Glengarry

[RLDaily]

Tankers? Tankers? Go wash your mouth! I was Marine Recon and then became a Cavalry Scout, but a Tanker....NEVER!!!!! Those that became Tankers were not raised properly by their parents and have a messed up value system.

Like I said we're a "Facebook" organization many of whom have never met nor will ever get to meet, but it's a fun relationship

[macwilkin]

Now that's very odd!

How can an organization that doesn't actually do anything survive for over 100 years?

And exactly which 'frontier' are they referring to?

Oftentimes we here in America are amused by the apparently large number of eccentrics in England, the Flat Earth people and Battle of Hastings people and all... but we have our share too, it's a fact, especially our vast number of (American) Civil War people. (They re-enact the Battle of Gettysburg with the same number of participants as the original, around 60,000 on each side... amazing)

The "frontier" in question was the various frontiers of the British Empire, most notably the Canadian, African and Australian frontiers. And the LoF didn't exactly do nothing; there were at least two LoF units that saw combat in the First World War, the 25th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, and in the 210th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, the 2nd Alberta Dragoons and Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

http://www.frontiersmenhistorian.info/fusiliers.htm
http://www.frontiersmenhistorian.info/canada.htm

There's a great picture of the LoF in Edmonton in 1915, complete with piper in mufti.

The 25th Battalion in particular saw a great deal of action during the East African Campaign against the German forces of Gen. Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. Known as "The Old and the Bold", its ranks were filled with professional adventurers like Sir Frederick Selous, friend of Theodore Roosevelt and big game hunter. The Rhodesian Selous Scouts Regiment, arguably of the best counter-terrorist special operations forces in history, was named for Selous.

After the First World War,and really to the present-day, the LoF has struggled to find its place, and a series of schisms and "colourful personalities" have caused harm to its reputation.

The LoF bears some similarity to the Home Guard of the Second World War and the various units around the Empire like the Calcutta Light Horse Regiment and the Calcutta Scottish; all three, for example, were treated as jokes, but the Home Guard did serve a purpose during the early days of the Battle of Britain, and the Calcutta units actively participated in a raid on a German merchant ship detained in the Marmagoa harbor in Goa that was transmitting allied shipping navigation information to U-boats in the Indian Ocean. That story was turned into a movie in 1980, "The Sea Wolves".

And yes, I would classify many of my fellow reenactors as "eccentric" -- I reenacted various periods for two decades while in university and then as a park ranger, and while I saw a lot of things I still shake my head at -- I also saw many devoted amateur historians and ex-servicemen who treated their avocation as a calling to be the voice of those who no longer had one.

T.

[tky58]

Now that's very odd!

...

Oftentimes we here in America are amused by the apparently large number of eccentrics in England, the Flat Earth people and Battle of Hastings people and all... but we have our share too, it's a fact, especially our vast number of (American) Civil War people. (They re-enact the Battle of Gettysburg with the same number of participants as the original, around 60,000 on each side... amazing)

Not just Civil War reenactments. I am from Billerica, next to Lexington and Concord. Just go to Concord Green on middle of April and watch the 'Minutemen and Redcoats' fight. The British regiment is 'official' and authorized by the Queen. They (both sides) spend great sums on getting every aspect correct. Let's just say PV uniforms would NOT be allowed.

[TheOfficialBren]

When watching reenactors do you ever wonder if the 'losing' side wants to 'win' just once?

[ASinclair]

When watching reenactors do you ever wonder if the 'losing' side wants to 'win' just once?

That is a very good question BREN.

[Ron Abbott]

The "frontier" in question was the various frontiers of the British Empire, most notably the Canadian, African and Australian frontiers. And the LoF didn't exactly do nothing; there were at least two LoF units that saw combat in the First World War, the 25th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, and in the 210th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, the 2nd Alberta Dragoons and Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

http://www.frontiersmenhistorian.info/fusiliers.htm
http://www.frontiersmenhistorian.info/canada.htm

There's a great picture of the LoF in Edmonton in 1915, complete with piper in mufti.

The 25th Battalion in particular saw a great deal of action during the East African Campaign against the German forces of Gen. Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. Known as "The Old and the Bold", its ranks were filled with professional adventurers like Sir Frederick Selous, friend of Theodore Roosevelt and big game hunter. The Rhodesian Selous Scouts Regiment, arguably of the best counter-terrorist special operations forces in history, was named for Selous.

After the First World War,and really to the present-day, the LoF has struggled to find its place, and a series of schisms and "colourful personalities" have caused harm to its reputation.

The LoF bears some similarity to the Home Guard of the Second World War and the various units around the Empire like the Calcutta Light Horse Regiment and the Calcutta Scottish; all three, for example, were treated as jokes, but the Home Guard did serve a purpose during the early days of the Battle of Britain, and the Calcutta units actively participated in a raid on a German merchant ship detained in the Marmagoa harbor in Goa that was transmitting allied shipping navigation information to U-boats in the Indian Ocean. That story was turned into a movie in 1980, "The Sea Wolves".

And yes, I would classify many of my fellow reenactors as "eccentric" -- I reenacted various periods for two decades while in university and then as a park ranger, and while I saw a lot of things I still shake my head at -- I also saw many devoted amateur historians and ex-servicemen who treated their avocation as a calling to be the voice of those who no longer had one.

T.

Unfortunately the LOF in recent times, have largely become what HM Forces/ex Forces personnel refer to as 'Mittys".....Walter Mittys.

They seem to love wearing uniforms, the more badges, the more embroidery and with the more medals, the better. From what I can gather, their medals come from within the organisation.

One of the people they praised a few years back and who apparently became a member was Michel Roger LaFosse, the 'man who would be king of Scots', the self-styled, HRH Prince Michael of of Albany.

However, since he was ousted as a complete and utter fraud......his name seems to have been removed from the LOF websites that it was previously on.

Re-enactors I can understand. Actually sounds like some good, honest fun to be out there re-enacting battles especially if with black powder guns!!

But I don't think (I stand to be corrected) the LOF are the same. They may have started out 100 years ago with excellent intentions but they seem to have denigrated into a some sort of 'soldier wannabe' organisation.

Maybe I'm completely wrong. Does anyone here know anything much about them?

[Nathan]

Tankers? Tankers? Go wash your mouth! I was Marine Recon and then became a Cavalry Scout, but a Tanker....NEVER!!!!! Those that became Tankers were not raised properly by their parents and have a messed up value system.

Like I said we're a "Facebook" organization many of whom have never met nor will ever get to meet, but it's a fun relationship

The badge on the bottom right of your "colours" is currently used to indicate armoured regiments in Canada and the UK. Not sure how cool it is for a Facebook group to appropriate this hard earned symbol of, yes, tankers.

[RLDaily]

Ah yes, but as a Cavalry Scout it was my obligation and duty to seek out Tankers that had gone astray to bring them back into the flock and then of course lead to poor lost souls into battle many times from beyond the range of their main guns....As for the badge, many, many of our members are from the very same organizations you mention as well as a nice Russian, some Aussies, a few other assorted nationalities and a ton of US DAT's