"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Gandhi
"If you don't like something change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." -- Maya Angelou
"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." -- Barack Obama
"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." -- Harriet Tubman
"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." -- George Bernard Shaw
What do all these quotes have in common? They all stress that you can't sit idly by and expect things to change on their own. If you truly want something in your environment to change you have to find the strength inside yourself to be the one to step forward and see it happen.
What does this have to do with re-enacting? History is history and we can't go back and change it but the type of change I'm going to be discussing has more to do with how this history based hobby is structured and organized. Is the hobby the same as it was 20 years ago? No, it's evolved and it has changed for the better. It's how the hobby has stayed alive over the decades and how new people and new generations get brought into and stay in the hobby. How did that happen though? It didn't happen because everyone sat complacent with how things were but because re-enactors over the years decided to challenge the status quo and change what they were doing to make improvements. It's how standards continually evolve, uniform and equipment quality improves, and units change and grow.
When anyone starts out in the re-enacting hobby everyone follows pretty much the same process and it has been this way for years. In fact in my very second post on this blog I outlined this process.
1. Choose your impression.
2. Join a unit.
3. Research your impression.
4. Use your fellow unit members or leadership to build a good and accurate impression for events.
But what do you do when you don't have a unit for your impression? Or realize you're being held back from reaching your re-enacting goals because of the units available to you? Do you accept it as is and settle for "good enough" or give up on your goals and stay in a situation that no longer gives you the satisfaction you want from this hobby? I wouldn't settle for that in my everyday life and I don't think anyone in this hobby should have to settle for that either but that means you personally may need to step up and be that change you want.
I see so many units throughout the country made up of men who on a weekly basis are taking chances and doing new and exciting things which are having tremendously positive impacts on the growth of this hobby. They certainly aren't content with the status quo set for them but rather want to challenge themselves to create new standards.
But where does that leave me or other women in the hobby who feel they don't really have a unit to go to?
When I go to events I have always done a helferin impression whether it was a Luftwaffe one or a Heer one but there's never been a dedicated unit for me or other women like me in the hobby to be a part of who do helferin impressions. There's plenty of DRK units and many male units who have allowed me or other women to "fall in" with them or female attachments but yet this didn't quite represent the service of helferinnen in the most accurate historical manner. I've been grateful for the hospitality of the male units but at the same time there was always a sort of disconnect between their goals and mine.
Helferinnen had their own chain of command and their own units during the war, they may have been given an "administrative assignment" with a particular male unit but it wouldn't have been a "permanent assignment" where they would travel to various theaters with the same male unit. If that was the case why do many in the hobby think it's correct to just have the women fall in at the rear of a male unit at events?
From day one I was always felt I was an anomaly in this hobby for my dedication to accuracy or I heard things like "if only there were more women like you in the hobby." And yet I stayed put, stayed with the status quo, and was afraid to challenge how things were. Truthfully for awhile I didn't think there was another option. Sure some other women in the hobby and I tossed around the idea of changing things to benefit us at events while we were sitting around the fire in a camp or over text messages but nothing ever was acted on. Then one day something changed.
In October 2015 my friend Sean made an introduction that was going to drastically change my re-enacting path over the next year and a half. He called me up one day and said I want to introduce you to someone, I think you two will get along quite well. She's very like-minded to you when it comes to re-enacting and she wants to start doing German, do you think you can help her out? A few days later he introduced me to Jessica or Jess and we've been virtually inseparable ever since at major events like FIG, Virginia Beach, and D-Day Ohio. We collaborate, share research and knowledge, and continually strive to elevate each others impressions to higher and higher levels of accuracy. And yet it always felt to us like something was missing from our re-enacting experience.
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| Jess and I in our various adventures at events. |
Regardless we trudged along, doing our own thing at events and executing activities that we wanted to accomplish regardless of where we fit in. We've been a part of a number of units ever since we met but still never felt comfortable or like we fit in. We sat along the sideline as we saw discussion after discussion happening at events or in online forums about female participation in the hobby and how difficult it can be to accommodate them at times within male units when it's not really accurate. But still we did our own thing. Eventually the discussions got louder and more frequent and we felt we couldn't sit idly by anymore.
It was then, several months ago, we realized what exactly that missing piece was and that maybe, just maybe now was the time for us to pioneer something new within the hobby. Something that the current state of the hobby wasn't offering us or other women and we made the decision that it was time to change the status quo. We made the decision that it was time for us to blaze a new trail and establish an autonomous helferin unit. In our vision this unit would be independent of any male unit in terms of its structure, chain of command, and participation at events. It'd allow us to set our own standards and make our own decisions on what we were going to do as helferin. Of course this would be no easy undertaking but we were passionate about this idea and committed ourselves to seeing this unit come to fruition to take the hobby for women like us to the next level. The more we talked; the more our passion intensified towards the idea we could truly be a part of something great in the evolution of WW2 re-enacting.
And so the official process to take on this new project began in February 2017 and here we stand 3 months later, after hours and hours of work and we're ready to announce to my blog audience our new unit.
So drum roll please... we are happy and excited to present:
Nachrichten Regiment 598
We buried ourselves in research to find a documented unit or group of Nachrichten Helferinnen des Heeres not just a geographical location they may have been assigned to. When we finally found one it just felt like a natural fit to be the basis for our new unit. Specifically Nachrichten Helferin Ersatz Trupp 302 was attached to the 11th Company of Heeresgruppen-Nachricht-Regime
As we continued work on the foundation and structure of this unit we started seeing just how many other people we knew were ready and excited at this potential prospect. Before we knew it what started as a unit of 2 like-minded women who both do helferin impressions doubled into 4 and more past that started connecting with us and it was so exciting they were from all areas of the country coming together to collaborate. As we talked to more women we found they all had the same incomplete feeling towards their experience in the hobby and yet we all had the same desires and goals for re-enacting. We all wanted to share our passion and dedication to the accurate representation of history but still have fun and enjoy ourselves because it is after all a hobby.
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| Other members of Nachr.Rgt 598, pictured in the center with HQ staff at FIG 2017 Original Photo taken by Chris Pittman |
Ultimately this all takes us to present day and why I incorporated this into my blog because I want this blog to not only talk about serious topics in the hobby but also new and exciting endeavors that can help other in the future in similar situations. All the members of Nachr.Rgt 598 are excited to move forward with this and see where it takes us! It's a new (sometimes terrifying) path we are going on but something that is long overdue and given more time will transform into something stellar. I am grateful to all my readers who will support us in this endeavor and cant' wait to see many of you at our unit's first event. The inaugural event for this unit will be D-Day Ohio in Conneaut, OH August 17th-19th. Please come see us!
In the meantime we'd love if you'd visit our Facebook page and give us a like! If you are a helferin re-enactor or know of someone who might be interested in joining our unit please contact us on Facebook too!
