[RIR120]

Sigh...don't get me wrong - the show looks like it was great as usual: I've been reenacting since 1976 - Rev. War, Civil War, WWI, WWII but pictures like these remind me why I've basically done very little of it in recent years. Too many reenactors (and I include myself in this lot) are too old and too "robust" (fat) to put on a realistic impression. When I was 22, 30 pounds lighter and with no gray hair, sure...I could do any impression and look great (and I did). Also, and in some ways this is an even bigger sin as far as I'm concerned, everyone looks like they just stepped out of GQ centerfold in their freshly dry-cleaned uniforms! C'mon guys! Jeez, in MY DAY (yeah, yeah, walked to school in the snow up hill both ways) we'd actually seek out mud puddles to roll around in just before a show and I never, NEVER had my German WWI uniform cleaned. It was dusty, frayed, had a couple of repairs and MG grease/fouling on the cuffs from my 08-15.

 

[RIR120]

Many good points and observations here but I have to agree 100% with wyliecoyote's post 44. Although we've all seen plenty of photos of fat old guys in uniform, I defy anyone to show me evidence indicating such robust characters were consistently subjected to front-line duty which is exactly what us reenactors attempt to portray. Sure, they may have been rushed up to the front in poor shape but you can bet they'd get pretty lean pretty quickly! Me...I've liberated myself from the delusion that I can accurately portray a 20-something from any period and have largely hung up my WWI reenacting gear (unless someone decides to build a behind-the-lines bridge at Neuville that us "old" guys with sausage-stuffed breadbags could guard!) Thank God for collecting! Oh, by the way; saw a really neat photo the other day of a "civil defense" unit in Oregon the other day from just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Most were older guys (40s or 50s +-), probably some WWI vets, but they were carrying quite the range of home-supplied weapons including everything from shotguns to a CW-era Sharps carbine!