[Stargate] The Elephant in the Room

[David Whitford]

Just a few points-Im not saying Toras points are
wrong, just in need of clarification I think. WWII
groups do not always have folks just fall down, thats
for show battles. Tacticals have a different set of
guidlines like we do. ACW is very similar. As for
aunthenticity can we find a different term rather than
nazi, the longer I play and the more I strive for some
form of accuracy the more offensive I find that label.

Robert..babbling from work


--- robert smetek <robertsmetek at yahoo.com> wrote:

>   Howdy Y’all,
>    
>   As a one trick stick jock, who has done other
> reenactment groups before this one, the three things
> that have kept me coming back time and again is the
> real fighting with fake swords, the fact you can be
> as authentic as you want to be, and the pursuit of
> your personal interpretation of the Dream. >    
>   Point #1 – fighting)  I have been in Civil War and
> WWII reenacting.  They are basically a stage plays. 
> You or your commanding officer choose when you go
> down.  I have been told “We’re supposed to win this
> fight but we’re outnumbered so don’t go down to
> quickly.”  Also, I have seen a whole squad get mowed
> down by one pistol shot.  Funny to watch but not
> very realistic.  It’s also the fact that it’s
> historical reenactment.  I was also in Bamfgaurd at
> one time.  That was until I blocked my first
> fireball with a sword and was told I was dead
> anyway.  If I want magic missiles, I’ll play D&D. 
> In our combat, when you get hit hard enough to have
> gone through chain, it’s a hit. You have to practice
> and sweat to get good at this game.  When I fight, I
> feel like I’m making a connection to the past.  When
> you win, somebody didn’t hand it to you, you earned
> it yourself.  Your win was paid for by you with your
> sweat, tears, pain, and sometimes blood.
>    
>   Point #2 – authenticity)  I know I’m going to
> upset a few people with this one.  Let me start off
> by stating that authenticity can be hard and
> expensive.  We strive for authenticity without
> demanding perfection.  Maybe a newbie doesn’t have a
> country or year picked out so they go for a generic
> look for now.  Maybe the dinosaur wears the same
> garb every time because they have to scrape up loose
> change just to get in the gate.  We encourage an
> attempt at to at least cover up things that are to
> modern.  This loose attitude can be a boon to us. 
> In Civil War and WWII reenacting, they get as
> authentic as possible.  I mean really authentic. 
> One of our Sergeants got demoted for repeatedly
> wearing his socks on the outside of his pants.  It
> didn’t mater if he was a good leader or not just
> that he conformed to regulation dress.  On another
> occasion, a newbie had to buy a new Union uniform
> because the first set he got was made out of the
> wrong type of wool.  Those cloths aren’t
>  cheap either.  This may seam laughable but they
> mean it.  I have met people who we’re driven off
> because of a groups tireless pursuit of
> authenticity.  I have witnessed what happens to
> groups when Authenticity Nazis take over.  If the
> equivalent happened in the SCA, Kings could take
> awards away because the person wasn’t dressed
> properly for their persona.  A lot of people think
> it could never get this bad but remember that the
> other groups started with loose clothing rules like
> ours and they slowly got more dictatorial over time.
>    
>   Point #3 – the Dream)  Everybody has there own
> interpretation of what the Dream means to them. 
> This is as it should be.  It makes your Dream more
> personal.  For me, the Dream is a connection to the
> past.  The split second when you forget what time
> period you are really in.  It happened to me once
> during a Civil War reenactment.  I got up early one
> morning to check on our guards.  Being a Sergeant of
> the color guard, guess who was usually put in charge
> of our camp guards.  I walked through the perfectly
> reproduced campsite.  It looked like a lived in
> museum display.  At the edge of camp, the fog from
> the nearby field was trying to visit us.  I glanced
> across the shrouded field  toward the enemy
> earthworks.  There in the field was a solder.  He
> glided through the fog.  Moving without movement. 
> In that second, I was no longer a 16 year old high
> school student reenacting the Civil War.  In that
> second, I was Sergeant Smetek of the 13th U.S.
> Regulars on a mission for Uncle
>  Ab to defend the 13 strips and 34 stars of Old
> Glory.  It was so beautiful I cried. If I wasn’t run
> off by Politics and Authenticity Nazis, I might
> still be on those fields chasing down that one
> second.  As it is, I'm still looking for that one
> second in the SCA when I'm no longer a 30something
> office worker but a 30something peasant Samurai
> fighting to make a name for himself.
>    
>    Seeya,
>    
>   Tora
> 
>   
> ---------------------------------
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