What does defarbed mean? (N/T)

[BlueTrain]

I remember the time in the army when you had to get your long sleeve khaki shirts shortened and when subdued sleeve insignia came in. Then later, in the National Guard, rank (if you had any) insignia was on the collar of your fatigue shirt, but I was out before the wash and wear fatigues were issued.

Mostly the thing in "real life," especially in the army, is to have the latest thing. Motion pictures, on the other hand, when depicting current events with regards to the military, especially foreign military, sometimes are a little behind the times because of the very real shortages of up to the minute gear. That's why the Germans in movies made during WWII sometimes had World War One helmets.

For most of us, there hasn't been a movie that show much of what the army was like when we served, if any movie ever did. There were parts of "We were soldiers once" (is that the right name) that were so correct and familiar that it was a little disturbing. I never saw "Gardens of Stone" but I think that was the right time period for my army experience.

A lot of historical periods are very interesting to me and I'm only thinking of ones in the last 250 years in this country. But hardly all of them had anything to do with war or the military. I don't think anyone re-enacts the Gold Rush of 1898--or 1849 for that matter. But those periods, brief as they were, are fascinating and there is some firearm history in there somewhere, too.

One of the interesting things about the British Army is that although they keep introducing new things, they never seem to stop using the old things. Supposedly windproof smocks in tan were issued for the Gulf War that had been manufactured in WWII. Probably just a rumor.

 

[edm1]

I was always taught that FARB stood for " Foolish and reckless B'strds" No care for historic accuracy etc. To make as accurate as possible is to un-FARB

 

[BlueTrain]

Sometimes reenactors use historically correct and perfectly accurate items and are unaware of some of the details, not that they necessarily need to be. After all, when the originals were being manufactured and issued two hundred years ago, that was the business of the manufacturer, not the fellow who would up with it.

For instance, canteens or water bottles used during the Revolutionary War period were mostly made of wood, not necessarily the best material for carrying liquid around in. There was little better at the time, however. The inside was generally coated with tar or pitch, or so I am led to believe. It affected the taste of the water no doubt but helped preserve the wood. I was speaking to a re-enactor a year or two at some gathering on the green in front of the governor's palace in Williamsburg a year or two ago. He was totally unaware of what was inside his canteen (other than water) but did admit it "tasted funny."

Another thing we sometimes have trouble with is the fact that most of the equipment used during the revolution (and most other wars) was essentially issued new and was not two hundred years old.