What influenced you to start doing World War II reenactments?

I have been a huge world war history buff for as long as I can remember. I wanted to do something hands on with it and what better way than actually going out and reenacting it? One day I was reading this newspaper and there was an article about a father and son who do German (war) reenacting together and at the bottom of the page it had a link to the national reenactment website.

What do you enjoy most about the reenactments?

The teaching aspect of it. That’s why I like the unit I am in. There are two types of reenactors. There are people who go out and do it for the battles. There are also reenactors who go out and teach people about the war and the history of it and that’s more what we do. We do engineering units where we teach people about the engineering aspect of the war.

When do you have the World War II reenactments?

There is a season. It is not official, but it lasts from early spring to late summer. The latest they generally go is into early autumn. For example, I got back from Rockford, Ill., which has the largest World War II reenactment in the whole United States. This year there were 1,200 reenactors out there, representing 10 or 12 different nations.

What made you want to join the National Guard?

Money for college. That’s the biggest reason. Outside of the National Guard there is pretty much no way I was going to be able to pay. I’m sure I would find a way, but the National Guard would be easier. I’m sure my military history part of me had some involvement with it, but the money sounds really nice. There is also the part about community and country because the National Guard helps out with all sorts of community stuff.

What are your fears that you have for joining the National Guard?

There is that little niggling in the back of your head that “yeah, I might get deployed,” but that’s just what is going to happen. If it happens it happens. I’m not the kid who played “Call of Duty” and was like, “that’s so cool. I want to join the army and go kill people.” If I get deployed, I get deployed. If not, that’s also brilliant. If I were given a choice, I would rather not get deployed. You learn to live with that fear though.