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Post by foxholetom on Oct 23, 2007 10:04:27 GMT -5
I was leafing through a new book out on Korea titled "the longest winter" and I struck upon an idea. An event in the dead of winter, with snow on the ground...a 2 or 3 day hike through the snow, recreating the retreat from the Yalu River through North Korea to the 38th parallel. The unit that came to mind was 2nd ID, retreating from disaster to rally at Chipyong Ni.
Strictly speaking, the event wouldn't require enemy, just guys willing to march through the snow, sleep in the cold, and probably a few vehicles. This wouldn't be a short, easy march either, I'm thinking 15 to 20 miles each day. At the end of the event, you'll know you've done something.
Anyway, it just popped into my head about an hour ago, so I have no idea where we'd do it, but somewhere with snow.
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Woodard
Global Moderator 
Posts: 379
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Post by Woodard on Oct 23, 2007 11:05:50 GMT -5
I know that a TV special about Chosin may get filmed in Colorado, where they have mountians and open terrain. Is there anywhere in the appalachan mountians that doesnt have dense vegitation?
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Post by bulldawg on Oct 23, 2007 12:32:08 GMT -5
I know there's some 'bald' peaks in NE Tennessee (Kingsport-Bristol-Johnson City area).
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Post by foxholetom on Oct 23, 2007 13:00:00 GMT -5
NE Tennessee would work for me, as long as there is snow.
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Post by John Abshire on Oct 24, 2007 5:49:04 GMT -5
You know I am down, we just need people...and dedicated people!
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Post by foxholetom on Oct 24, 2007 11:56:52 GMT -5
To march 20 miles through the snow oh, yeah, we'd need dedication.
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Post by John Abshire on Oct 24, 2007 13:35:02 GMT -5
...and some good socks.
OK well if we are going to do this we need to find a location and see what we have to do to get permission to use it...im sure we can find a nice hiking trail somewhere...
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Post by Glen K on Oct 24, 2007 20:55:08 GMT -5
The key would also to be finding a trail where we're allowed to bring our weapons... Ammo could be optional, but we couldn't (for example) use a National Parks Service trail or forest. Unless we could find someone who was sympathetic to what we were doing, which isn't likely but nevertheless possible....
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Post by foxholetom on Oct 24, 2007 23:17:29 GMT -5
We'd need weapons, but ammo is optional. A national forest, as opposed to a national park is a good option to look into. The national forest in Ventura County, back in California, was okay to take weapons into. In fact, you could carry a loaded weapon (with live ammo) in the Los Padres National Forest, and target shooting was okay. Shorter training hikes would be a must as well.
A military base is another option.
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Post by John Abshire on Oct 25, 2007 18:28:07 GMT -5
Well tom this is your puppy you find it...and we will build it alright man...ha ha..careful what you wish for!
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Post by John Abshire on Oct 26, 2007 6:06:23 GMT -5
Hey, some one I met on the ww2 forums says he might can get us acess to land in Ohio...I know Ohio is a bitching drive but unless we can do something better around here, we might have to consider driving there...just a thought unless you guys have an idea.
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Post by foxholetom on Oct 26, 2007 7:45:35 GMT -5
I'd drive to Ohio for this.
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Post by John Abshire on Oct 27, 2007 9:03:05 GMT -5
I did a little reasearch and the Appalachian Trail allows for hunting off the trails, which means you are allowed to carry firearms on the trail...and in the fall and winter most of the peaks..espically around january are snow covered here in NC...the only thing is do you want to walk 15 miles in one direction and walk back 15 miles...or does anyone have an idea...if we had a Duece and a half I could say we could drive all our POVs to the start point, and have the duece drive us to the end point...we could then hump back to the cars...and drive the duece driver back to his truck...or we can use any combo of military vehicles as nessicary.
I will give the parks service a call on monday and see what we need to do to get 100% permission, and if we go after January it will be after hunting season so we should have any issue of angry hunters walking up on a bunch of cold GIs...
Odds are we wont be able to do much "contact" with blanks and such as there will be normal hikers in the area...although it will probally be dead this time of year (in the Jan-Feb winter months) but you never know....so odds are this will just be a forced march experience with sleeping in shitty conditions and setting up security...
Thoughts, ideas?
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Post by foxholetom on Oct 28, 2007 20:08:36 GMT -5
I remember that when I talked to the forest ranger about doing a military hike in the Los Padres he said that "wargaming" was not allowed. However, he had no problem with us hiking, camping, in uniform, carrying weapons, etc. Its also worth noting that he told us live ammo was okay, and the weapons could be loaded. I found out later this was because of mountain lions...
Anyway, "reenacting", ie, a battle with blanks, may require more coordination. Hiking however should be easy.
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Post by John Abshire on Oct 29, 2007 7:04:53 GMT -5
Personally, Id rather have an event that was more like a living history event, IE living like a solider, long humps, setting up security, patrols, and stuff like that...we dont have to come under fire for it to be a good event...
Before we hump with live rounds I would want to do a weapons saftey weekend, including a rifle qualification...I know to many doggone reenactors who cant function their weapons...and dont get me wrong im not attacking them, but there is no excuse in this era to have people running around the woods and not know how to function their rifle properly...
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Post by foxholetom on Oct 29, 2007 13:03:48 GMT -5
Oh, I wasn't recommending we hike with live rounds, just pointing out that the National Forest allows that, but not running around shooting blanks.
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Post by John Abshire on Oct 30, 2007 10:28:22 GMT -5
Appears that the AT isnt a good option...anyone got connections to a Military Base in the great white north...nows the time to use it...
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Post by Uwarhie on Nov 20, 2007 11:52:52 GMT -5
Good idea about a weapons safety/qualification event. Be nice to have our weapons actually zeroed as well.
Has anybody considered the Uwarhie (spelling?) national forest? I know there's a ton of land out there. Additionally, I've done field problems out there with SWC in the past. It is northeast of Charlotte, so the drive is close. The only problem would probably be the rare chance of snow. In general it might be nice for a road march event anyway. If you guys are interested, I'll do a little more research.
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McCurley
Private 
A Btry 3/27 FA (MLRS) OIF 1, 2003
Posts: 12
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Post by McCurley on Nov 20, 2007 11:56:18 GMT -5
That last post was from me. I guess my login time expired.
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Post by foxholetom on Nov 25, 2007 11:50:47 GMT -5
By the way, I hiked the Great Smokey's this weekend. That is a definite no-go for winter Korea hiking. Its great for backpacking, but for any long distance hiking, you definitely need specialty equipment like crampons.
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