Lurking, Pouncing, Mentoring
As one who on more than one occasion has lurked and pounced, I can certainly profess to my unfavourable view of re-enacting. From my observations, re-enacting seems to attract a demographic who generally do not reflect the era being portrayed and use the excuse that fun and finances over-rides research and presentation - usually all in the name of honouring the Veteran. I fully understand that even 20 years ago that WWII uniform/equipment information was not that easy to find although this is not the case these days as there is a lot of reliable internet and print sources that an enthusiast can access.
I had a look at the Operation Eastwind website and I must admit that I was impressed at the amount of work that had gone into the site. As with any work of this type, there are always errors and omissions and I always wonder where their information has been drawn from. I was pleased to see in the images that I looked at that this group has not fallen into the trap of representing an Airborne or Highland unit which seems to be the norm for most re-enacting groups. I agree with Scott's comment 'if you've never lived dismounted in a four seasons jacket in the early spring or late fall rains, your missing out on the "experience"'.
That being said, most National and Regimental Museums don't seem to understand the nuances of uniforms, insignia and equipment either, so the perpetuation of errors and misconceptions is not confined to just the re-enactment community. Museum sponsored re-enactment units also suffer from the same errors so there is lots of work that can be done to improve presentations.
Obviously it is easy for me to sit here and preach 'from on high'. From my selfish perspective I could latch myself onto the re-enacting community and mentor from now until the end of my days; but that means I am the one researching, paying for the parking, making the photocopies, doing the scanning, buying the books, reviewing imagery and analyzing the data - all for free. I certainly do not mind helping, but from my opinion the re-enacting community (other than the faces) has not changed and it still presents itself to the public in the same fashion that they did back in the 1970s - all fun and very little substance.
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