Walts

[gothica7]

What do you think about Walts?

check out this link before you comment.

http://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/walt

I personally dont rate anyone who wears the rank or qualification to which they are not entitled whatever they do or say otherwise. If you aint earned it, dont wear it. I wouldnt nor do i. You cannot justify what you do by saying you are living history. Do what you do by all means do but dont wear the rank nor badges that others have sweated blood to earn or died doing so.

Andy

 

[spotter]

excellent link and sadly this happens....once knew someone who was ex SBS in the falklands conflict,his parent unit was the parachute regt ,then after a few pints it changed to the black watch,,he loved his trusty 303 ,he had a really nice selection of memorabilia all special forces videos and books to remind him of his service,
absolute bolloker tripped him up on several occasions but the walting continued.ex SBS more like ex HMP

 

[Kermit]

Hmmm. Interesting topic.

I suppose I am a "Walt" as the OP puts it. Once every so often, I put my German uniform on, run round the woods shouting "for you tommy ze var is over!" and generally having a laugh doing it. Do I take it seriously? Well, not really. One of the issues I have with most WW2 re-enactment is the "oh, we're doing it to pay tribute to XYZ". Every time I hear it, my bullshit detector goes off. "Living History" is just a phrase invented so that some individuals could look down their noses at re-enactors who do it just for a laugh (and for the beer, naturally!)

To the OP, have you ever actually talked to any re-enactors at events? Quite a few are ex forces. I'm guessing by your tone, you are probably ex HMF.

 

[paul the grenade]

Looks like im a walt too and i can highly recomend it.
Nothing better than a good hand to hand battle at close quarters.
CHARRRRRRRRGE !!!!!:tinysmile_fatgrin_t

 

[LCplCombat]

LCplCombat raising money for the Gurkha Welfare Trust at Helvellyn in 2007.

LCplCombat as a CplOH, 1st Regiment of LifeGuards 1815, purely posing.

I understand what gothica7 is saying though. There are Walts and there are WALTS

 

[gothica7]

Lcpl/Combat,

You are exactly right about what i mean.

Andy

 

[Falcon]

I have met two people who I'm pretty sure (well 99.9% sure) were "walts". Both of them claimed to be ex special forces / government agents.

Both of them were sellers behind stalls at car boot sales. They both claimed things like "most of this I can't tell you as it is secret etc." One of them claimed, among other stuff that he was ex SAS and "still did jobs for the government that no one else could do" inside countries such as Iran. I think the other claimed he was some sort of ex MI6 agent. If they really had done these things, why would they be bragging about it to people at boot sales?

There are also an awful lot of "gangster walts" who are the same sort of age as me. I remember people in school who used to brag about being high level criminals (or their dads were supposed to be) at age 12 or 13.

 

[Big Dave]

Now until the weekend and the visit to Detling with Spotter , i used to be of the opinion that a percentage of reenactors were walts .Then whilst walking through the stalls i noticed 2 stalls that caught my eye [ Spotter will confirm this ] stall A was selling 1940s ladies underwear ,and very nice it was .Stall B was sell a variety of things but what stood out was the ladies PVC underwear [ I use the word loosely ,shame Spotter didnt take a picture].Now if all female reenactors ,wives,girlfriends ,etc wear this gear i will be joining any group ,any period .Just a thought before the post got too serious Dave

 

[jeeeensy]

To stop walts,, dont they say it is best to change hands at 99,,or somthing like that :reddy:

 

[BOMBSaway1980]

you get alot in our field, we even caught one wearing the EOD crab, he said he went to a 3 week course for EOD in Fort Lost in the woods back in 1979.

 

[waffenamt]

Personally i like the re-enactors.
I have a german tunic with collar tabs and a gefrieter stripe on the left arm.
Not for re-enacting,i wear it out on the lash with the lads.
Did i earn that stripe? er no...that would be impossible as i was neither in the german werhmacht or any other army or organization.
Do i give a toss? er no...i love the jacket and most things german.

What i do not like is those that some of you lads have come across such as the ex SAS claiments and the like.

regards


waff

 

[satan18]

Personally i like the re-enactors.
I have a german tunic with collar tabs and a gefrieter stripe on the left arm.
Not for re-enacting,i wear it out on the lash with the lads.
Did i earn that stripe? er no...that would be impossible as i was neither in the german werhmacht or any other army or organization.
Do i give a toss? er no...i love the jacket and most things german.

What i do not like is those that some of you lads have come across such as the ex SAS claiments and the like.

regards


waff

I think the line has to be drawn somewhere as you could take it in the same texts for film actors,and yes there on the big screen wearing uniforms and rank there not entitled to,but for our veiwing/entertainment.
As the re enactors groups get bigger in number then there has to be officers and nco"s for which so long as they portray the the role correctly
then good on them.
I drove my 1942 3 tonner back in 95 for the VJ victory parade.
I was wearing the uniform of the 33rd armd bgd RASC for which my old dad was in.

We were invited to show 125 restored military vehicles down the mall in front of HRH and most of the familyoh:
The Army had grave doubts about a civilian group being able to perform driving in rows of five in a straight line,but after the event could do no more than congratulate the immense discipline with which all these vehicles
passed the the Royal Family,and out through Admiralty arch.

We carried 50 chelsea pensioners in 50 jeeps up front and progressive vehicle sizes followed,mainly British.

A good day for all,and one to remeber:tinysmile_fatgrin_t

Best phil

 

[Falcon]

What i do not like is those that some of you lads have come across such as the ex SAS claiments and the like.

regards


waff

I agree, re-enactors do it as a hobby, but someone who actually tells people that they are something they are not is a different. I thought the real SAS prided themselves on never telling anyone anyway.

Another one that could be added to the types of walts is "music walts". My brother meets them as he is a guitarist. They are middle aged men who play in the back of pubs but claim to have played/recorded/toured with all sorts of famous musicians.

 

[dano1917]

oops

When I was a younger lad I think I used to tell chicks I was a secret agent W-A-L-T
I thinks it's okay if you're just after a little nooky

 

[Falcon]

But did they believe you?

I'm sure if I tried that they would think I was some sort of weirdo.

 

[LCplCombat]

I mean, if I was going to WALT properly I wouldn't pretend to be a clerk in the RAOC. To those that dont know, RAOC was the Royal Airborne Overseas Commandos

 

[satan18]

When I was a younger lad I think I used to tell chicks I was a secret agent W-A-L-T
I thinks it's okay if you're just after a little nooky

Dan you could have told em you were napoleon solo or something,as telling a bird about W-A-L-T-S is a bit of a passion killer:xd:

Best phil

 

[Falcon]

There was an exposed walt in the free paper on the way to work today. Unfortunately this idiot who claimed to be an army doctor but really had no training caused permanent damage to a TA soldier's hand while attempting to "treat" a broken bone.

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article..._is_jailed&in_article_id=750749&in_page_id=34

 

[pointblank0]

It's strange that the only pissed people I find in pubs are all ex special forces, no local regiments or Logistics or Catering core and stuff.
I don't think the TA should really come under WALTS, I never have been TA but I think they deserve better than someone who pretends to have served and acts all hard with it.
Same with reenactors I suppose, a genuine interest in history I reckon

 

[gothica7]

There was an exposed walt in the free paper on the way to work today. Unfortunately this idiot who claimed to be an army doctor but really had no training caused permanent damage to a TA soldier's hand while attempting to "treat" a broken bone.

I think this is dreadful.
However, how the hell did the guy get as far as he did? How on earth did he get past all the vetting etc. I reccon someone slipped up badly here in letting the creep go as far as he did. Ime sure 36 Sigs are pretty embarrassed about the whole affair.

Andy