Zelts vs PUPs.
It should be pretty clear to anyone with a head with contents that you'll be sleeping outside in this hobby. You'll presumably want to look after all the kit you've just spent time and money putting together... so when at a show, you'll want to have a tent (about as secure as you can get at shows) to keep everything safe. This is where the problems start. Airborne re-enactors for years have used PUP tents... but the airborne didn't jump into Normandy with tents, so if you're doing any early impression in Normandy, the PUP isn't an option as there would have been NONE IN NORMANDY in the early days.
So, what are the other options? Any sort of civilian or military tent kept away from the display... simply a ball-ache to keep striking and pitching each night and then hiding away throughout the day.
Lots of groups use small wall tents and frankly this is bordering on crazy, seeing as jumping with a PUP was out of the question... how the hell would you jump with a wall tent?!?
Our logic is that PUPs were not in Normandy so, therefore, it only makes sense to use something that WAS there: German Zeltbahns! Zelts are the German 1/4-shelter pieces that can be put together to build a mother-fucking pyramid-sized tent to scale if you really wanted to do so. Those would have been in Normandy in abundance. Considering the equipment and positions that the Americans took in the early days of the invasion, these (unlike PUPs) would have been in easy supply. Without any other realistic options (see below for one ridiculous suggestion) we decided to spend near on £1000 on Zelts for the group to use.
I loved that comment as soon as I saw it. I didn't really feel that it needed a reply, other than my laughing face. Sticks and a raincoat... because that'll keep thousands of pounds of kit safe/dry and protected for a weekend. Once again proving that nobody is actually reading what we're saying or thinking about the problems we are trying to solve. I saw comments on a FB thread that 'we just want a reason to use Zelts" - that must be it, of course, because I obviously couldn't wait to spend £1000 on loads of those when I could have brought something more interesting for myself. Maybe this is the issue that lots of guys actually have... they'd have to buy something different. Then again, if you're are member of GI44-45, you practically have to own one of every item of U.S. kit ever made as they change units every other week... their members must really love sewing, painting, changing and adjusting webbing.
In the end, I really don't care what other groups choose to use; sleep in cardboard washing machine box for all I care, sleep in PUP tents, sleep in your car. This is what we do, this is our choice. Some have called it crap without even asking us why we do it. If you don't like what we do, great. Join another group, keep to yourself, bitch to members of your group, but not to us. We are not interested.
Let me summarize our stance:
1. NO PUP TENTS IN NORMANDY (in first week)
2. NO SMALL WALL would be in Normandy in the first week, either
3. There are no PUP tents in Normandy, so they can't be put in musette bags.
4. Musette bags should have correct contents in them, including a raincoat.
5. Raincoats and sticks are not secure.
6. Give me another option that is suitable to sleep in and store kit in...
7. Zelts over foxholes can be done BUT not all shows allow digging in, so then what?
I'd actually prefer it if no other group purchased them, let Miss Drop 44 be the only group who does this. You all stay in your small walls, modern tents or PUPs.
Yup, well said Sam. Sleep in a PUP that was 'never' ;) in Normandy, or sleep in a Zelt that was, albeit probably never used in this fashion out-right. I would agree that one was slightly more authentic than the other. As one was possible, and one wasn't... but go sleep in a hotel if you can't decide. I really don't care. Funny thing is, since this was written, we've not actually used the Zelts, instead purchasing a whole load of QMi's parachutes. We suspend those in the woods for improvised shelters. See the photos of the 101st artillery unit after the battle for Carentan that were taken by Time magazine. We do adjust and adapt as more information is found...