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AFTER ACTION REPORTS
2018 Jackson/Ella Sharp Park After Action Report It was the 34th year, as well as the ‘1st’ year of this event, and while we learned a few things that we can improve upon for next year, I think this new venue gives the event, as well as a hobby, a breath of fresh air and a great foundation to build on.
2018 Hastings/Charlton Park After Action Report Thanks to everyone who was able
to attend. I arrived on site in the early evening due to some significant
construction, weather, and traffic delays. Ultimately the weather forecast
would scare some public as well as some re-enactors into likely not attending,
but overall, we managed through the weather well. We marched back to camp to prepare for the evening parade. Thanks to Tom Emerick for walking the Sergeants through the parade. We conducted it on the Village Green and want to recognize the fifers that joined us for the march and parade, thank you. Special note to 1st Company (Marty Walker, who didn’t run over anyone with his company this weekend!), and 2nd Company (Douglas McComas) for their men wearing white gloves for the Parade.
2018 (155th) Gettysburg After Action Report
Before too much time elapsed, I
wanted to jot down a few notes about the event. As is probably and typically my
fashion, I’ll start with some general comments and ‘thank yous’, some things I
learned and should have done differently, and some comments about the event
itself. Two of my three sons and I
caravanned over Wednesday night to the event with Mark Benning and his son Conrad William
Benning and we arrived Thursday late
morning. I had some concern immediately as there was limited signage indicating
camping logistics. Things were settled and discussion began as it related to
the march to the ‘remote’ site. In the end it was decided, in no small part due
to some weather forecasts, that we would do the march in the morning and march
into Friday’s battle. Friday morning started off
overcast and muggy. The march Friday morning was marked with constant starts
and stops by a ‘guide’ who clearly had no idea where he was going. We
eventually made it to the first stop and had to insist on water being brought
to us. Our next stop was a farm house where the owners seemed thrilled to have
several hundred re-enactors stop (as well as urinate) on their lawn. Once into
battle, 1st company (AOW commanded by Ian Fulford) did a great job refusing
the flank perhaps 10 or 20 times. 2nd company (commanded by Marty Walker)
ripped off some killer volleys. With artillery in front of us, we became tired
of being targets and quickly went down and captured the guns. The troops to our
right (I believe they were USV) wanted to spend 15 minutes dressing their lines
while under attack, so Ian again wheeled and refused the flank (but boy did the
USV line look great…). The USV folks eventually retired off the field, and our
exposed right flank and weakened numbers compelled us to retire. General
Zeckman suffered a mortal wound during the battle. Given the action, battalion
drill was cancelled for the day. Eventually spotty rain turned into a sunny day
with a light breeze. Friday afternoon’s battle allowed
us to be joined by two companies of troops from Bernie’s Division. Great group
of guys. We formed up and parked in the shade briefly, then marched into the
battle. The battle was quite chaotic, as the Left Wing (under Howard Morgan)
expertly wheeled into the flank of the Rebs who were attacking the Army of the
Ohio. Somehow the General stole my Right Wing (under Denny Whiting) to support
the right flank of the Army (not cool), and at one point I was taking random
companies and plugging them into our lines. I am pretty sure our Battalion was
doing all the fighting that day. It was another hot battle. Friday evening saw
the temperature’s cool down to the point where blankets were needed at night. Saturday morning, we had an
‘extra special’ reveille at 5:40a provided by Mark D. Heath (thanks Mark!) 😊. Just now getting to our first battalion drill, we were joined
by Ben Cwayna's
6th Michigan boys who would prove their mettle later in the day. The drill was
done well and we also worked with our Reb counterparts on the hand to hand
portion of the scenario. My voice became a bit…limited..during this drill and I
had to utilize the Adjutant and Sgt. Major as my ‘nice voice’ and ‘mean voice’.
The battle for the morning was the Wheatfield. We marched up to the wall and
had some back and forth with the Rebs and eventually retreated as Ben and his
men performed their scenario. When we came back we went to the extreme right of
the Army (because hey…they needed us again…) and pushed the Rebs to the wall. Saturday evening the battle was
‘Attack The Stone Wall’. We marched out in front of the stone wall and watched
the first line of Federals fight and break (we knew why we were there…)). We
fought hard. We had a small Federal Battalion dispatched to our right (it took
them a few minutes to get there), and then the battalion on our left, broke. We
were pushed back behind the wall and had to do a little dance (sorry…) to get
un-inverted. After doing so we (again) went to the far right to save the Army
and rolled up the Rebel left flank as the battle was ending. Saturday evening,
we formed for Parade (did I mention I LOVE Parades??) and that ended the formal
activities for the evening. The battle on Sunday (for as hot
and heavy as all the other engagements were) was very brief for us. We watched
the Rebs throw themselves on the wall (probably some pretty good views from our
lines) as we fired into the flank of the charging Rebel hoard. It was a great showing for the
GAR, you can see some pretty impressive video of us on various Facebook pages.
Thanks to all the music staff, Sgt. Major William Behrman, and especially Major Greg Swank (we
could not have done any of this without them). Our Wing Commanders were
outstanding, and our company commanders were second to none. It was great to
see Douglas McComas
and Scot Spiekerman
leading 2nd Company. The MDM fellas were just awesome to work with. Many
companies ‘shared’ leadership during the event which you might think would make
it challenging, but it didn’t. Also, special thanks to Aaron Sells who was my
‘rock’ on the left side, great job Aaron. Andy / Barry / Randy were awesome as
6th company, and Greg did an outstanding job as well. I always like to take a few
minutes and talk about things I did wrong and can do differently, this event
was not unique in that there were several. 1) When the person who was going
to lay our camp out could not make it, I should have figured out some kind of
‘Plan B’. Not having someone from headquarters there in advance of people
setting up their camps was a mistake. That led to some frustration in regards
to streets. In addition, I should have done a better job (along the lines of
what we did at Shiloh) where we had the civilians close (along a line at the
back of the military streets, but not IN the military camp). Not doing so
created some frustration. That was my fault. 2) I should have ignored the
order to pull us off the wall for the Wheatfield scenario. We were promised to
be a part of that, we were lied to. I blame myself for not ignoring the order.
Those of you that were frustrated by that I apologize. I was so angry by this I
did not bother attending the Brigade Officer’s meeting later in the day. The
practice we put in was completely wasted. I am sorry. 3) A bit of the same ‘trust’
issue in regards to the march. It was longer than what was ‘advertised’, and it
fatigued a lot of people. I should not have taken at face value what I was told
in regards to this march, again, my fault. 4) Last, bugle calls. Having a Brigade commander in our camp with his Bugler, doing calls that sometimes were not in alignment with our calls, caused a lot of confusion. At one point that created some tension with our color company and a few of our other companies. That was NO ONE’S fault but mine, I should have done a better job of clarifying times of when to form up in the street and when to come onto line. Logistically I give the event a
D- at best. Limited signage, the regular fight for water and ice, and the
disgusting conditions of the porta-pottys were big negatives and an event this
size should have had all that figured out. I was thrilled with our performance
in drill and battle, that was probably one of the best battalions we have put
together. Thanks to all of you for
attending, I hope I can march with you again soon.
2018 Cumberland Guard Meeting After Action Report Cumberland
Guard Annual Meeting Jan 13 2018 Introductions
Hastings, MI, July 2017, After Action Report I’m not really sure to where the weather we actually
received was supposed to go, but I am sure they were jealous because the
temperature we had was fantastic. I may have even used a blanket on Friday
night. Many thanks to John
Vohlken for not only his duties as Sergeant
Major, but also for keeping the mosquitoes away with spraying. TJ Berlucchi really added to the
weekend with his drumming (getting some help from Russ Paul on occasion). Saturday morning, we started off with some drill that was
performed quickly and efficiently. Organizationally we had a lot of various
companies combining to form the battalion. Scott
Cummings commanded 1st Company, Marty
Walker (although I tried to promote Ryan
VanMaldegen) had second company (and we were
all so glad Marty didn’t have another ‘episode’ like he did in 2016), 3rd
Company was Robbie
Giorlando (with some instruction from Ian Fulford and Russ Paul), and 4th
company was Captain Douglas
McComas. (more on THAT guy later... The battle on Saturday was out in the High Meadows. Union
forces came in from the road and wrapped around the spectator hill which I
believe they enjoyed. The battle wrapped around both sides and the Cav (led by Kevin
Yeager) was very helpful in sweeping up
the Rebs. We had a significantly higher number of troops on the field and ended
the day with a victory. Saturday Parade was held on the Village Green and Greg Swank helped facilitate one of the better parades I have seen
in a long time. I briefly left for dinner Saturday evening. When I returned it
was reported to me some of the men were being treated at the hospital in town.
I went there immediately and found Captain Douglas
McComas, who was either fatigued by battle
or drunk…maybe both. Before the evening was over Captain Douglas
McComas was in a duel with another Officer
and unfortunately it did not go well for him. The tactical on Sunday was the regular fare. Scott
Cummings and his crew were out on the field
with picket responsibilities. The Rebs
did a fantastic job covering the field and at one point gave us a great volley
as they came in behind us, well done! Sunday’s drill went well, with a special
note on Marty
Walker's 2nd Company’s volleys which were
outstanding (I am guessing Ryan had drilled them earlier). The battle on Sunday was held
on the Village Green and gave the Cav the opportunity to open up the battle for
us. Kevin and his crew dusted up the Rebs who were very aggressive
during the opening of the battle. Although we came down two different roads, we
eventually deployed ourselves across the width of the field. Eventually the
Rebs were driven back through town and surrendered. A big ‘thank you’ as always
to the Reb command staff. Greg Van
Wey could not make it, but Bill Adams
took his place, both of these men are fantastic and have been very flexible to
work with. Last, I appreciate the skills of our Wing Commanders
Denny Whiting as well as Dave Bauman, thank you both. As mentioned, the 49th Indiana will be fielding a company
for Hale Farm, so we’d love to have anyone fall in with us who is interested,
dates are Aug 12/13. Colonel Van
Shiloh, TN, April 2017, After Action Report I think I just now have the energy to sit down and put
some thoughts down in regards to Shiloh, as I was exhausted after the
event. I'll go into more detail in a
post on the Grand Armies of the Republic page about noting all the logistics
and pre-planning done by the event staff (Earl Zeckman and John Nash Jr), and
the (not kidding, 2 site visits and (by my count) 8 conference calls led by the
overall commander Bob A Minton who did an amazing job at getting this event
pulled together. I arrived on Wednesday and was greeted by Terri Cooney
Zeckman working the registration table.
After setting up on site we worked through a pretty windy and rainy
Wednesday and Thursday, but by Friday things were starting to shape up for some
great weather. We had most of the
company, battalion and brigade leaders on site by early Friday afternoon so we
met to discuss the schedule for the weekend.
I enjoyed camping next to 1st Battalion Steve Lundburgh who was great to
work with all weekend. I was honored to command all the infantry for the Friday
afternoon battle, and we had three battalions that, while never worked together
as a brigade, performed beyond expectations.
2nd Battalion 4th Company Captain Ryan VanMaldegen was tasked with being
the bait of the scenario and led his company in drill in the field. One the attack unfolded he was joined by 3rd
Company Captain Douglas McComas.
Eventually the battle unfolded with the 1st Battalion (led by the fierce
Colonel Dave Brunner) and Federal Calvary coming to our aid. The Confederates didn’t put up too much of a
fight so we opted to retire off the field. Saturday morning’s battle started off early with a 6:00a
First Call. This battle was in two parts
with us initially marching out with some interesting fog and deploying on the
hill. As we covered for the rest of Army
retreating behind us, our 1st Brigade fought a very stubborn delaying action
allowing the rest of the Army to reform in the next field where the battle
continued. Excellent work by Brian Riley
and Aaron Sayles on the 1st Battalion Right Wing as well as Captain William
Behrman of the 2nd Battalion 2nd Company. On Saturday afternoon, we performed Brigade Drill which
was something we don’t get to do very often.
I must say all the Battalion and Company Officers did a GREAT job with
this drill. There were 5 or 6 specific
things I wanted to do in terms of deploying and forming and we got those down
so quickly, there was no reason to make it last any longer. (I only deployed our column of Battalions
incorrectly one time…one time only….pretty sure no one noticed except Ian
Fulford. 1st Battalion 2nd Company Greg
Kohn was great to work with on this drill. Saturday afternoon had a delay but it was due to the
incredible number of spectators coming for the event. In part, these are the folks that pay the
bills and I for one supported the delay in order to allow more of them to come
see the event. The battle had an
impressive display of artillery. After
the battle, Lt. Colonel Jesse Poe led a patrol into the town of Purdy which was
something we don’t get to do very often.
It was right after the delayed battle so I know the guys were tired but
thank you. I made the mistake of staying to long (or maybe going at
all?) to the 3rd Michigan Infantry Co. F's camp where someone hit the ‘on’
button for Gary Houghtaling. I was also
supplied green liquid and for the rest of Saturday night there was probably as
much fog in my head as there was on the battlefield Saturday morning. The Sunday battle had us march into the farthest corner
of the battle field to stage. Our
battalion kicked off the fight with an initial assault. A few observations here…the men of 1st
Battalion looked amazing. I really saw
Lt. Colonels Howard Morgan and Ted Opran do a fantastic job. I commented to Dave that their battle line
was as straight as a ruler. Jason Andrew
Brunner was great as 1st Company Commander, setting the pace, all the companies
looked fantastic. (In a national event,
what better place than 1st company, 1st Battalion??) I had to dispatch Marty Walker to the middle
of the field to act independently, and he did a great job not just during the
Sunday battle, but all weekend ‘appearing’ right in front of me when I needed
him most and figuring out my hand signals.
Our final push drove the Rebels from the field and we marched back to
camp. Compliments to 2nd Battalion Sgt. Major John Vohlken for
his excellent work on the Guard Mount (several commented to me on it), and to
Thomas Berlucchi, my Chief of Staff who I could not have done the event
without. TJ Berlucchi filled in for
drumming at several formations and did a great job as well, and last, thanks to
my ‘bugle translator’ Tom Emmerick, for keeping me honest to the bugle calls
for 1st Brigade. I appreciate all of you did your part except one group
who left about one cord of wood stacked in the middle of the field (because,
you know, I didn’t communicate expectations there….). Having said that, there was no trash to speak
of in our camping area, so thank you for that as well as minding the 'no fire
pit' request.) I expected nothing less than excellence from the Indiana
and Michigan boys in terms of their performance as I work with them regularly,
but it was my first time with the MDM and KATs in 1st Battalion and they were
hands down an amazing group of guys to march with who are well led and well
trained. The other company officers I
didn’t already mention, Todd Koster, Jeff Cordell, Todd Wisnant Matt Mallory,
thank you. I am grateful for all of your hard work. (If I mixed up any company numbers / names
here please let me know).
2017 Cumberland Guard Meeting After Action Report I
thought I would post a very brief summary of our meeting from January 14, 2017.
The meeting was held in Fort Wayne and thanks to Steve Smith for arranging the
facility and Greg
Swank for jotting down some notes. The meeting was well
attended and we discussed the following items. We had a few guests who
updated us on their respective organizations, specifically: Denny Whiting, Nathan
Tingley and Tom Emerick from the Great Lakes Battalion visited
with us. The GLB will be attending Jackson and will be meeting towards the end
of the month to finalize their 2017 schedule. The GLB is also hosting a
Battalion Drill at Historic Fort Wayne in Detroit, MI on March 24-26, 2017. Bob A
Minton of the First Federal Division also came out to the
meeting and discussed 2017 Shiloh. Bob discussed the Grand Armies of the
Republic group of Western Federal reenacting groups of which Rob Van
distributed copies of the signed resolution that came out after Perryville,
representing most of the major Federal groups in the West / Midwest. The
affiliation helped stop a second Shiloh event from happening, and Shiloh 2017
will be the first time the group will be in command of a major event. Shiloh
will be hosted by Earl Zeckman’s group, and registration is open. After our guests, we went
around the room and provided updates on individual groups. Calendar year 2016 was
reviewed, and the following Cumberland Guard Blue Ribbon events were discussed.
The following was noted. Charlton Park Civil War
Weekend Jackson Civil War Muster Perryville, KY After breaking for lunch,
the full list of events was discussed (see my other post which contains the
2017 events) including various smaller and regional events, as well as an
opportunity for some campaign events. For 2017, the Cumberland Guard Blue
Ribbon (Focused) events will be: Shiloh April 6-9 Hastings, MI Charlton
Park July 14-16 Cascades Park Jackson, MI
Aug. 26-27 Thanks
to everyone who attended, and we will see you on the field in 2017!
Jackson, MI, August 2016, After Action Report Ton of front end planning credit has to go to Thomas Berlucchi who facilitated several conference calls with When I arrived on Friday afternoon Major Greg Swank was already ‘on scene’ and forming Headquarters. As we compiled company reports, we were actually considering consolidating to 4 companies based on the Saturday’s day started with a few rough edges but by the end of the drill we were pretty much in sync and we practiced a few maneuvers that (believe it or not) we actually used in the Saturday battle, such as by the right of companies to the front and to the rear. The battle plan called for us to march out in front of the crowd and wait for the battle to start (which we did). We also moved into the crowd to interact with the spectators which everyone seemed to enjoy. We engaged the Confederate forces and pushed back and forth but were finally ran off the field. A quick note After the battle we were able to honor John Clark and Jim Newkirk for their many years of service to Cascades Later in the evening we had a Parade scheduled (which I might a few people on staff seemed to think we We had a very solid bugler and drummer in and out of the event over the weekend, just not all the time. I’d Sunday’s drill we practiced the maneuvers (specifically deploying the column) we would use later in the day. Speaking of nonverbal communication, it seemed like I was also totally in sync with Russ Paul and his HUGE I’d like to thank two incredible wing commanders, Denny Whiting and Ron Wilkins, as well as Greg Swank Last issue to discuss…some of you may have been aware there were some vehicle break ins over the weekend. The responsible party was caught very quickly by the local police. However, the event staff will be taking the extra step to hire additional security at the event next year to patrol the parking lots, so I think that is an appropriate and responsible step on their part. See you at Perryville! (get registered!!) Colonel Van
Hastings, MI, July 2016, After Action Report Apologies for my late report. We wrapped up another fantastic Hastings weekend. First, the weather. Wow, I I thought the drill was quick and to the point, we accomplished what we needed to and used much of it during Colonel Van
Jackson, MI, August 2015, After Action Report So
much to say in regards to Jackson…let’s start at
the
beginning. What many people did not see was the tremendous
amount of
planning that went into the event before anyone even stepped a foot on
the
grounds. Special thanks goes to Thomas Berlucchi , as he set
up multiple
teleconferences including via GoTo Meeting (sharing computer screens)
to give
the event the maximum chance of success. Subsequent
to that, but still even prior to the event, Keith
Graham Harrison was there laying out the company streets, and the
Marines were
there laying out the civilian camp, so by the time most of us were
there, it
looked pretty organized! Friday
night we conducted an officers meeting and, much like
Hastings, we reviewed the schedule as well as the drill maneuvers we
were going
to do. I think this was time well spent as the drill on
Saturday was
simply outstanding. I often find that at any event,
I’ll have one of the
drills and one of the battles I like the best, and they are typically
on
opposite days. This weekend was no exception, but
I’ll get to the battles
soon enough. I had two of my sons ( Rob Roy –
(22), and Ray Van (20),
at Headquarters as well to assist, which was very enjoyable for me. Our
staff was amazing, we had the likes of Keith Harrison as Chief
of Staff (more on him later), Nathan Malone as Sergeant Major, my
‘go to’
Right Wing Commander Dave Bauman, Denny Whiting did a great job as Left
Wing
Commander with his Great Lakes Battalion boys, and I had the pleasure
of
getting to know Robert Rock who’s service was invaluable as
Aide-de-Camp. I didn’t really get a chance to meet
the rest of his
family, but his daughters were there as well. Special thanks
to the
artillery wizardry of Jim Newkirk, and although he was only
‘on our side’
Saturday, I have come to have a high regard for Kevin Yeager's cavalry
skills. I also would be remiss if I didn’t mention
music…boy how
important music is. We had a one drummer that popped in for a
partial day
(not really sure what happened to him), but a young man whose last name
I
didn’t catch, but his first name was Jonathon, was arguably
one of the best at
giving a beat to march to I have heard in a long time, and was there
for most
of the weekend. After
drill on Saturday we moved into battle preparations, including
a rousing prayer by Reverend Charlie Buckhahn (wow that man can
pray…).
As we formed up, many were surprised and delighted to see Dave
Shackelford take
the field as ‘Commander Emeritus’ for the battle on
Saturday. Dave
marched out with us. Although it went
‘well’, it was not my favorite of
the two battles. It was too over scripted with too many last
minute
changes, and frankly I don’t enjoy that kind of set
up. Colonel Nick
Medich was gracious enough to come over and provide some guidance as
to how we
might move him off the field, only underscoring the fact that the man
is a
class act. We came out and pushed the Rebels off the field
and that was
basically that. One thing I have begun to rely on time and
time again, is
the solid performance of my ‘bookend’ companies,
Marty Walker and the 3rd
Michigan boys on the right, and Scot Spiekerman and his Zouaves on the
left…I
can’t tell you how assuring it is to see them
there. Also performing good
work with some punches in the middle were Captains Russ Paul , J.R.
Schroeder
, and several more. After the battle, the event organizers
had set up a
special ceremony to honor Dave Shackelford, Nick Medich, and (although
he
didn’t know it at the time), Keith Harrison. (This
would not be the first
time we had something planned for Keith he was not aware of).
Jackson
recognized all three men and provided them plaques for all of what they
have
done for Jackson and for re-enacting. We
marched back to camp with a planned parade later in the
evening. Again, tip of the hat to the Rebel Army, they came
over to link
up with us for the Parade which actually was a ceremony to recognize
Keith. What can you say about a man who has given so much, so
selflessly,
for so many years? Keith walked among the men after he was
given a
pistol as recognition of his service. On
Sunday we formed up for drill and this drill went well, just
not quite as smooth as Saturday’s. I hold myself
responsible for that, as
I think a ‘do different’ for me will be to have a
brief Officer’s meeting BOTH
Friday and Saturday to review drill concepts. Also before
Sunday’s
battle, I also had the pleasure of meeting Russ Paul’s wife
for the first time. Sunday’s
battle (at least for me) was a bit more loosely scripted
but more enjoyable. I have to say I feel like I am really in
sync with
Greg Van Wey (the Confederate Commander on Sunday) in terms of how we
have
battles flow. I am looking forward to working with him more
and
more. We ended up getting pushed off the field Sunday, but I
think we
bloodied their noses at bit before we did. If
nothing else, I am incredibly excited about the Cumberland
Guard and the direction it is taking moving forward. I
received a lot of
positive feedback and offers of assistance. Many
thanks to all of you who shouldered a musket for Guard Mount,
it is very much appreciated. I’d also like to
extend an invite to ‘All
Ya’All’ to consider coming down to Hartford City,
IN on October 9, 10, 11 2015.
Find more details at http://hartfordcitycwdays.com/ Thank
you for letting me be a part of your weekend. Colonel Van
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