From: Johnny (johnny8@cox.net)
Date: Thu May 19 2005 - 16:50:02 PDT
Sarge,
Just reading your rant made me tired.
However, I couldn't have said it better.
Thanks,
Johnny Coleman
SSG, USA
Retired
M35A2 W/W
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Stewart-Smith" <micdunn@ev1.net>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 1:17 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