Guarding Savannah AAR

[toptimlrd]

I had fun, how about you?

(Somebody had to say it) ;)

[Spongebucket]

Re: Guarding Savannah AAR

I will have to say that it was a wonderful event. Though I am still decompressing from the whole time and may have to write a little more later. My hats off to Herb and Jordan for organizing this event. Of course I want to thank Danny Brown, site manager, for letting us do this program. Having worked at Ft. McAllister, it was always good to see quality folks doing programs. This time, I got to be part of it. From the commisary, to the commeraderie to the fun at the hot shot furnace.....a GRRRRRREAT time.
Thanks to all who put this together and particated.
my 2 pennies,
Joe Blunt

[Coatsy]

Re: Guarding Savannah AAR

My thanks go out to the men who put their time, money, and effort into attending this event. My main goal/hope is that all got a slice of life in this coastal garrison. The drill, the camps, the wind, the bugs, guard duty at 4 am, and the camraderie that the men of Fort McAllister had this weekend was truely amazing.

I was told that our being there as "volunteers" netted the park $3500 from state funding and the tours of the fort. EPIC!

Out of 42 registered we had 36 present. Not to bad for a week that saw gas prices shoot up.

The rangers Danny Brown and Talley Kirkland both told me that the event was outstanding from their point of view, and the men of the recreated garrison should be proud of their efforts. From the excellent commissary to Jimmy Dunnigan's "This is not a democracy sir, this is the Republican Blues." comment, I thank you so much for making this event possible.

[PetePaolillo]

Re: Guarding Savannah AAR

It was a great event. The group that came and the weather at the Fort was stellar! These guys put the effort into this one, and I will not forget my time on the Ogeechee. Thanks Herb and Jordan and supporting cast. My hat is off to you all. My overall expierence was fantastic.
The commisary cooks and their rations was one of the
highlights for me. I enclosed a photo of the Men who fed us so well. Their impressions were second to none. Here is a photo of the boys in their element as taken by Wendell Decker. They should all be proud of this photo and the amzing job they did. It is one of the best I have seen in a very long time.

Another high point for me was getting to view and photograph the recently recovered 200lb 8" Parrot Rifle Shell. This was unexploded ordnance found in the water right off of Ft McAllister. It was fired by the Federal Monitor class Ironclad "PATAPSCO" on March 3rd 1863. They know it was from that Iron Clad, because it was the only one with an 8" Parrot Rifle of the three Iron clads that fired on the Fort that day! The other two were the PASSAIC and the NAHANT. Cool Stuff right there! Thanks to Danny for the priveledge to be able to view and photograph an amazing relic.

[FloridaConscript]

Re: Guarding Savannah AAR

Bully event. Hats off to the AG for again planning and putting together an event that breaks from the "samo samo". Commissary fellows did a fine job, as did the some dozen officers in their inspection capacities. Really want to point out how much time and effort Robbie Mitchell put into it. i hope his return was worth the cost of investment.

bryant

[Sanssouci]

Re: Guarding Savannah AAR

Gents,
I'll second that! I had a great time and truly appreciate all the hard work / research put in by all participants, especially the AG. Well worth it!

Red H.B. Turner

[chadwick]

Re: Guarding Savannah AAR

The commisary cooks and their rations was one of the
highlights for me. I enclosed a photo of the Men who fed us so well. Their impressions were second to none. Here is a photo of the boys in their element as taken by Wendell Decker. They should all be proud of this photo and the amzing job they did. It is one of the best I have seen in a very long time.

They did a super job all weekend working through the heat and bugs to get us three good meals a day. I have not eaten that well at an event in years.

Our mess had a great time all weekend. Red Turner's glowing orange ball Saturday night was something to see.

[Coatsy]

Re: Guarding Savannah AAR

Red's attempts to make the cannonball hit all colors of ROYGBIV were impressive. I think the hot shot furnace was maxed out this past Saturday.

Bryant, Robby has been reported to have landed safely back at his compound from the swarm of gnats that snatched him out of the parade ground on Sunday.

[biggumbo]

Re: Guarding Savannah AAR

My hat is off to the Herb and Jordan and all of the AG for planning and hosting this event, it was a great experience and one I'm glad I had a chance to attend. I have a whole new appreciation for seacoast artillery after working that 32-pound gun all weekend; however, I don't think I'll want to see rice again any time soon. It's hard to beat the merriement of a fine vintage dog bowl by the glow of a blazing hot shot furnace.

[Bones]

Re: Guarding Savannah AAR

a large time was had by all ,great work and a great fund raiser.


Doug "Bones" Jarrett

[Matt Woodburn]

Re: Guarding Savannah AAR

Alright here I go.

I had a wonderful time and want to thank Herb and Jordan for all their work to make this event come off so well. I will list the highlights for me in no particular order...

The commissary of Robert Saye, our Quartermaster Sgt., and Lewis, Dillon, and Ricky can cook up a storm. They can do a repaeat at any event as far as I'm concerned. They were on time with hot meals every time. Not to mention they had to keep coffee going and the hot shot furnace fired 24/7. They all did a killer job and it was appreciated by the entire garrison. And how many events do you really get to eat shrimp for dinner? Loved it!

Mrs. Crabb, our garrison sutler, had everything needed from clothes to tinware, to food of all kinds. Her tinned vegetables and sauces worked very nicely for the officers mess and allowed me to supplement the officers mess with a fine soup one night and a gumbo on another.

Delivering the boxes from home during mail call fun and seeing what everyone got was even more fun. Watching Kiev enjoy one of the cigars in his box was good.

The Quartermaster issue was a highlight, especially when guys showed up, signer the proper form and then were given their requisition from the previous month which had come in. When guys asked, "Who do I give this back to.." it was great to simply tell them, "It's yours." The thanks and amazement was priceless. We issued 5 shirts, a haversack, a blanket and 3 caps, so about 30% of the garrison. And anyone who got a shirt, if you want to, you can clean your gun now. The shirts weren't great, but for a 4 day event, a clean shirt is a precious commodity! And Kiev, I love the cap. Wore it all the way home on the plane.

The officer's mess was wonderful. Good company and all the little things were very much appreciated. It was also nice to be joined by Mrs. Crabb on a couple occasions.

It was great to see friends from my former home state, Indiana, who made the trip. Justin, Darren, Andy and Cliff I wish we could have spent more time.

After the detail on Friday, most guys should have found something extra in their tent that added to the event. And speaking of adding to the event, there was a trash pile that many guys were finding things that they could use during the 4 days. Hope you didn't miss that.

After Lt. Craddock's weapons inspection, I was glad, as was the post commander, Tripp, to issue cleaning patches for the bores, and rags and rotten stone to clean up the few rifles that needed attention. I think everyone's hard work paid off, because when Robbie came through as the inspector, I've not seen such clean weapons. Orderly Pete Berezuk must have kept you boys at it for a long time to get them that clean.

I enjoyed cleaning up the magazine with Cam Stinnett's detail. We hauled out every box, wiped them down, and all the powder barrels were rotated and marked.

The friendship, singing, and moonshine flavored with Runyon's peach juice and and strawberry juice out of the dog bowl was great. And I've never seen a red hot cannon ball burn like that before. A great time!

Good event!

[sam H]

Re: Guarding Savannah AAR

I have been depressed about having my ride situation fall out on me all week. I had been looking forward to this event for a while now. Glad it was a good event for those who made it.

[Jim of The SRR]

Re: Guarding Savannah AAR

Many thanks to Herb, Jordan and the others who worked diligently on this event. It scored in an 'A' in my book.
- The commissary was OUTSTANDING!
- I really enjoy artillery drill. Kiev and Blunt did a fine job patiently drilling us on the field piece and showing us the PROPER way to do it.
- Craddock did a fine job with our magazine cleaning detail. I never even thought about the maintenance on the magazine that would have been required. It was also nice to get it cleaned up for the site.
- I enjoyed friday night guard duty because I was up on the parapet overlooking the river. It was breezy (no gnats) and beautiful. When the inspectors came, I played right into the firper of the Yankee ship movements, etc.
- One negative was that I really felt stretched too thin. As a soldier, I would have been rotated out a long time earlier from being on 'duty'. At one point, I was literally on three duties at once!
- I feel that all the officers had our company a bit stretched thin on details/duties. Companies would have been rotated out on and off duty. I was really never 'off' duty. I slipped off between duty to go the sinks and I missed being called for duty. Sorry, it was just too many details and duties consecutively without end and sometimes multiple duties at the same time. Men would have had some time off duty. I even had hoped we might get to fish a bit.
- I also felt that they should have rotated the men on the field piece on Saturday.
- Great job on providing pre-event information and research. It was clear what the event was about, the impressions looked very good in my opinion. Firper ebbed and flowed, but was good when we in our immersive time zones (like the long roll on Fri night).
- Finally, my compliments to our NCOs, who did a fine job with all details and drills. I know you had lots of duties to have fullfilled and I felt you all juggled it very well.

So, my deepest thanks to Herb and Jordan for the great work they did on the event! I know it is not easy getting this all put together, but I think you did a fine job and did a wonderful service for the park.

Regards,
Jim Butler
Pvt. - 1st GA Infantry, Co. C - Republican Blues

[Pvt_Sullivan]

Re: Guarding Savannah AAR

Comrades,

First off thanks for the kind words about my performance at Guarding Savannah. It makes me happy to know that my efforts were supportive and additive to the event for the organizers and participants.

I'd like to thank Kiev Thomason for offerring me the slot of Orderly Sergeant for his company, it was a honor and I'm glad to have been of service. I think the company books are up to date, at least for the enlisted men.

I would also like to recognize the NCOs that helped me run the company this past week, Cameron Stinette, Robert Collette, Pete Paolillo, Justin Runyon, Jim Dunigan and Red Turner for their support and efforts making a disparate group of men into a military organization.

The Armory Guards hit another one out of the park this past week. They took some top notch research based on a particular unit and site and pulled together a fine set of living historians to recreate not just the activity and look of Fort McAlister in March 1864, but also the "Feel" of it. Granted mother nature supported by sending variable weather and full Air Force of sand fleas to befuddle us, but it was the efforts of the individual men in the ranks like Craig Wolf, "Bones" Jarrett and Clifton Catt that ensured the primping officers, grumpy sergeants and the rest of their comrades and the visiting public had a superior experience.

Some highlights...

- Damn those sand fleas, brought back some interesting memories

- A new uniform and a thoughtful present from home

- I sure was glad that I went over the proper procedures for challenging and recieving the countersign with the company

- Robinson, Jones, Saye and Woodliff are a fine set of cooks, thank you guys

- OH... Captain Dixon is visitng the Savannah Book Club, again!

- I will not assume in the future that everyone knows what constitutes "heavy marching order".

Thanks again fellas... this is another fine set of memory that I will cherish.

And yes, I did have fun...

[PetePaolillo]

Re: Guarding Savannah AAR

Sgt., I do hope the Dark Rum hidden in the tree hollow before the Soldier Health and Safety Inspector Captain Grant ( Robby), showed up in camp, ended up in the proper hands and was enjoyed Sat. Night. It was quite unfortunate for me and Private Merrit to have come down with the fever late Saturday afternoon and had to spend time convalescing in Savannah. I am feeling quite lively now and ready to rejoin the ranks.
I can't say the same for that poor souled Merrit. I am afraid the fever has attacked his mind and he has become a loon.:p :wink_smil
It was a great learning experience serving as the 1st Corporal in Co. C. I trust that the other Corporals had little trouble carrying the additional workload. They were top quality. I appreciated the vote of confidence and the guidance and leadership you showed me. I was a bit disappointed Captain Dixon (Kiev) never returned with any fish or Deer after his constant hunting and fishing expeditions with Major Anderson (Tripp).