggling to keep up with the living history around me (which is how I felt at Backwaters), than be bored wondering when we're going to quit with the socializing and stitches and actually start reenacting.

Oh, and leave the cameras at home. They add nothing--in fact they take away from all the effort--and they don't capture what's great about events anyway.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com