On Saturday, July 20, the World War 2 Guys jumped forward in time to the year 1967. Our objective for the day was to loosely live a "day in the life" of the 1986 Oliver Stone movie, Platoon. Our squad for the day was comprised of SSgt. Barnes, Sgt. Elias, Taylor, Bunny, Rhah, Lerner, and Crawford. Our guys had been preparing for this for a few months, but it was the first Vietnam event for all of us so there were several little details that we can improve upon for future events. For our location, we chose our favorite site in the beautiful Loess Hills of western Iowa. We spent quite a bit of time clearing out and improving our hilltop outpost which we called Firebase Lightning. After a lunch of C Rations, we did a lengthy Search & Destroy patrol in the afternoon and just had a great time hanging out as a group. After our time in the hills, all seven of us ventured to the Nebraska Vietnam Veterans Memorial where we took some really great group photos which we'll post later. It was such a fun day that we're already planning on doing a follow-up event next year.

On Saturday, October 10, the World War 2 Guys were back in the field representing the "Blue Devils" of the 88th Infantry Division in Italy. Our understrength squad for the event was SSgt. Krelle, Sgt. Green, Cpl. Hazard, Pfc. Williams, and Pvt. Mason. We began our day winding our way through cornfields and humping it up the Loess Hills which served as Italy for the day. The men spent time clearing out our old hilltop trench while keeping a keen eye out for any Kraut activity in our sector. We got in a few quick firefights with a small German patrol located in a grove of trees below our position. After Sgt. Green had a weapons malfunction, SSgt. Krelle quickly stepped-in and neutralized the enemy patrol with a little back-up from Pvt. Mason. After the fireworks, the squad spent the sunset hour eating some rations and some cooked Spam provided by Pfc. Williams. Everyone agreed that the hot chow was delicious!  After securing our positions for the night the men looked up in awe of the star-filled night sky above. Thankfully, there was no enemy activity during the night which remained relatively warm for an October evening. The squad was up with the sun, scrounging up some rations and some hot coffee from Sgt. Green.  We packed up and left our hilltop position, pushing to the south to keep the pressure on the Germans.  It was quite an event highlighted by some spectacular weather and some amazing fall colors.

On Sunday, April 23, the World War 2 Guys visited the Loess Hills near Mondamin, Iowa for some much needed field time. Will, Jeff and Eric came dressed in a mix of Pacific Theater uniforms with Will wearing an early war Camouflage Coveralls ensemble compete with the transitional M1917A1 helmet, and Jeff and Eric wearing the later style HBT uniform.  We started the day with some field maneuvers through the picturesque fields and Loess Hills of western Iowa.  We made it to the top of some of the highest hills in the area where the views of the Missouri River valley are breathtaking!  The three of us took a break to refuel on some K-Rations and share some good old war stories.  Then it was on to some live fire time where we pulled out quite a few goodies.  Among our arsenal of weapons were a 1903 Springfield, an 1897 Trench Shotgun, an M1 Garand, an M1A1 Carbine, and a replica M16A1 from the Vietnam War era.  From 100 yards, our old Direct TV dish made for a nice target.  We finished the day with Will modeling for us in his summer khakis which is always a treat!  During our time up in the hills, we came up with a great idea to do a Korean War reenactment at this site sometime in 2017. So we're all looking forward to that!