Dealing with the Public...

[Fox]

One of my favourite incidents was a couple of years ago when I was on the Golden Hind we had a Japanese visitor whose English was almost non-existent. He had a bit of a look round the ship then came up and pointed at me saying "salesman?"

He'd just been in the gift-shop, and I knew there was nobody behind the till (quiet day, stock taking) so I figured he wanted to buy something. I went into the shop and he followed me, still asking if I was a salesman. Funny thing, he didn't seem to want to buy anything.

He was asking if I was a sailor. :angry:

[Dorian Lasseter]

Foxe, Lad...

He was asking ye if ye were a SAILS man, not a salesman....

[Pirate Petee]

I certainly wasn't in any service relevant to pike and musket combat...

You ever been a real pirate?

Now I didn’t mean to offend, I was just wondering if the majority of military re-enactors were ex-military. Or if they were just people who like military history. Another question, who were the Blackwell’s?

Oh and “Sails Man” that’s hilarious.

[Dorian Lasseter]

Aye Petee,

In my 15 years (Gah!!! been that long?) of Re enactment, tis a mixed bag... lotsa re enactors are military, ex-military, and hobbyist.... I fall into the latter, I have not served in the military, in this lifetime... My hat's off to those who are and have served...

As for the Blackwells... Master Hawkyns is the fella that I know who is in the know... as I 'served' under him in the 3rd...

Sir Thomas Blackwell's is a Regiment of the King's Army, the royalist element of the English Civil War Society. We take part in battles, skirmishes, sieges and 'living history' re-enactments organised by the Society.

That's a quote from a site...

http://www.ecwsa.org/ecwslinks.html

The ECW in the UK...

http://www.ecwsa.org/mustrep1646seigeofnewark1996.html

The ECW in the US...

And Foxe is also one to definitely ask...

I believe one of the things Blackwells is known for, is that during the war, they were sent to defend a bridge... well, they ended up drinking in a nearby tavern... a regiment of roundheads attacked them, wiping them out... or so I've been told...

[Pirate Petee]

Thanks, I was just curious.

[Fox]

No offence was taken Petee, 'twas meant to be a tongue in cheek answer...

I don't know about the US but I'd say that the proportion of ex-military types in re-enactment is probably no greater or smaller than the porportion of non-coms, or than the proportion of ex-military types in any other group of people. What I mean is, I don't think having been a soldier has much effect on whether or not people become re-enactors.

To answer your question, I was in the RAF cadets for 4 years (never forget my first camp as a flight sergeant, went in for dinner with the other cadets but was told I had to eat in the sergeants' mess - boy did I sh*t my pants...). When I left school I tried to join the RAF Regiment, but they were in the process of massive downsizing. So, no, I've not been in the services proper. Now, my dad, who is also a re-enactor, was in the SAS.

I guess people get into it for different reasons (why people stay doing it is another matter). I got into it because I love history, others got into it because it looked like a laugh, some because it's the best place for drinking contests, and yes, some probably because they want to feel like soldiers. I think the last is probably more prevalent in the later period societies, particularly WWII era. The most common reason I'm sure is that they had a mate who was doing it and got persuaded to join.

Blackwell's in historical terms: Sir Thomas Blackwell's regiment of foot, Royalist regiment in the English Civil War (yes, we had one too, and what's more, we had ours first!). Don't know much about them except I believe they wore black coats partly because of the name and partly because Sir Thomas had some thing going with the clergy and got a shed load of black wool.

Blackwell's in modern terms: a regiment in the King's Army, the Royalist half of the English Civil War Society. Other infantry regiments include Sir Thomas Tyldesly's, Sir William Pennyman's, Sir Bevill Grenvile's, Sir Ralph Hopton's, Sir Thomas Lunsford's, The Marquis of Winchester's, and Sir Marmaduke Rawdon's. Cavalry are provided by Sir Richard Grenvile's Regt. Basically, each regiment, although under the control of the King's Army and the ECWS behaves like a semi-autonymous society on its own. Each regiment has its own events, elects its own officers (in some regiments "officers" are basically admin roles who get to dress posh and give the orders as a pay-off for the hard work, in other regiments officers get a bit carried away and think it means something) and has its own cameraderie. Blackwell's is one of those.