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Hi all,
I'd like some opinions of you members who were or are in the military. I was never in the military because congenital health problems caused me to fail military physicals. I deeply respect the military and would like to participate in the occaisional WWII reenactments and encampments in the PA area. I worry that I may offend people that were or are in the military because I was never a member and I would be wearing military garb. Am I wrong? How do you feel about it? Just curious.
Greencom

Retired Air Force, here, and I say go for it! As long as you are not trying to pass yourself off as a real soldier, I have no problem with it. The uniforms you would be wearing do not come even close to the current-issue stuff, so there would be no problem with military authorities. There is one thing I would insist on, though...never wear any decorations that you, yourself, did not earn.

That said, wear your uniform with the respect it deserves and enjoy the reenacting experience.

Army veteran here, and I agree with Lifer: As long as your attire and vehicle indicate that you are honoring those who served and are not falsely representing yourself, you shouldn't offend anyone. Believe me, old GI's know when someone is BSing. I recall working with a guy once who talked the talk about GI life and only after I probed him for details of his service he finally confessed that he'd never served but remembered all the war stories his uncles told-really peed me off....
Gary

I have 2 Army and 22 Air Force. I have never had any problem with re-inactors. As said above, be honest and never display an award you did not earn yourself unless the display clearly identifies who you are portraying.

Then, you have the "almost served" type! I have an uncle, for example, who enlisted in the Army on the same day I joined the Air force (he's only 9 months older than I). I made it through nearly 30 years of service. He was discharged as "unable to adapt to military life" after a mere 21 days at Fort Leonard Wood. To hear him talk, though, you'd swear he saw intense action in both theaters of WWII and in Korea. He is a regular customer at the American Legion bar even though he's not eligible to join the Legion and is always shooting off his mouth to anyone who will listen to his "war stories." I hate guys like that, even if I happen to be related to one of 'em!

There's thousands of them. By the way I just heard an interesting statistic. During WWII 1 3/4 million men failed induction screening as mentally unfit for service and 1/2 million were discharged for the same reason. If you look at the total population of the US then that really says something.

Lifer wrote:Then, you have the "almost served" type! I have an uncle, for example, who enlisted in the Army on the same day I joined the Air force (he's only 9 months older than I). I made it through nearly 30 years of service. He was discharged as "unable to adapt to military life" after a mere 21 days at Fort Leonard Wood. To hear him talk, though, you'd swear he saw intense action in both theaters of WWII and in Korea. He is a regular customer at the American Legion bar even though he's not eligible to join the Legion and is always shooting off his mouth to anyone who will listen to his "war stories." I hate guys like that, even if I happen to be related to one of 'em!

Air Force Vet here.
I gotta agree with Charles & Gary, do it w/ taste & don't over do it.
That said unless your tiring to portray someone like Col. Charles Hancock Reed or General Patton, stay away from unearned awards/decorations.

Lifer, Your uncle sounds like a real piece o' work?

Army vet served during the Vietnam era. Heavy equipment operator and mechanic. 34 consecutive months in Europe, 66th Heavy Equipment Maintenance.

Air Force Vietnam war vet, USAFE and SWA; 14 years GA Air Nat Guard then 4 years (two tours) in Saudi Arabia as an advisor to Saudi Air Force.

I was a 46270 aircraft weapons (maintained a/c wpns sys, uploaded everything from 20mm to nukes - hated napalm); the only reenactors I've ever seen have been Army or USMC and have never seen or heard of any trying to pass themselves off as anything but reenactors.

I have run into wanna be's trying to pass themselves off as vets especially Vietnam vets, doesn't take too long to see through their BS. My brother-in-law tried to pass himself off as a Vietnam vet even though he'd never served a day.

Given what was said above I wonder if all those who failed WWII induction went into politics - LOL

Seriously since I have never served in the armed forces but I was told you shouldn't even put on any military gear as it is an offense to those who did serve (someone even told me it was against the law for a non vet to wear any military clothing even if it isn't current issue). For this reason I always wear a T-shirt and jeans when I show my truck. Many times I would have liked to wear camo pants and shirt or something, especially an OD field coat, boots and hat (then I can dress layered and be warm when it is cold) but didn't want to offend vets. As it is sometimes I feel snubbed by the Army guys since I did my M37 in Air Force blue with white markings. (Hey I have my A&P and IA license for working on aircraft so why not AF) I will say the one Air Force recruiter went ga-ga when he saw my M37, claims all he ever sees is OD. Gave me two free grey PR T shirts with current AF logo on it. Since I didn't do my truck as a restoration I can never tell if that irks some vets to. Bottom line I have fun with the M37, enjoy driving it, want to honor vets, but occasionally I would like to put some gear on so I don't look so civi. So is what I have been told just a bunch of haha or what? Please enlighten me. Thanks.

Well, DAP, there is some BS in what you were told and some fact, too. All branches of the armed forces consider it a violation of their regulations for a civilian to wear any part of their uniforms. (I believe this restriction applies only to current issue items.)

Camo pants/shirt would not be a problem, since the M37 was pretty much phased out of the military inventory before camo uniforms came into vogue.

To me, the wearing of an obsolete uniform is not offensive. True, some vets might be offended by it, but that's their problem! Civilians don't have a monopoly on butt-heads!

One comment on the truck: To be accurate, you should have used yellow for the markings. It's still a heck of a nice change from all the OD trucks, though.

Heck you see people wearing camo everyday, as long as you're not trying to pass yourself off as something you're not then there's no problem. Just don't wear rank, medals, etc - if you didn't earn it don't wear it...

Thanks for the input guys. I would never try to pass myself off as an ex-military member. I guess I will still offend somebody anyway. I will try for the 1940's look but without rank or any connection to a specific base or camp . I do want the jeep to have markings on it that would have been used at Wheeler field shortly after the Dec. 7th attack at Pearl Harbor. The photo of my Dad in a jeep at that time shows no markings so I will have to do research. It is a slat grill jeep built on 2-26-42 so that part is correct.
Greencom

Actually on the issue of USAF markings during the early transition from OD to Strata Blue in the very early 50's the USAF used white then yellow. I don't have any M37's handy to illustrate this point with but here's a couple of M38's:


In this photo you see the Air Force still is using the original Army Ordnance registration number.


This was very early in the switch to blue since the hood number stayed on the hood.

Here is a blue USAF M38A1 in Korea late 53 /early54 still using the Army issue hood number.


Here you see not only the Registration Yellow markings but also the new USAF registration numbering system again this happens around 1955 .


Here you see the Registartion Yellow paint and the final registration numbering system change for the USAF to a system that used the last two digits of the contract year, with a vehicle type designator letter followed by the vehicle serial number.

So if your MV represents one in service from 1950 thru 1955 you have at least 5 options for USAF markings.

Nice research, Wes! I stand corrected.