Anyone ever do any reenacting?

Don't worry about events yet. There are eight per year. For now you should focus on joining, getting to know the lads, learn the equipment and the rules of camp and engagement. By the time you are event ready there will be one coming up. Reenactment is about a lot more than those glorious moments of front and center action.

Thank you, I'll definitely do that. Even tho it's just a grim division, it is still an interesting one.

Attached: Captured_Soldiers_12th_SS_Panzer_Division__Hitler_Jugend_.jpg (2261x1570, 1.76M)

Just make sure you have a reason for joining that will hold up for the rest of your life in the face of relatives, partners, friends and coworkers. "Cool uniforms" or "interesting historical unit" won't cut it, and "I like reenacting bad guys" even less so. You want to tell about interest for history, wanting to understand how young people could be led to war for their country and still be wrong, and the value of seeing war from the point of the losers. Even if you lie right into their faces. it might have an impact and you will need to brace for it.

Yea I understand. I do think how tragic being indoctrinated to serve a country that you are told throughout life, that you must fight to the death. But it's like the quite that I still remember to this day, "Were they the victims of their time?". As they weren't doing cause they wanted, but becauae they were told that is what they must do. And a lot of people mix that up in history. Not a reason but I also want to get a experience of what it would have been close to, being a mere teen and learning nothing but death, and how hard it must have felt to be there.

Yes. I'm a mountain man.

Well done. You are no kid. You'll know what to reply when they ask "So you like nazis then? Are you one too?" I once had an actual kid on an event ask why we had to kill people - we were in full garb at a museum event. He was shocked and started screaming to his mom when I told him we weren't actual soldiers, just actors. If you can deal with that with kindness you will be a fine reenactor.

Wow, yea I definitely won't be like him. I'll enjoy every second in the fight or not. I did hear that you don't use ear protection if that's true? And depending on whay type of event you don't need to be extremely accurate in the fighting style

Well, I was in a Napoleonics unit. Our black powder muskets didn't make too unbearable noise and of course there were no bullets. Only at major events were there also cannons. We were allowed ear plugs but I can't remember seeing anyone using them. But between the commando shouts and the shooting until our barrels glowed there was of couse a lot of noise. And the clouds of gunsmoke, mmmm. Good times.

Fighting style? What fighting style? You are there to illustrate what your unit looked like in combat, not harm your fellow players. So you move forward or fall back as commanded, fire, fall over dead if told to, and point your gun clearly up or down when you get anywhere near an enemy.

About the only time I recall physically touching our opponents was when two tightly packed groups stormed each other across a brigde; we had our rifles raised across our bodies and hit like two tidal waves. A couple of guys fell into the water when the side rail buckled but it was just a stream. There are a lot of rules in place to ensure noone ACTUALLY gets hurt. Just like in real military exercises.

understandable. But what I was referring to were non crowd event reenactment. But thanks for the constant info

Wait, let me rephrase that. If you want to actually physically fight there are of course groups like SCA and HEMA who fight with steel but unsharpened swords etc. Even in full medieval armor and on horseback they are still not normally considered reenactors as such as it is less about looking exactly as a certain unit and more about learning period combat methods. They still are roleplayers and larpers and cosplayers as much as anyone else of course, but it is on a different level in many respects.