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Coordinating Instructions

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  • Coordinating Instructions

    ***All Participants, Please Read This Carefully***

    In the interest of preventing this information being buried in the burgeoning main event thread, I have created this thread to better pass information as you prepare for the event.

    Here is the first installment of many that will be posted to keep participants informed. You will not receive everything at once, however, so that items can be absorbed and the information passed. You will be informed in a timely manner to accomplish planning, I promise.

    Friday's camp site is NOT at the event site. You will arrive at the main event site, check in, and be shuttled to the camp site. You will not have access to your cars once you get to Friday's site. Plan accordingly. You either pack light and freeze at night, or go heavy and lug all of your stuff with you. Don't leave it at Friday's site! It will remain unattended for the remainder of the weekend since no one is staying back there to mind it.

    We had planned to have a wagon follow us to carry various sundries, but that has fallen through. We are adjusting our plans appropriately. This means that some members in your Coy will need to carry some extra stuff like mess kettles, etc., since you will have to prepare your evening meal/Saturday breakfast at the Friday site. This is a good time to bring those small frying pans you were considering leaving behind and also bringing larger vessels to boil water. I am not telling you what you can and can't bring, I am merely telling you to be prepared.

    You will march back to the event site and into camp. We have a detailed transition plan and this should go smoothly. Once back at the event site, you can retrieve or drop off items at the "steel covered wagons" as appropriate. The march route is approximately eight (8) miles. While this is not a terrible distance, and during our last conditioning hike we covered it in just more than two hours, we have been hiking for months to prepare. Our pace was quick and we didn't stop to rest.

    That said, we will not move at the pace we conducted our last hike, but we will move at a decent pace to keep on our timeline. We have breaks built into the route. We have enough time to get this accomplished, gents, but not a lot to mess around. You will be participating in an authentic march conducted in CW military fashion. Make no mistake, you need to be prepared to conduct this march, particularly your feet and body used to carrying the gear you will bring. While no one is going to be left out on the route on their own, straggling slows all of us down so come ready for this effort. We have a dedicated medical and contingency plan. That too will be revealed at the appropriate time.

    A few other items:

    Ammunition issue; you need 80 rounds--40 in your cartridge box and 40 in arsenal packaging—This will go after the Saturday battle. This will only work if your men arrive with their ammo properly bundled (not in a plastic bag, loose, or just in shoddy packaging). Imagine having Seven ammunition boxes all filled with 1,000 rounds of ammo each! This is as it should be for our unit and I implore you to get on your troops to make this work. There is still plenty of time to accomplish this through a little individual effort. Since particpants will turn in their ammo before departing on Friday, and in an ammo box dedicated for your own Coy, if you do a poor job of this the only guys who suffer are within your own unit. If you want your own ammo back because you are so pleased with how your bundles turned out then mark the outside with a pencil with your name on it.

    We are portraying a veteran infantry unit that marched directly into a fight. You will conduct the march with a full cartridge box.

    Entrenching—We will entrench during Saturday and Sunday’s battle. Rather than dig with cups and plates, though the ground is sandy and easy to dig through, let’s do this as the accounts relate with shovels, picks, and axes. In a half hour, we could probably have chest-deep works built with headlogs for the entire battalion. Companies will provide their own tools and should have them marked with their letter designation on the back so people get back their implements. We will issue these by Company before each battle.

    Camp—We are conducting campaigner camping so there will not be Company streets or other regimented layouts to our camp. Each Coy will designate an area and there is plenty of room to establish shebangs, flys, and arbors if your unit is feeling industrious. We will have plenty of things to keep us busy, however, such as wood and water details, the aforementioned ammo and entrenching tool issues, and other administrivia soldiers know and love. We will have some refreshments on Saturday night as well as some great entertainment.

    Hope everyone’s preparation is going well otherwise. Not long now!
    Ivan Ingraham
    AC Moderator

  • #2
    Re: Coordinating Instructions

    Emails sent to Coy leadership.
    Ivan Ingraham
    AC Moderator

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Coordinating Instructions

      As promised, here is some more information to assist with planning and preparation. I have had a few (well, a lot) of questions about the ammunition issue. Here is the plan in plain terms:

      Ammunition Issue—I know some are not comfortable with these vignettes and many times they do not go well for a variety of reasons. Some see them as pointless; others are frustrated at having made good rounds and packages only to receive less-than-optimal rounds in return. So, we are trying to do this in the most equitable way possible.

      First, each Coy will have an ammunition box designated for spare ammunition to be turned in at check in. This will alleviate people carrying all of their ammunition for the weekend in their haversack or knapsack. It will be impressive to have seven full cartridge boxes available for use.

      Second, we have a working and fully functional Regimental staff. Units will have to account for ammunition expenditures and submit the appropriate requests for more ammunition after Saturday’s battle. Yes, your Coy staff will get the full experience of paperwork and quill driving on the proper forms; we are the only unit doing this, to my knowledge. The Coy’s will then draw their boxes and issue ammo packages to their soldiers.

      Third, and to make this as painless as possible, for the ammunition issues, please write your name in pencil on your cartridge packages. That way, when it comes time for ammo to be replenished, you will get back your rounds (which you painstakingly reproduced as if you were hand-sewing a sack coat, cutting no corners, of course!). If you don’t desire to do this--or aren’t picky about what you receive--then just turn in your ammo and you will be issued whatever is in the crate. Some people care, others do not.

      Last, remember that we are portraying veteran soldiers who know how to campaign. The unit marched into the fight with full cartridge boxes after marching for many days/weeks beforehand with a brief skirmish at Aversboro the week before, so these were battle-tested men who knew how to perform. So, please arrive with a full cartridge box and turn in your spare cartridges when you check in with us.

      Haven’t rolled your rounds? Not sure how to do it accurately? Not to worry, full instructions are on the Preparation page on the website and can be found through a link on the bottom of the page. Scroll past the conditioning tips to reach it. While scrolling down, reading those tips might also be worthwhile since getting in SOME semblance of condition even this close to the event is better than nothing.



      Lots more to follow on this site, via Facebook, and through your Coy leadership.

      Three weeks out, boys, and we will be at the event!
      Last edited by Ambrose Bierce; 02-27-2015, 10:51 AM.
      Ivan Ingraham
      AC Moderator

      Comment

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