"Secret Board" ove on the WWII Pro-Boards

[dixieflyer]

Someone wrote me tonight to make me aware of a problem over on the WWII proboards. They said that there is a secret board of sorts, that you get invited to if you have 800 posts or more, AND if you ask about it, your post will be promptly deleted.
I asked about this over there less than one hour ago, and POOF! My post is gone, gone, gone! It doesn't even show up in my posting log.
How does one equate making 800+ posts with having something important to say or having knowledge? Why would there be a "secret board", and why will they not acknowledge this?
Evidently the 1st Amendment means nothing to the mods over there.

Yuri

[crazydima]

Yuri,

Sadly this news does not surprise me at all. However, I am glad to see that folks like you are finding out more about what really goes on there on that "clique club."

If anything it proves all that I and Sasha and others have said about that forum and how it is run by hypocrites and other sorts of disingenuous folks who are in power.

Over the years we have gained a contact who is within the inner circle of the MODs on the other WWII Board. This person told us of the little club they have and how things work and what sorts of discussions take place regarding folks like Sasha and me.

Knowledge or credibility really has nothing to do with postings over on that site. I could spend weeks dissecting all of the incorrect, false, unsubstantiated and just plain BS postings which have been allowed to stand on that forum. Yet other very informative posts have been wiped away based upon arbitrary decisions by the all mighty "MODs".

OMG! Some of the crap posted by the likes of Barrelhunter(may his soul rest in peace), Atlantic Wall, Blanksguy and Boogiewoogie is utterly amazing.

Lord help you if you try to challenge some of those postings using documentation or logic. Especially if the author is one of the "protected class" of posters the MODS have deemed infallible. LOL!

Besides, that site has way too many MODS who are some of the most vicious, vile and unstable ego maniacs WWII re-enacting has to offer. I have copies of their postings and emails to prove it.

Heck both a MOD and a member of that Forum have actually made physical threats against me in electronic form. Let's just say that my friends in both the States Attorneys the Illinois Attorney Generals office found the correspondence amusing but in a disturbing way. They are waiting to see if more such nonsense takes place before deciding what course of action to take against the parties in question.

That is the reason I post very little over there. It is a waste of my time to put any real effort into a posting to have it deleted by some poorly educated, ignorant, neophyte who knows nothing of the subject being discussed.

Now I will give credit where credit is due and say that forum does have some redeeming qualities by looking at some of the old postings when it first started and the board as well as the MODs were true to the course of research and re-enacting.

Sadly it has gone downhill form there and almost nothing I hear about that board seems to surprise me anymore. Truly a sad case.

But then again that is why this forum came into existence.

Sincerely,

Dima

[dixieflyer]

Dima,
This is something I understand, and I posted the above message, if nothing else, to lend even more credence to what you and I have talked about. Now, that being said, I have gotten some pretty good info from there, made some decent e-friends, etc. However, it is sad when you can't get a straight answer to a straight question that was honestly posted seeking such. I have no beef with anyone there, haven't really gotten into it with anyone there, etc.

Yuri

[vsahdneek]

I am proud to say I got kicked off that forum by protesting the censorship over there! LOL!

Just another reason to stay away from that brood hive of scum and villiany! LOL!

Your experience with them and their 'area 51' mentality over there does not surprise me at all.

Volodymyr

[velodya]

Well this whole course of discussion has made me grateful I've never even visited that board.

[crazydima]

Tovarischi,

Yuri is correct that there is a good deal of good information posted on that other board but that would be mainly regarding US impressions. Sadly when it comes to Red Army it is sorely lacking at best.

I encourage folks to spend some time looking over what they have in the various threads. There is a lot of useful information contained there.

It has helped me a lot with my US impression but has been of little or no use with my Soviet impression.

Unfortunately there is also a lot of crap and lies posted without any documentation to back it up. Add to it the MODs and their issues and that is why I discourage spending any time posting there.

Basically separate the wheat from the chaff.

Sincerely,

Dima
(the thorn in their side)

[vsahdneek]

I also do axis and they have a very intolerant view towards axis opinions over there...
for people who pretend to portray 'allies who fought for freedom' they have a very narrow and twisted view of the 1st Amendment... as if to say 'you can say anything you like as long as it matches what we believe already to be true' which if course is not freedom of expression at all. Very Orwellian and not at all open-minded are they.

They really howled when I called some of their more slovenly and poorly disciplined airborne types 'chairborne gimpfantry'... LOL!!!

Oh you should have heard the fertilizer hit the fan then! Their reaction also taught me that they have a rather one sided sense of humor... they can't take any ribbing at all, they are rather stupid and surly and like to dish it out but can't take it. Real knuckle draggers! LOL!

It may be a forum worth going to for info from time to time, but I would not recommend it for participation like we do here.

Volodomyr

[horsesoldier176]

I have often questioned re-enactors who portray Rangers, or Airborne, where, and when they "EARNED" their Ranger tab, or jump wings.

Needless to say, many have not. I then ask them how they think they have the right to wear them, since they didn't actually earn it. They get all huffy, and say they do it to honor the real men. I inform them, that they dishonor those very men by wearing something they never earned, to supposedly honor the men who really did.

Nearly got into a fight with one at FIG a couple years back, until I informed him that I had 65 jumps, then produced my DD214 proving it. They all left me alone after that.

Boridin

[velodya]

lol. Thats what we young people refer to as "epic fail." Well-played tovarisch.

[vsahdneek]

Hoo-ahh Otryada Serzhant!

they really are a schizo bunch... you can be a vet and stand there and argue with them and they'll call ya a bunch of names, but then say they are 'honoring' them.... inspite of the fact that they just dishonored the vet they are talking too... I pointed that out to them and they went ballistic... orwellian... 'some animals are more equal than others' in their myopic and twisted viewpoint. They worship some vets and crap on others, many never having served at all, thinking themselves 'preservers of memories' whereas in point of fact they mostly are trying to preserve the hokey hollywierd propaganda view of the war and its consequences.
Like that flamer Ken Burns... he actually had the nerve to say he was honoring the ww2 vets because of the great 'lifestyle' we enjoyed after the war? THAT was why people fought on either side? a friggin LIFESTYLE? Great.... just what the x-Box generation needs to hear... we fight for our 'lifestyle'.... what a crock!

But I know the reason why such lib fartkockers say crap like this, and its because they want flamers to serve openly in the military with the incentive that they are fighting to preserve their 'right' to live an openly flamer 'lifestyle'!!!

So based on the lack of respect for vets who served against communism, and then only 'honoring' those who fought fascism, order to save and promote 'lifestyle' ... the press is trying to water down of why we fight and change the reasons why we do in the minds of the numb masses, most of whom will never serve in any military or law enforcement capacity. It is a concious effort by the libs to degrade this nations heritage and virtue and principles so that the next generation will fight to work at Burger King, shop at Walmart, and to preserve flamer lifestyles and their right to sue others for being annoyed or insulted. At least that is what Ohbummer, Pelousy and Foxman (ADL) want.

I just love to see these 300 lb'ers who do airborne and go to a tactical until noon and then go back to the tents and start pounding down the suds ... bet the real airborne feel 'honored' by that sight! NOT !

I do know of a small bunch who actually do go to a kinda reenactor airborne school and jump out of old c47's in old style chutes and that must be a real experience, good for them!... but they are few and far between.

I personally don't have a problem with people who reenact any particular unit, but dang, xxxl sized jumpers just don't cut it in my book... as dumb as a tanker who is 7 foot tall! There are physical limitiations in military for some kinds of activities, and one of them is the ability to actually fit through the door of the plane you are jumping out of or the tank you might drive. To my knowledge there were no jumpers in ww2 who were issued CARGO CHUTES!!! LOL!!!

I gave up on the idea of 'honoring' anyone with this hobby long ago... as a vet who served, how do I honor myself? I think it is more likely that we humor the dead! LOL! they probably have a good laugh in heaven's old soldiers' lounge looking down at us seeing us do what we all do down here! If we give them a chuckle that's okay, as long as we acknowledge that is just as likely an outcome of our activity as us 'honoring' them which I think is speculative at best.

I think the display events can be good for discussing history with the public... we have to undo the damage pooblik schools do to people, and the tacticals are just fun. But let's leave all that 'honor' stuff to real honor guards at Arlington and the Tomb of the Unknown. They are truly streck and do our fallen justice. There are some other small groups that put together honor guards for funerals, and Scotts piper bands who do that likewise and that's fine, some of them are quite good. But overweight and paunchy old geezers like most of us running around playing soldat 'honoring' the fallen, oh please, give me a break! LOL! I am a paunchy oldster and I do this for fun and because the study of history is inherently good to do, and I am happy to share my interests, collections, and knowledge with other like minded history buffs at the display events. As a pastime it is hard to beat!

Why do people need pompous excuses to do thingsthat are inherently good and fun? What flamers! I am in the process of cutting a stitch-nazi off at the knees in another branch of this hobby because he is a humorless tactless dolt who displays no sense of commeraderie or team-player sensibility. He simply takes himself and this hobby too seriously.... just another obsessive-compulsive twit destined to become friendless.

I am beginning to think this hobby is a little like fly paper in that it attracts alot of 'bugs' (in the old style reference of 'buggy' or crazy people).

Besides, we really have very little idea of what 'honors' people unless you ask them what that might be. I think the best thing we can do to honor old vets is to respect the Constitution and heritage and one nation under God, through our own efforts and defense of same as they did, and as their fathers did before them. And as I am already an old vet, then its just about maintaining my own standards of how I did that when I was in the service, and to ensure the youngsters coming up the ranks sign up and do their part for this nation. That is how I honor my own service and that of my peers.

And its mostly a spiritual and attitudinal thing in my book at this stage of my life, and grassroots political activity, and counselling youngsters considering a military carreer.... morale building... so that we always have a next generation of young men ready to defend our nation from enemies both foreign and domestic.

But a 300 pounder tossing back a beer with jump wings for 'honoring' the 82nd or 101st? please... and its not like airborne won or lost ww2 anyway. It was mostly grunts, tankers artillerymen, pilots and sailors serving in units and ships that time is slowly forgetting the numbers on their patches or names of the ships. Its always the anonymous soldat who pays the bulk fo the price. If hollywierd is believed you would think the 101st Airborne won the war singlehandedly.

I just got done reading my Uncle's account of his time in the Big Red One, and his regiment had 169 officers and only 27 made it back home at the end of the war!!! He is one of 2 now left alive at age 92. How do we honor something like that except through prayer for the souls who did not make it home and helping the infirm aged vets now? I think that is what he would like most of all, acknowledgement of his duty and sacrifice and those of his friends and fellow servicemen and just having his loved ones around to help him out in his elder years.

Volodymyr

[dixieflyer]

Nov 14, 2009 22:29:08 GMT -5 horsesoldier176 said:

I have often questioned re-enactors who portray Rangers, or Airborne, where, and when they "EARNED" their Ranger tab, or jump wings.

Needless to say, many have not. I then ask them how they think they have the right to wear them, since they didn't actually earn it. They get all huffy, and say they do it to honor the real men. I inform them, that they dishonor those very men by wearing something they never earned, to supposedly honor the men who really did.

Nearly got into a fight with one at FIG a couple years back, until I informed him that I had 65 jumps, then produced my DD214 proving it. They all left me alone after that.

Boridin

I had a hard time with this when I first did WWII back in the 80's, as I was portraying a paratrooper of the 509th PIB. However, the word we got not only from the US Army (yes we wrote them), AND the vets we were portraying (yes, we asked) was: go for it! The key part of the word reenactor is actor. We, you, whoever, are portraying someone from the past.

Boridin, what gives you the right to wear the Soviet uniform? Did you go through their training system? I guess by your standards, the only people that should show up at events are those that have been through the appropriate military school of the country they are portraying?

Yuri S.

[horsesoldier176]

Tovarisch Yuri;

You make a valid point, but let me answer it this way. While on active duty in the U.S. Army, I participated in an exchange program with the Soviet military, during the Reagan administration. Two officers, and a senior NCO from our battalion went to the Soviet Union, and an equal number from a Soviet rifles regiment came to the U.S. I was in one of the classes that attended this training, and for almost six months, I was taught by Soviet Army officers, and an NCO what it was like to be a Soviet enlisted man. Was what I went through exactly the same as what a real Soviet conscript went through? No, of course not, for one thing, I was fed far better, and paid far better, but I certainly got a pretty good idea of what their daily life was like. Was my very limited experience as a Soviet conscript equivalent to a GPW era vet. Again, No, but then I doubt that most modern vets can claim that their experience is the same as each other, let alone a vet from the 40s.

Now, to deal with the specifics of this situation. When I see a re-enactor doing Airborne, Ranger, or any of the more specialized impressions, I really don't care, unless they get the "I'm better than you, because I am (insert impression of choice) attitude going. When they pull that, then I go into my, if you can't really do it, then you are no better than me mode.

Does that make me an Hitler, perhaps so, but I really did do some of what I portray. In other words, I "earned" the right to claim it. If someone portrays, or acts the part of a (insert impression), but openly admits they are not really an (insert impression), then I have no objection. I also look at what we do for living history, for the benefit of the public, and what we do toward each other as very different. When I am dealing with the public, I am acting, I am portraying a part, and I do it the very best I can possibly do. When I talk to other re-enactors, I turn down the jazz meter, and don't blow smoke.

I have seen, at tacticals where the Rangers, and Airborne units demand that all the regular infantry must fall in, and march behind them, because they are Rangers, or Airborne. That is BS, and they need to be called on it. If you have a unit of re-enactor Rangers, and 100% of them are Ranger school grads, then I have no objection with giving them the respect they are due, but if none, or only a few of them are, then they are no better, or worse than I am as a re-enactor.

Does this make sense to you Yuri?

It is not meant to be an Hawkeyes Suck!, but it is meant to give equity to all re-enactors, regardless of their impression.

Boridin

[vsahdneek]

Good points all around.

I can only relay my experience.
When I am at a display event, I am a walking maniquin, a uniform support life form. I wear all sorts of uniforms at such events, the more esoteric the better, like RAD or NSKK, when not doing RKKA or Axis. It is a vehicle for off the cuff historical mini-lectures with the tourists, and serves the get the conversation started. Its just me and a prop, so the atmosphere is jovial and relaxed... carnival like and friendly.

When I am in for field, I suit up as a soldat with a field kit and go out and fight. Then I am concerned with cover and concealment, where to put the heavy weapon, where is the enemy,
stand and fight or retreat, go out on patrol, safety, water consumption, stuff like that, soldier stuff. My only concern at that point re/ uniforms is ... are the guys I am looking at in my binocs friend or foe! what are they up to? Stuff like that. I see too many guys out there acting like their personal appearance matters once boots hit the ground instead of focusing on soldier skills, safety, and rules of engagement. It's one thing to be a ponce and uniform proud and show and tell at a display event, quite another at a tactical. I almost wish some people would only do one or the other... some people have a hard time switching gears from one mindset to the other... can be frustrating to those of us who CAN to have to deal with such people.

I think I am running out of kopeks....

LOL!

Volodymyr

[crazydima]

Tovarischi,

Each of us have our own take on the matter of what re-enacting is and why we do it and how we should do it. I do not think that there are any incorrect or correct answers to such questions. Just opinions.

IMHO what we all are doing as re-enactors is playing war. We try to do the best we can given the conditions each of us face. My personal goal is two fold. One part is to remind the younger generations of what took place and how much we should appreciate what we have today. The other part is to try and re-create some of the activities conducted by soldiers using the same equipment they had during that time period.

As far as uniforms, patches go I view it that I am wearing a reproduction of a uniform which has not been in service for for many years and thus is not current issue. This I also apply to most aspects of awards and medals pertinent to the country being portrayed. There are exceptions such as Medal of honor, bronze stars, etc. etc.

To date I have had only one vet(Vietnam) give a negative comment about what we do. Believe me when I say that the number of vets whom I have encountered is numerous and covers many wars. All of the others have gone out of their way to state that they are pleased with what we are doing.

In fact I had a Medal of Honor recipient from IWO Jima actually thanked us personally as re-enactors for what we do. Do you realize how humble I felt at that moment?

As far as weight issues and other such popular barbs used in the hobby are concerned. I usually consider them to be cheap shots and often avoids other just as pertinent issues of "authenticity."
Physically I am more authentic than many re-enactors of my generation due to the fact that I do not have any modern materials in my body(plates, pins, bolts,) nor do I have scars from modern medical procedures. However, the fact I weigh 245 pounds is an issue. There are no winners when we start to play the game of "I am more authentic than you."

**************************************************
Some questions to consider what we do as re-enactors.

Have any of us gone through the basic training as well as advanced training of the forces of the period we portray?

Are we the correct age, height, weight and mental status of those we portray?

Do we use live ammunition? Have we ever been under enemy fire?

Do we get to witness our buddies getting their arms, legs, heads blown off at re-enactments?

Are we under the threat of close quarters combat with real knives, shovels or bayonets?

Are we under the threat of being placed into a POW camp facing the same conditions as existed during the war?

Threat of execution?

Do we suffer from dysentery, malaria, gangrene or other such infections or ailments at re-enactments.

Do we suffer from malnutrition while at events?

Etc, etc. etc.
***************************************************

Additionally, One must remember that just because someone served in the military(combat or otherwise) does not automatically make them some sort of hero or means they deserve respect. This is true of Police, Firefighters, Doctors, garbage workers, sewer workers etc. etc. It is what one does while in that service which distinguishes them as a hero or earns them respect.

As with any group you have good and bad individuals within that group. A quick look at past history shows that some really bad folks have been veterans of military service (combat or otherwise.) I have met my share of folks who were and are utter disgraces to the uniform(s) they wore and or wear.

A few examples of really bad Vets would be:
Adolf Hitler - WWI combat veteran
Lee Harvey Oswald - US Marine
Timothy McVeigh - US Army - Bronze star - Gulf War
I am sure I could come up with a much bigger list if I put some time into it.

Some of the nastiest most vile treatment at the hands of MODS over on the other forum has been from those who have served in the military.

So I guess in the end I figure that each of us has our own opinion on the various aspects of re-enacting and it will always provide us with an never ending source of discussions and or entertainment.

And we all can always use more entertainment, right?

Sincerely,

Dima
(one who hates hypocrites)

[horsesoldier176]

The boss has spoken!