I bit the bullet today...

[JustRob]

Re: I bit the bullet today...

I was five feet downwind of Soup's shirt back in 2003. It was olive drab at that point, and smelled worse than several homeless men in the middle of summer.

Easily a 15 hoboes on the Hobo Factor.

Thank God Soup does Confederate these days.

[Texyank]

Re: I bit the bullet today...

Some have said that PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals.

For those of you in the Old Dominion:

PETA = People Embarrassing the Tidewater Area.

Yikes, I haven't washed my shirt, I think I should, not sure I have the correct PPE though.

Jason

[xamier]

Re: I bit the bullet today...

Greetings:
You'all may have the dirtiest shirts known to man, but my husband Mr Morgan, has the dirtiest pair of pants. They are so disgusting that you think that you can smell them standing up wind.

The pants are part of a civilian bum/drunk impression he sometimes indulges in. (The funny part of this is that he has been chastised by folks the following day for being so drunk when all that was in the jug was water and the pants are perfectly clean, just expertly stained with ink, glue and other items that make them look filthy)
Betty Morgan
xamier@bellsouth.net
Winston Free State
Citronelle, Alabama USA

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: I bit the bullet today...

With all this talk of filth and grime, I must inquire as to what events you people go to? I tend to notice that there are more often neat and clean soldiers in the ranks at these ' authentic events'. In fact, it appears some of the men just took their uniform off the rack for the event.

Many folks, like me, only have so much wardrobe to wear to events. With having the large number of uniforms that I own to be as versatile as possible, I don't have funds to purchase, or space to store, double the number, so that I have one "really dirty one" for on-campaign portrayals and one "clean" one for garrison (and similar) portrayals. Once in a blue moon I even march in a parade here and there, too.

As I view it, the typical soldier in garrison would not have been nearly as dirty as a soldier on the march, and it's inappropriate for a reenactor at a garrison event to be "campaign-trail filthy". Perhaps most reenactors appear to be "too clean" simply because,

A. They keep their stuff in condition so that it's appropriate for a garrison-type portrayal when that's the event scenario, or

B. They don't attend enough events to get their stuff "reall filthy" the natural way, or

C. They just don't like filth.

I can understand all three positions. I'm still somewhat traumatized by the condition of my shirt, as described in the earlier posts on this thread. Normally my stuff, while far from clean (just ask Mrs. O'Beirne for her view of the cleanliness of my gear), is not as filthy as it would have been if I spent a month marching to and from Gettysburg on dusty roads somewhere near the tail end of the Army of the Potomac's Second Corps.

[Greg Renault]

Re: I bit the bullet today...

Some of you may remember Tom Brooks, from Gravenhurst, Ontario. Tom is now retired from the hobby, but for about 10 years was the color-bearer for the 4th Regiment, ANV. Tom never washed any of his reenactment clothing; he kept track of the number of reenacting days the stuff was worn, in order to see just how long it would last in "field" conditions. (Not a "true" test, but interesting nonetheless.) As I recall, his kepi went first, then his cotton shirt, which pretty much disintegrated on him at one event. The uniform and bootees lasted the equivalent of 2-3 months.

[JustRob]

Re: I bit the bullet today...

I just don't like filth.

Then again, I can work all day on a job site and not have much dirt on me, other than some sawdust. Even the gypsum powder brushes off.

Just don't talk about working with concrete. That stuff is tough to work with and even tougher to get off you.

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: I bit the bullet today...

Greg,

Tom Brooks was indeed one of the more interesting folks I've ever met in reenacting. I recall his experiment in dirt, now that you mention it. :)

[Chessa]

Re: I bit the bullet today...

Random Story: I portrayed a laundress at City Point this year. All men were encouraged to bring their flithy clothing to my friend and I. 2 young men came up their nasty just-from-campaign clothing. I first say one of the guys shirts and my first though was "I don't ever remember hearing about butternut dyed cotton shirts, or black cotton socks for soldiers, but ok." Needless to say, I quickly found out that they hadn't been washed in... a really long time. After 8 tubs full of hot water and some nice lye soap, it was a nice ivory color. They came back later and I heard "Is that my shirt? WOW! I never thought it'd get that clean again!" hehe :D

[cwbauer]

Re: I bit the bullet today...

Mine gets a washing once a year after all the events, and it is nasty. In 2004, I finshed my last event and did not wash the shirt then went to Iraq, not to visit the kit until the spring of 06. I have never smelled a stench like that.
Chris Bauer

[marktaylor]

Re: I bit the bullet today...

I went about 1 year without washing my shirt back in my re-enacting hayday.... it was pretty funky