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Mordel's Bar & Grill |
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Vampire
Free Worlds League
Lieutenant Colonel
Joined: 05-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 917
Location: Spain
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 Posted: 19-Sep-2008 17:07 Post subject: |
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This was my first experience at soldiering, or at least to pretend it, and it was very instructive.
It was far from pleasant and comfortable, to begin with, I was sick too and with a fever, but I didn't want to miss it. Wearing warm woollen uniforms under a 30ºC heat is a treat, and I discovered I was too well fed to be a soldier in the Red Army, I thought i was a slim guy, but all those beers add up and the trouser was too tight at the waist, worsened by the fact so much junk hangs from the belt you have to wear it tight. Now I know what ladies that wear a corset feel like! :p Moreover, after we assembled, dressed up and marched into the hills, it was like 3 pm, the most hot time of the day, and I hadn't eaten anything at all in the whole day. And to top it off, on top of the weapon and equipment and my own backpack with clothes, water and food stuff, I had to carry another backpack with all the clothes and equipment of my girlfriend who said she would dress up later when we arrived at the camp site (she didn't).
So why I went along with this? Masochism? Well, I didn't want to look like a wimp, and the experience was instructive on giving a hint on the rigors of soldiering.
I learned a lot of things about the way the army does things, for somebody that has never handled a weapon before, it was a revelation to discover that you have to shoulder the weapon by the sling in a very precise way or else you run the risk of swinging it into the face of the guy standing on your side. Also on the way of avoiding blisters, or arranging kit to carry all that stuff, though the way of knotting the straps of the sack to make a backpack still eludes me (the Red Army didn't issue enough backpacks so soldiers had to do with a sack with shoulder straps attached).
I learned why soldiers wore long sleeved clothing even in the heat of the summer, after so many times of diving to the ground drilling an attack on an enemy machinegun position I got nasty bruises on my left elbow and knee. Very instructive to learn how to go prone, how to prevent the weapon from hitting the ground and how to arrange items on the belt, so you don't get injured by them in the fall, and to be able to reach them when prone though it didn't do much good, annoying @·$%&! magazine pouch!
I wish we carried out this little exercise in spring with nice soft green grass, dry grass was bad enough, but it must be a Murphy's law of the military that the spot where you dive to the ground is full of stones. Ouch!
I did better at maneuver drill, all those readings on tactics paid off, I understood quickly the fire and movement tactic to take on the enemy MG position (a club member with a videocamera recording our "attacks" as a sort of "gun camera") and by the end of the exercise I was able to get onto a flanking position to lay suppression fire on the enemy position without getting killed! 
Still theory is one thing, and putting it in practice another entirely different. Stupid tall grass! I can't see a thing!
I came from this (mock) war a changed man... :p I marched and drilled for a few hours for fun, and I came up with a enormous respect for those Mordellians that have soldiered for real, either at some time at their lives, or by profession , and specially for those that have had the dubious privilege of braving shot and shell.
I enjoyed the experience inmensely and I am seriously considering going out and buy myself a sailor uniform like the one in the pictures. Reenactment is a very expensive hobby, and I only consider it because I can borrow the weapon, wich is the most expensive thing, from the club. Still I don't know if it's worth spending 500 dollars or more in all the uniform items (Wartime navy belt buckle alone can be worth $100) just for wearing it a couple times a year when I travel to Crimea to take part in next year victory day reconstruction and perhaps at some games convention here.
So what do you think, have my brains go soft due to sunstroke and too much vodka and I should be talked out of it? Or I look good in sailor uniform and I should go for it? 
Further reading
Commandos from the Sea: Soviet Naval Spetsnaz in World War II (Naval Institute Special Warfare Series)
by Iurii Strekhnin (Author), James F. Gebhardt (Translator)
Blood on the Shores
by Viktor Leonov (Author)
Sevastopol 1942, Osprey
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Alexander
Heavy Horse Merc Brigade
Commanding Officer
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 828
Location: Canada
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| Posted: 24-Nov-2008 20:31 Post subject: Vampire unmasked: my time travel holiday |
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That pretty cool Vamp... but, horizontal stripes aren't very flattering to the figure... Silly Russian Naval Infantry!
Good to see you're still alive (!!) and kicking!
_________________
War is God's way of teaching geography.
*******
Commanding Officer, North West Armoured Cavalry
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Sir Henry
Team Bansai
Senior Tech Specialist
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 4899
Location: United States
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| Posted: 24-Dec-2008 09:41 Post subject: Vampire unmasked: my time travel holiday |
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Or Biting ...
_________________
Sir Henry
A Dragon in the disguise of a bunny, is still a Dragon.
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