From: John Stewart-Smith (micdunn@ev1.net)
Date: Thu May 19 2005 - 11:17:26 PDT
All righty then, Sarge wants a word.
There has been a lot of discussion about snobbishness within our hobby.
The WWII guys don't want your M-series in their WWII convoy?
Why not? Perhaps because it is a WWII convoy?
Get over it.
The Vietnam guys don't want your WWII Jeep in their Vietnam era convoy?
Why not? Perhaps because it is a Vietnam era convoy?
Get over it.
The Star Trek fans don't want your Unimog at their convention?
You get my drift.
The period correct uniform is a little tougher, but here is my opinion.
I served in the British Armed Forces in the early seventies. I served in the
US Armed Forces from 1977 until almost the present day. According to some
peoples logic, that gives me the "right" to wear all of the uniforms that I
wore in service. From my UK cammies through my cotton fatigues, up to my
chocolate chip and BDU's. I agree, I wore these uniforms and I have the
right to wear them all, even my dress uniform with medals up the ying-yang.
However, do I have the right to wear a civil war uniform, a WWII Airborne
Ranger uniform or even a nazi ss uniform?
I did not earn them, but by God, I live in America, and I still have the
right to wear what I wish.
Keep reading, I'm not finished yet.
We have a young man in our MVPA chapter who wears a period correct WWII
Airborne uniform to public events. Did he earn this through his own sweat
and blood? Of course not. The majority of WWII Rangers are dead. This young
man is willing to REPRESENT the sweat and blood of those great warriors. He
is a living history exhibit. He is not, even remotely, attempting to pass
himself off as a true WWII veteran. That's ridiculous. He wants the public
to see what Rangers looked like 60 years ago. No more, no less.
The majority of our members dress in the period appropriate uniform for the
vehicle they are displaying. The public reaction is overwhelmingly positive.
I am impressed with their dedication and the amount of time they are willing
to spend on looking the part.
Because it is so important, I repeat, they are not pretending that they are
the real veteran.
How many fantastically detailed uniforms from the Civil War would you get to
see if we followed the "did not earn" the uniform policy? Zero is the only
answer.
One hundred years from now, do you want Vietnam forgotten? Or would you like
your great-grandchildren to see men DEPICTING what our Vietnam Vets looked
like?
Sorry if I appear to be ranting, I'm just an old grumpy Sarge, and SHOUTING
is how I used to get my point across.
-Sarge
LIGHTEN UP! That's an order !
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Fri Oct 28 2005 - 22:42:53 PDT