Mess Pans Lost

[Terry Sorchy]

I had two Large Mess pans that I obtained from Steve Osman. One was used the other was new. They were with Charles and the commisary this week and were not returned. I need them for an event in two weeks and have to have them.
Thanks
Terry Sorchy

[DougCooper]

Re: Mess Pans Lost

I had two Large Mess pans that I obtained from Steve Osman. One was used the other was new. They were with Charles and the commisary this week and were not returned. I need them for an event in two weeks and have to have them.
Thanks
Terry Sorchy

Terry - I think I have one of Steve's mess pans if the other two don't show up. Let me know.

[Terry Sorchy]

Re: Mess Pans Lost

Also missing is a large ladle with straining holes. All three of these items were in the commisary officers possession at the start of the event.
Terry Sorchy

[Old Reb]

Re: Mess Pans Lost

Terry,
Also missing is half your command that is still huddled in the woods awaiting you to return from looking for your mess pan!

[Charles Heath]

Re: Mess Pans Lost

Tom, that may be true. If so, at least the Bayou Yeti and DeSoto's pigs will be well fed in the coming weeks.

Terry, I may have your utensil as described via PM, however, your mess pans are not with the QM, Commissary, or Ordnance items. They may have been with the excess property in the maroon van at the first night's campsite. This is one of the reasons we do an inventory the first night, and make sure the wagons are guarded until properly offloaded -- otherwise the wagons are overwhelmed as if a scene from the arrival of the rice distribution truck at a Darfur refugee camp.

Theft and attempted theft amongst the federals at ITPW reached an all time high, IMHO. This reflects poorly on a few individuals.

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Mess Pans Lost

As we returned to Lotus Camp, there was a small covered pavilion-thingamabob with tables underneath it that was set up next to a large modern domed tent. At one end of the table there were two Osman mess kettles. They were the same size (I'm guessing the mid-size of the set of three nesting kettles) and I was told that they came from near the rear of the maroon van in the lot.

Are these the missing items? Not sure what happened to them, but I know they were there after the event.

[Terry Sorchy]

Re: Mess Pans Lost

John,
No I got those, these are mess pans.
Terry Sorchy

[the other nathan]

Re: Mess Pans Lost

I cannot help but think that a little discipline on the part of the officers - passed on to their men - would have been beneficial. Seeing a horde of people (I'd say animals but mean no disrespect to those poor mules) swarming the wagons to take what they perceived to be needed or their own, I am surprised that there are not more missing items.

Charles, my hat off to you, Will, and the mule skinners for striving maintaining order and preserving what you could of the commissary stores. If you need an armed guard at the next event, there is a platoon from Co G that would be happy to assist. It would seem to me that you had a harder time defending the contents of the wagons than the Rebs had defending their rear.

-my 2 cents

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Mess Pans Lost

Seeing a horde of people (I'd say animals but mean no disrespect to those poor mules) swarming the wagons to take what they perceived to be needed or their own, I am surprised that there are not more missing items.

When and where did you see this horde?

[Eric Fair]

Re: Mess Pans Lost

- post deleted -

[NewHopeChurch]

Re: Mess Pans Lost

Being at the wagons myself during that rainy Friday morning, I can give a tad bit of light to the event.

There was indeed a "horde" of 10 or so men about the wagons, myself among them (after being evacuated a few hours before, my gear was put on the wagons by my pards and hauled back to Cane Camp.) But it was not a horde in the traditional sense. Men were standing about, admittedly a bit anxiously, in the rain, but they were letting the muleskinners and other wagoneering personel do their thing and offload the wagons at their own pace. When a man saw his gear get offloaded and laid in the soaked grass, he went to it, inspected it, and picked it up.

Men were NOT climbing aboard the wagons, grabbing whatever gear was nearby, and/or tossing aside anything not ours. From a distance, one would see a group of men standing in a semi-circle around the wagons. That was it, though. Don't make accusations based on an incomplete observation, please.

[Michael Comer]

Re: Mess Pans Lost

I am curious as to how much control the officers were supposed to have at this point. The event was over, companies had disintegrated as people went to their vehicles to change and get ready for the ride home, people had left already, the wagons were in the CS camp yet there were still people in the Federal camp etc. Makes it kind of hard for an officer to try to direct anything I would think. Plus, how long after an event does a pretend officer's authority extend?

[NewHopeChurch]

Re: Mess Pans Lost

Plus, how long after an event does a pretend officer's authority extend?

You mean I don't have to listen to you anymore, Mike? :p

[Gallo de Cielo]

Re: Mess Pans Lost

All,

I suspect the poster who has inflamed many of you was speaking as much about trips to the wagon DURING the event, rather than in its rainy end moments. I lingered to the rear in the evenings to be away from the pickets and other military matters which didn't concern me and did see a fair number of folks going to the wagons. What they were after or getting I don't know.

I'd also like to ask that this petty squabbling cease. I would hope that the four days of heat, cold, rain, and sunshine that we all shared together would propel us through such nonsense. Of a reenacting community of many thousands and a registered authentic campaigner strength of several thousand, roughly 200 folks answered the bell and came to Kisatchie to get a taste of soldiering. The bond that all of us share is one which only a handful of men can boast. Let's not lose sight of the forest for the trees. Too many folks get huffy over trite matters. Let it rest friends.

While I don't miss the sore feet and miserible shaking wet and cold, I do miss the many fine men I had the chance to spend most of a week with in Kisatchie. I'd rather not have my impressions of you fellows sullied with squabbles over mess kettles, slotted spoons, and other minutia.

[Wagoneer]

Re: Mess Pans Lost

I am sorry the Wagoneers were not able to stay out in the rain at the wagons when we got to camp. After the 10 miles back to camp in the cold wind and rain, we were unable to feel our feet or use our hands. We were watching from the back of my horse trailer with propane burning to warm a bit before we could load the wagons and mules on the trailers. Nothing was left in camp when we finally were able to head home.

Nathan Stark