I forgot to mention that during the "Mail Call" shooting we had more than just regular British soldiers. A few allies also showed up, including this Hessian. During the war, the British government hired professional soldiers from the German principalities, especially Hesse-Kassel. These soldiers were known as Hessians.
They were hard fighting, hard drinking soldiers that had large black mustaches (even if they were blonde haired).
Ich Dien
Yesterday I was able to take part in the filming for the TV show "Mail Call." For those of you who don't know what "Mail Call" is, let me explain. Actually, I think I will let Wikipedia explain it.
Mail Call is a documentary television program appearing on The History Channel and hosted by R. Lee Ermey, a retired Gunnery Sergeant of the United States Marine Corps.
During each half-hour episode, Ermey reads and answers questions submitted by viewers regarding weapons and equipment used by all branches of the U.S. military now or in the past, as well as by other armed forces in history. Ermey often takes his viewers on location to military training areas to film demonstrations.
Comic relief is provided as Ermey inflicts DI-style verbal abuse on his listeners or tests the effects of various weapons on watermelons(the host's "sworn enemy") and paint cans.[1]
Now that you understand the show, let me explain exactly what happened yesterday. The shoot was supposed to start at 8am, which means the unit had to get there at 5am. It may seem like overkill to get to a site 3 hours before shoot, especially when none of us had to go to the wardrobe or makeup trailers. We needed the three hours to set up all of our camp gear.
The majority of the guys show up at 5am at Sable Ranch in Canyon Country. Even our commander, who got two flat tires on the way up to the location, was there on time. The person who wasn't there on time was the set director (or whatever the heck he is called). We didn't know exactly where to go, so we stood around like a bunch of idiots in the very cold pre-dawn. Finally the guy shows up and we go to the location.
Since it is pre-dawn, we have to use the lights from the cars to see what we are doing. After unloading all the gear, we start setting up the officer's tent. Man, that thing is horrible to put up. Those stupid officers and their fancy, hard-to-maintain gear. After struggling with the tent, we finally get it up. Then it was on to the regular soldier tents. The regular tent is 6 feet tall and 8 or 8 1/2 feet long with a width of 6 feet. It is really not that big, considering five guys would sleep in it. I am sure it would be awfully cozy and comfy in there.
As you can see from the picture, the camp turned out pretty good. The little teepee like thing in the front is the bell of arms. That is where we stack our muskets to keep them out of the weather.
Most of the day, I spent walking sentry duty so that there would always be something moving in the shot. Marching in the sentry position sucks and I am really sore today because of it. When I wasn't walking sentry, I just stood around. In fact, a lot fo the time people were just standing around waiting.
Finally, we got to do the fun stuff and by fun stuff I mean fire off some blanks in the muskets. I had never even fired a flintlock before, so I was a little nervous. First they had us line up, like so.
And then we got to fire.
Upon firing about half a dozen rounds, the shoot was over and we started the clean up. I was pretty tired and sweaty then, but over-all it was a great day. I don't know when the episdoe will air, but when I find out I will let everyone know.
Ich Dien!
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