Deleted by poster.  

--Last edited by oldkingcrow on 2008-02-13 14:49:22 --

Chris,

Trust me, if I fit in so will you.

I'm an fat old man.  I was in Ewing's Foot Cavalry for the weekend.  I held my own, except on one sprint.

It really isn't that difficult, by man or material, to blend in well at these events.

Deleted by poster.  

--Last edited by oldkingcrow on 2008-02-13 14:51:23 --

Planning on Pea Ridge, Glendale, Pickets Mill, Marmadukes, possibly Stones River, and lots of other Tier 2 events as well as local authentic ONV events.

Chris, just do it.

I remember another Chris who dawdled in a similar fashion for over three years, and realized just how much he missed when he finally did attend something besides the samo-samo.  Rinse and repeat that a few hundred times.

I won't put words in his mouth, but Robert can probably fix you right up with a transitional experience about a one day ride away in mid-February.

Quote :

OldKingCrow wrote : But while I can talk the talk..... I cant truly walk the walk..and that doesn’t reconcile with my study and respect of CS history and neurotic commitment to accuracy....and it really comes from the heart

I think I understand where Chris is coming from. I figure I'm about done with reenacting, as I've always done it, at the end of the 145th. cycle of events. I'm just getting too damn old. I enjoy the CPH events I attend, but it takes me a week to recover after I get home. I've been blessed with a full head of hair that's still mostly brown and "Great Day" takes care of the mustache; but, I know how old I am. After a while, it just gets silly.  

I plan to stay in the Hobby. I'll be a civilian, or a Kabuki; but, I won't be a soldier, in the ranks, any more. Ken Mink was my hero. Ken made the transition as well as anybody I've known.  

I guess I'm missing out on what's actually being said here. I've been to c/p/h military events that are physically easy, and civilian events that are physically hard--just a matter of selection. Some of the most physically challenging events I've done have been as a civilian, and some of the easiest have been as a Confederate soldier, portraying a prisoner of war or clerk.

Increasing the accuracy of physical appearance just means choosing a role that more closely matches what someone like yourself would have been doing in the 1860s. One maybe can't find half a dozen events a year that fit both physical appearance and physical ability and are c/p/h, but there are some.

Are we talking about recovering from the wear and tear of traveling and the general excitement, regardless of what actual activity occurs at the event? Can't say I'm there yet, but my wife notices it, whatever we do, modern or period. A mainstream event would be no easier on her than a c/p/h one. A few days of travel and just any kind of "busyness," even if it's a modern vacation of staying in a motel and driving around sightseeing, requires more recovery time afterwards for her nowadays. Is that it?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

Quote :

hanktrent wrote : Increasing the accuracy of physical appearance just means choosing a role that more closely matches what someone like yourself would have been doing in the 1860s. One maybe can't find half a dozen events a year that fit both physical appearance and physical ability and are c/p/h, but there are some.

Hank,

I've been a military reenactor ever since I got into the Hobby. Most of the CPH events I've attended require you to carry everything you own on your back when you move from place to place. These days, my biggest problem is just sleeping on the ground. Friday night isn't bad, but I'm still sore from Friday, on Saturday night! But, physical issues aren't the real problem. Old age is the problem. We often talk about ten foot authenticity. From ten feet away, I can pass for a younger person. Closer than ten feet and all the wrinkles show. At the end of the 145th. cycle of events, I'm going to be almost 65 years old. Not many 65 year old privates in either Army. Heck, not many 65 year old generals in either Army. At some point, no matter how good your kit, your own face makes you a Farb.  

As I said, I'm not planning to get out of the Hobby. I just need to find different things to do.  

Deleted by poster.  

--Last edited by oldkingcrow on 2008-02-13 15:51:43 --

Quote :

Bill wrote :   Most of the CPH events I've attended require you to carry everything you own on your back when you move from place to place. These days, my biggest problem is just sleeping on the ground.

I'm probably not looking at this from the perspective of most reenactors, but in my experience, p/h civilians are often required to do the same thing, while soldiers at p/h garrison events do get beds. So it's more about picking the event, rather than civilian vs. military portray.

Quote :

Not many 65 year old privates in either Army. Heck, not many 65 year old generals in either Army. At some point, no matter how good your kit, your own face makes you a Farb.

That's exactly what I meant when I said "increasing the accuracy of physical appearance just means choosing a role that more closely matches what someone like yourself would have been doing in the 1860s." If you're sixty-five, you wouldn't be in the army, so what would you be doing at the time and place being portrayed? There you have it.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

Quote :

OldKingCrow wrote :  I fell in and spread blankets with a group who I shiteth you not, were cutting firewood with a Dewalt battery jig saw and lighting it with a propane torch

THAT, I would like to see!  

Quote :

OldKingCrow wrote : For me it is real simple I dont pass the 10 foot test. I stick out like the proverbial turd in the punchbowl in the ranks of authentic reneactors.

I'm still lost. I guess you're saying you don't believe you look physically enough like a soldier of the era?

But that doesn't eliminate attending c/p/h events, unless you resemble absolutely no category of people in the 1860s. Rather than trying to look like someone you aren't, why not just portray whatever you do look like? Westville Georgia's coming up.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

Deleted by poster.  

--Last edited by oldkingcrow on 2008-02-13 15:52:14 --

Chris, if that picture at Chickamagua is you, I gaurentee you will have NO problem fitting in at authentic events. I read that you are planning on coming to Pea Ridge as a spectator, why do you send in a registration and come with the 4th Ark or MO State Guard? You really are depriving yourself of great events for no reason.

Chris,

I'm soloing to Stone's river so there'll be room in the old 97 Explorer for you and your kit.

Quote :

hanktrent wrote :   I'm still lost. I guess you're saying you don't believe you look physically enough like a soldier of the era? But that doesn't eliminate attending c/p/h events, unless you resemble absolutely no category of people in the 1860s. Rather than trying to look like someone you aren't, why not just portray whatever you do look like? Westville Georgia's coming up.

Hank,

I've never met Mr. Rideout, but he and I seem to have the same issues. We're both just getting too old to do what we want to do anymore. It really doesn't matter what other people think, we look at ourselves in the mirror and know that's just not the face of a Civil War soldier. It seems Mr. Rideout has already given it up, while I'm going to hang in for another couple of years.

We both know there are other things within the Hobby we can do. I plan to stay involved, one way or another. I gather Mr. Rideout has already found a nitch that suits him.

Toss physical handicaps into the mixture that are not totally debilitating and when you get on beyond 60 just getting up off of the ground can be a task.  The mind is definitely willing, but the body balks, especially the day(s) after.  And, Mr. Trent, you are correct.  You start looking at what someone your age and physical condition would do in the 1860 era and find choices other than military. Are you going to be someone from affluence, a skilled artisan, or some other thing?  Yes, it is a dilemma.  

--Last edited by Curtis Makamson on 2008-01-29 09:35:54 --

Quote :

Bill wrote :   I've never met Mr. Rideout, but he and I seem to have the same issues. We're both just getting too old to do what we want to do anymore.

Okay, I guess I am coming at this differently. "What I want to do" at reenactments has no limit on age or handicap, because I want to try to experience life in the 19th century.

So as far as physical ability, as long as I can physically travel to an event, I'm all set. Twice in a 12-month period I have or will be portraying someone who's almost bedridden, so I've already got that part down. And as far as age, until I become older than the oldest living person in the 1860s, I'll still have a documentable role, even if it's portraying a Rev War veteran come out to watch the troops drill, like in Whitman's poem "The Centenarian."

I guess it's really true that different people want and get different things out of the hobby. It's gotta be hard to have to give up something you really enjoy, merely due to the passage of time.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net  

--Last edited by hanktrent on 2008-01-29 09:59:20 --

Deleted by poster.  

--Last edited by oldkingcrow on 2008-02-13 15:53:04 --