Negativity Toward the Hobby in the Modern Military

[Jboring]

Re: Negativity Toward the Hobby in the Modern Military

In 12 years in the military I've never encountered anyone who had a negative reaction to the news that I was in te hobby. Now I do ACW and WWII, and have run into people I know at events as spectators and participants. Most of the time it's people that I already have a problem with that have something to say about it. It usually starts intersting converstations about these time periods.

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Negativity Toward the Hobby in the Modern Military

If you are engaged by a critic (not vice versa), then they care enough about the topic to seek out a conversation with you. If this is the case, you (we) have the opportunity to broaden their perspective, perhaps causing them to look at the hobby in a new way.

If you find yourself in this situation, its too late to develop your "elevator speech". Be prepared!

With that in-mind...
Does anyone have a couple good "bullet points" you could use to get someone to reconsider their opinion of the hobby in 30 seconds?

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Negativity Toward the Hobby in the Modern Military

How to react to the general public when they ask "Why are you a living historian?":

A) "We do research-heavy historical impressions for parks, movies, TV and historical sites and doing it historically accurate as best as we can research is the least we can do to present this part of our culture correctly."

B) "Would Japanese people feel strange wearing a kimono, or a Scotsman feel unusual wearing a kilt? Then no, I don't feel strange nor embarrassed wearing my ancestor's-style of garb. This is my culture's and country's history and heritage. I am proud to try to walk in their shoes... literally."

C) "I've met doctors, lawyers, military professionals, professors and businessmen as well as students, teenagers, and blue-collar workers in my hobby of every race, creed, gender, and beliefs from all walks of life. What do you do to connect with others in a positive way?"

D) "It helps me connect with being a soldier again, which I was in a real war recently."

E) "TV is boring and golf is for wimps. I like my hobbies on the extra-strength side..."

F) "I could immitate sports heroes, but I try to emulate only REAL heroes."

G) "Hey... I am an adrenaline junkie, what can I say..."

H) "When a caveman came back from a hunt, he most certainly reenacted what he just did in order to teach the tribe how it was accomplished and for others to remember how it was done. This is just as primal and no different."

;)

[KPavia]

Re: Negativity Toward the Hobby in the Modern Military

I've never experienced anything negative from anyone who was in the military. If anything, I think military people would be attracted to the idea.

If there's any group of people out there who have a negative view of the hobby, it's more from the history academic/scholarly community. At least that's how it's been in my experience. A professor I had in college who taught the class on the Civil War had a negative view of reenactors. Based on what he said, it seemed to me like he considered reenactors just a bunch of goof balls who just want to play with guns but know little or nothing about the "history" of it, aka the political history of it. I proved him wrong by getting an A in that class.

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Negativity Toward the Hobby in the Modern Military

Kenny,

You hit on a point that folks have hit me with on occasion: Their own preconceived notions of what "reenactors" are like and what they (we) do.

I like to hit people with a couple of open-ended questions, like, "Why would you think that?"

People don't realize that they have a prejudiced view of reenactors, in most cases. Reenactors are politically liberal, as well as conservative. Reenactors are fascinated by more than "guns and playing war". I think it is important to acknowledge that there are some reenactors out there who use reenactment and other reenactors as the backdrop for their own misguided fantasies about history, then draw the distinction between that and what "we" do.

…I'd go on, but I'm putting the belt loops on my copy of the Brunson RD2…
;-)

[hescomouse]

Re: Negativity Toward the Hobby in the Modern Military

I have US civil war, US WW2, US Korean War, US Nam, and.... Red Army WW2, Soviet Army Afghanistan, Imperial Japanese Army WW2.
I am working on getting a Korean People's Army or PVA for the Korean war.

Most reaction I got from units I was in was during D&C classes, when the instructor would try to explain why current drill has been handed down from the ages to instill discipline in the troops. This would cause me to jump into the "The black powder era these were what we call today battle drills" not a do as I say exercise. By having a squad fall into formation and run simple fire movements and doubling faces would begin to create confused faces among those faithful to the book (D&C field manual). I missed a trap set in a race relations class because I over thought the question, and the discussion moved on before I responded. I never recruited people (Even though my platoon sergeant got me in to reenacting) so most of my interactions within the units was how infantry tactics changed over time with squad level/fire team starting around 42/43 to the current system around 73/74.
Most grief I ever got in public was in a WW2 GI uniform- Female from the 60's/70's with her two kids stating we should not be allowed in the park. Most positive reactions were while wearing Red Army gear (Soviet Union 1941-45) to include a death camp survivor who was liberated by the Red Army, and Red Army vets.

The very worst responses I had was when I was in my issued uniform, one being your are all Baby Killers, and the other end, flying to Baltimore on the way to Afghanistan and being told "You are all cowards".

robert simon

[erik]

Re: Negativity Toward the Hobby in the Modern Military

John Lloyd,
Your point H cuts to the bone.

Erik Simundson

[Chad Teasley]

Re: Negativity Toward the Hobby in the Modern Military

I've been in the Hobby for half of my military career (14 years out of 28 - though my activity has been minimal for a while due to being stationed overseas), and have never had anything but positive comments from fellow servicemembers when they found out I was involved with Living History. Many of them have been fascinated, and asked lots of questions.
Well...There WAS the time that I mentioned to a good friend of mine, a salty Chief Warrant Officer, that I was excited to reenact again upon conclusion of a tour in Guam. He looked at me with a straight face and asked, "So...Which side are you going to be on? Vulcans, Klingons, or what??" ;)