How to join
A Civil War Reenactment Group
Civil War Reenacting: Advice For New Recruits
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so there seems to be a kind of a new
wave of
new reenactors coming through the ranks
here recently and what we're going to
talk about today is specifically
what are we looking for in new
reenactors if you're new to the hobby if
you if you're curious on what we look
for have you
curious on what makes a good new
reenactor and kind of what the
expectations are
listen up this episode's for you
so we've all seen them whether we call
them the jonas or whoever
the people are that join a reenactment
group
and then they fail to actually make it
in that reenactment group
one of the things i think is important
for reenactors to know whether
you're good with social clues or if
you're not good with social cues or
whatever type of personality you have
there's a few criteria a few things that
every reenactment group is looking for
if you're a new reenactor
the following items are key to have to
be successful
in your new unit so those attributes are
the following 10 things
number one be on time number two have a
strong work ethic
put forth as much effort as you can the
body language that you exhibit during
the events means so much
have energy have a good attitude have
passion toward the hobby
and be coachable more importantly go the
extra mile
and always be prepared so let's talk
about each one of these
and see exactly what we're looking for
in new reenactors
so the first one is being on time and
this is honestly you can take all these
attributes
and take them to the real world for a
working environment as well
the first one of being on time and the
old adage of if you're not 15 minutes
early you're late is very true
as a new reenactor if you are not the
first in line
if you're not always dressing uh right
if you're not
what i mean dressing as in being in line
if you're not
always there first then you need to kind
of look at what you're doing
we always have excuses of why we're not
in line or why we're always the last in
line
but one thing you can kind of clue in
and kind of
to pay attention have good situational
awareness and think about
are you always the last to arrive at an
event
are you always the last to be in line
are you always the last
to form up during revelry or morning
call or whatever duty it is
are you always the last in everything
that you do and do you always have an
excuse for why you're last
uh obviously that doesn't go over real
well if you're last someone has to be
last that's okay
but if you're consistently last that is
not good you always need to be on time
if you're not 15 minutes early you're
late
number two have a strong work ethic uh
this is
can't be said enough uh you gotta have a
strong work ethic if you're
new you gotta show your group and your
unit that you're in it for the long haul
that you can work
take you know take more labor you know
cut some wood
be the one who starts the fires be the
one who offers the cook if that's how
your unit works
uh be the one who offers to actually put
some work in
and work more than anyone else in the
group you do that
and you're on your way to being a solid
participant in your unit
number four is body language uh when it
comes to body language you can't i mean
there's a lot to be said about body
language we have had some re-enactors
come in our group and
we've seen others at other units who
they just sit there and they corner
moping around or they you know every
time we say hey let's drill
like okay we'll drill again even though
it's boring
drilling is boring and the more you
drill the more you experience the
soldier's life
if you want to truly honor your
ancestors or if you want to truly
experience the souls
uh the the soldiers what they went
through however whatever reason you're
in the hobby
uh have good body language people feed
off that
and if you're an energetic new guy your
lead your unit will
feed off that you'll be encouraged they
will encourage you you will encourage
them
your body language is critical to being
a good participant in your unit
next one is energy very similar to body
language
but if you don't have energy if you're
sitting there every time and
you're always taking breaks you're
always having low energy
if you always are you know or
significant you say you're significantly
tired
uh we're all tired we all don't get
really you know good
sleep during these events i mean whether
you're on a pickup post or whether
you're at
whatever type of event you're at we
generally don't sleep very well and
energy generally is down but you got to
have that energy
i mean look at the original guys who you
know marched how many ever miles in the
middle of night to just attack in early
that next morning
you got to show that energy with that
passion that drive the energy
they all go hand in hand next one can't
say it enough
is your attitude your attitude for what
your unit stands for your attitude
for what they're asking you to do you
got to have a good attitude
we're going to go down here a little bit
talk about being able to receive
correction
but you got to have a good attitude of
what you're here for if you if you show
up to
every event and you always are
complaining if everything that comes out
of your mouth
is negative you might want to check
yourself
and understand that you rub off on
everyone okay
if you're negative that poor attitude is
not going to go well
honestly you're going to be considered a
jonah within your unit you're going to
be ostracized and kicked out
whether it's kicked out informally or
kicked out formally
you got to understand that your attitude
is is first and foremost
one of the best things that makes people
either accept you or not and even if you
don't feel like it
uh you got to have a strong energy and
that strong attitude
to participate with your unit uh and
you're there to have fun you're we're
here to reenact and experience history
um and you we all got to bring that
attitude we all got to bring the energy
and if we don't you're going to drag
people down along with you
next one is passion you we always know
we know those guys usually
the unit leaders or the really good ncos
and the units
that have that passion for the hobby and
that's one thing we always look for and
if you have passion you're gonna go up
the ranks pretty good
you gotta have that passion for the
hobby uh what is passion you know what
what exactly are we looking for and it's
that passion of
after hours how do i know if you have
passion is because the next the next
group
the next unit or the next event sorry
the next event we go to
if you have read and you've studied and
you know your drill
that tells me that you have passion
toward the hobby and that work ethic
that we talked about
before if you've been in the hobby for
10 years and you say
i've been in reenacting for 10 years for
15 years
and you still don't know your manual of
arms if you still don't know your drill
that should tell you something that
doesn't mean anything have that passion
have that drive and honestly for me how
my
my uh group shows me their passion is do
you study
off hours we meet once a month you got a
whole month
to at least read a couple articles
couple pages maybe a few drills in the
manual
know what you're talking about that's
how you show passion
next one arguably is the most important
especially as a new guy
be coachable we all don't like to take
criticism even the experienced
guys we sometimes even experienced guys
get the manual wrong it's hard to really
if you're not in it every single day
it's hard to really memorize
the drill and even if you know the drill
is a private those of you who have
leadership positions
once you actually start calling the
shots on the field and you even though
you know the drill
at home calling the drill orders in the
field
a little bit different and so you got to
be coachable when someone comes up to
you with a good attitude and says hey
you know
you got you're really good at this but
you got to work on this if they try to
you know
help them help you improve your
impression um you know be coachable
don't take offense to it
there are some guys out there that come
across very abrasive they may come
across really rude
honestly ignore the rudeness look
through what their
what their uh how their delivery is and
try to take what they're saying is what
they're saying good important
useful or is it not but the biggest
thing is be coachable
don't take offense if someone you know
calls you out on your drill
calls you out on how you do things in
the field or calls you out
on your uniform i mean me myself i've
only been a hobby a short amount of time
and there's you know they're still guys
actually at the 155th gettysburg
a couple weeks ago you know there's guys
who who called me out and you know i
knew
i knew i was doing as soon as they said
i was like ah you're right
um but you know be coachable you know
don't take offense when people try to
help you improve your impression
next thing is do extra this goes back to
energy passion and work ethic
anytime there's an opportunity to
volunteer for something
volunteer even if it's the horrible
sucky
uh you know like latrine duty or
whatever it is
always volunteer to do something do
extra go the extra mile we have guys
that they've you know self self braided
hemp rope or
they've come into our unit learned a
skill whether it's a specific type of
sewing ski
specific type of leather work or they
they know they have the time and the
effort
to do something may not maybe not the
money but the time the effort or maybe
the money
and not the time uh you know we work
together well and we go above and beyond
we do that extra thing
so when it comes to again i mean this is
the second to last thing that we're
talking about as far as the 10 things to
to be a good new re-enactor in your unit
go the extra mile find those things that
you know that you can do that you can
volunteer for
and i don't mean you know big things i'm
talking small things like one of the
things that just stood out with me we
had one of our one of our new members
we were going to going over to a big
eastern event driving 30
hours okay and every time we stopped for
gas
he got out and he uh squeegeed the
windows
okay has nothing to do with reenacting
has nothing to do
with uh history in general but we as a
unit when we get out we know that you
know one guy fills the truck up one guy
does this one guy goes gets drinks
uh and he we never asked him to do this
but every time
he got out he scrubbed the windows
cleaned them you know windexed them
he went the extra mile without us having
to tell him
that was impressive it's stuff like that
that
we enjoy and stuff like that that your
unit leaders enjoy to see your drive and
passion
come out the last one number 10 is
be prepared always be
prepared when in doubt do it
for instance when you have a question of
should i wear my saber belt should i
bring
my uniform should i wear my uniform are
we doing full dress are we going just
just belt and no no carbine or what are
we doing
uh when in doubt i know it's a it's a
bad decision we all sometimes want to
take shortcuts
but when in doubt be prepared if you
don't know whether we're bringing
carbings if we're just doing saber bells
for a certain impression
bring your carbine be prepared we have a
guy in our in our group
uh or that kind of rides with us that we
call them comes ready
why that guy comes and as soon as he
steps out of that trailer the dude is
saddled
uniformed tacked up ready to go ready to
go i mean
talking bed roll great coat everything
is out there
did he need his bed roll a great coat
for this specific event
no no we're not doing really anything to
do that
as far as campaigning but he brought it
because it doesn't matter he comes
ready same thing if you are last in line
last in formation if you're fiddling
with the the gear your equipment if
you're fiddling with the shell trap if
you're always the last person
to uh to tear down your camper always
the last person
to set up your camp you've got to have
good stage good situational awareness
you always got to be prepared bring your
gear bring your equipment
and if you're not prepared try not going
around
letting everyone know you're not
prepared suffer with what you didn't
bring
suffer with your lack of preparedness
and just deal with it
for the most part okay and there's some
you guys are probably going to yell at
me for saying that
but be prepared if you show up and
you're
last doing everything you're not really
prepared you don't have the right stuff
and you all say this is uh you know if
you don't communicate with your
unit and you just show up and you're you
know someone was supposed to bring you
something or you're supposed to hook up
in a certain town and then ride with
them the rest of the way
and you don't communicate you know
that's not take the initiative
right you got to take the initiative so
basically that's it
when it comes to having a good work
ethic being on time
putting forth the best effort you can
during the weekend
having good body language good energy an
awesome positive attitude
you got to be coachable doing extra go
the extra mile
and again always be prepared if you take
those 10
attributes and 10 aspects to heart
you're going to be covered
make sure you know if you have any
questions feel free to message me
private message me on facebook or make a
comment below on on youtube
i'll be happy to help you guys out but i
just know we've had a couple new
recruits
and they're asking and i'm telling them
other units i'm sure they're you know
looking for the same thing
if you want to be a good new member to
your unit those 10 things
are what we're looking for okay always
be prepared
have passion do your work do your
research
and like i said the last thing to kind
of check yourself if you've been a
reenactor
for 5 10 15 plus years and you don't
know the manual of arms
if you don't know certain terminology
and certain words
and certain maneuvers in the field that
should be considered fundamental
that tells you you probably need to pick
up your game
so again thank you for watching the 11th
ovc appreciate it
ring the bell subscribe to our youtube
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see you again
ride hard
you
