From: m35products (m35prod@optonline.net)
Date: Thu May 19 2005 - 16:06:48 PDT
I concur with the Sarge.
I will add an amusing anecdotal piece of ammunition to the barrage:
There is a young man on Long Island who is currently a SGT with the 800th
Military Police. His MV is a WW2 Jeep. It is marked correctly for WW2 and
is a perfect restoration. At MV get-togethers he dresses in a WW2 MP Sgt.'s
uniform, and he really does look the part.
When he drives the Jeep to his base, he occasionally wears the WW2 uniform,
and he says that the guards never even question this apparition from 60
years ago driving past them.
APB
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Stewart-Smith" <micdunn@ev1.net>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 2:17 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] MV's not allowed to participate in the Veteran's Day
events locally
> 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 !
>
>
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Fri Oct 28 2005 - 22:42:53 PDT