March Rolls In Like A Lion

On Sunday, March 6, the men of "Item" Company gathered at Ft. Atkinson State Historical Park for some outdoor field training and close order drill. The scenario for the day was to envision that we were indeed training at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin in March of 1943 before the 2nd Division headed overseas. And while we were well prepared for our training, we were all quite unprepared for the extremely cold temperatures and blustery winds. I've been to some pretty cold events throughout my years as a reenactor, but this had to be one of the most miserable days I've been through. We were all dressed for slightly warmer weather and while the M1941 Field Jacket may be quite stylish, it's nowhere near sufficient as a cold weather coat. Brrrrrr!!! This first photo is Jeff, Kevin and Matt preparing for our first drill exercises. Looks like Mr. Hazard has been in the field for two weeks with all that scruff!

Here's a pretty cool photo of our six M-1 Garand rifles and our helmets. We'll have to work on stacking arms again once the weather gets a little nicer.

A very dapper Mr. Scott Rowe models the 5 Button Highneck Sweater and the Wool Knit Jeep Cap. Both items were well loved by the G.I.s back in 1944.
After an hour and a half of close order drill, we spent some time scouting out the area and practicing squad formations and movement. Here's a shot of Jeff and Dave pushing forward after getting the "all clear" sign from our scouts.
Ahhh, a close-up shot of yours truly. Note the world-famous "Indianhead" insignia of the 2nd Division painted on my steel pot. Looks like the cold has put me into a rather grouchy mood - either that our I'm just trying to play the part of the mean, old drill sergeant.
Kevin acted as our squad leader for the field training portion of the day. Here he discusses with Jeff the proper procedures for scouts to enter a wooded area. Our two scouts, Matt and Scott, had deserted us by this point and were nowhere to be seen.
Oh there they are! Turns out that Matt and Scott were working for the Germans and started blasting away at us as soon as we came upon their hiding places. Very tricky those two - the smirks say it all. We'll see if they ever get to be scouts again!
Pvt. Matt Hazard, or is it Jeremiah Johnson...??? Either way, he performed well in the field and we're glad he made it out for the day.
After a quick refresher course on unit hand signals we decided to pack it up and head back to the fort. That wind just blew right through us out in those woods.
We held a little admin meeting as we cracked open some K-ration canned meat and crackers. Hazard brought a six pack of bottled Coke so we all had one of those as well. It was fun to see everyone again and get in a little training, but it's safe to say that we're all ready for spring. And hopefully March will go out like a lamb and not like a lion.