Why Don't Reenactors Use Airsoft? How Do We Know If We're Hit? 

This video was edited pretty hastily and I forgot to provide screenshots of where you can find some of the footage that was not my own. Apologies for that, and here are the links: The airsoft footage: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tOql0aIOR5k.htmlsi=bIIgjFZAenJ-TGea Some of the Napoleonic footage: www.youtube.com/@magyarhuszar1991

"Why didn't you take your hit when you walked into that MG42?" "'Cause I'm built different"

Man, if ghosts are real, you guys are probably confusing the shit out of them 😂

The easy quick answer is that it’s a reenactment. You’re generally copying the historical movements of past armies. Now this is an intriguing idea for playing war games and things of that nature.

I don’t think reenactors would want to wear 21st century goggles for their costumes. Either that or severe eye injury.

I reenacted Civil War for 20 years: I was at one event that requested we take “hits” at certain parts of the field, according to the month of our birth. Those born in January fall here & those born in February fall here & so on. 🙂

The key word is in "ACT". You have a script, it tells you when to "drop dead". That is like asking how do actors know when they are shot in movies.

My ww1 group were doing a public trench display in the middle of Aussie Summer. Nearing 30*C, and the event organisers wanted us to do an improv battle for the audience. Already overheated, and not wanting a drawn out battle, our captain had the brilliant idea of showing the audience just how effective machine gun fire can be. A drawn out speech as we all stand to, a fake bombardment, the whistle blows. As we breach over the top, two German machine guns roar to life, and, as instructed, we all take our hits right at our own trench line. Got some nervous laughs and many gasps, and we didn't have to run about in the midday heat.

Reenactment is not a "game" per-se. You reenact to feel like your in the Battlefield. And thus sometimes, you just gotta play dead.

Unwritten rule-when your musket is fouled and you cant get it operating-take a hit....crawl to a cool dry place.Preferably away from animal dens.I actually fell close to a burrow and there was some angry chattering coming from that hole.A sudden last spurt of "life" got me to a safe distance.

Using air soft or paintball is still really an honour system as well. In the end you still have the same issues with people not recognizing or refusing to acknowledge hits

as a reenactor someone told me that you "die" when you feel tired and want a quick nap

Honestly, that would make reenacting a lot more fun; but we all know how it would go. "Hey man, I hit yo- um... Ye hath been struck! Fall damn ye!" "Nuh-uh!"

our napoleonic reenactment group has an system that you would have 1 red cardrige under 10 white ones and if you would draw the red one you would shoot your load and then die

"Take some hits, boys. We aren't superman." "OK. I'll go next volley."

We used to do line battles using bolt action airsoft replicas with my airsoft group back in the day. It was so much fun. We just used long replicas and loaded one bb at a time on command. Marching in ranks, eyes front, watching the enemy formation aiming at you... and the "FIRE" became core memories!

We have that problem in mediaval reenaction. In particular with archery. You can't really shoot a bow without a projectile but that projective is inherently dangerous. So we're stuck using the big ass arrows (akin to larp ones) and rather weak bows (well there's also the problem that archery was then a life long endeavor and that you can't use something close a an historical warbow). It poses a LOT of problems, like the organisation asking for the archers to aim at the armor pieces (which is already not easy, aiming in general is hard and made worse by the bad arrows) and then people claim the hit wasn't effective because it landed on armor... it seem quite unsolvable. (can't really shoot the bow empty either for it damages it)

How Do We Know If We're Hit? i do 15th century re-enactment YOU KNOW WHEN YOU GET HIT lol

People refuse to take hits even with airsoft or paintball. At the end of the day, these things all rely on one another's goodwill and honesty.

As an airsofter, who enjoys replicating the loadouts of real soldiers (I'm currently building a Russian loadout similar to one I like to use in Tarkov built out of some Ratnik gear for instance), it needs to be clear that Airsoft is a game, you're basically playing COD irl. Reenactments, however, are just that, a reenactment, you're not playing a game, you're reenacting historical battles and the gear people in those battles would use, there are no "winners" or "losers" in the way airsoft or paintball have. While they look similar from an outside perspective, the goals of the people taking part in these hobbies are quite different when it comes down to it.

Just as an FYI, fully automatic firearms are not illegal in the US, although some states do not allow full autos, but on a Federal they are legal. The caveat is that they have to have been made before 1986, and even then you have go through extra background checks, fill out all sorts of paperwork, and pay a $200 tax stamp. But they're otherwise legal, once again depending on which state you live in; so for World War reenactment you could use actual machineguns, if you could afford to buy one. As far as MILES gear goes, you make a very good point about the sensors needed. But you don't need special guns, you'd just need an add on laser device and, I believe, are tied in with the firing of blanks on the weapon. But the add on to the weapons would alter the authentic appearance of the weapon and I'm sure that the ballistics wouldn't match a real gun since a laser wouldn't drop over distance and is not affected by wind. And, unlike a gun, any sort of solid obstacle would stop the "round" so even a bush would provide sufficient cover.

As a note as someone who was in the Army, Using death as comedic relief is generally warrior cult humor, When you face it every day, you learn to laugh at it. makes it less terrifying

The last time I "Died" at a reenactment, my musket got too hot, I was concerned that another cartridge might cook off, the barrel was too hot to touch, we'd fired so much. So I took one for the team and took a dirt nap.

I use a mostly accurate kit for a 1990s-era US Marine in airsoft, so I'm using real body armor (PASGT vest and Helmet). And from experience, I can confidently say there have been several times when I can't even tell I've been hit because of the armor, be it them shooting me from afar or shooting me with a low-power airsoft gun, so the idea of using airsoft isn't foolproof either. The closest I think we could get to it would be Simunition, which is expensive, requires special protective equipment, and from what I've heard, it hurts a lot to get shot with (who could have known).

I always thought it would be cool to have muzzel-loading airsoft and paintball guns, air tanks in the stock, pulling back the hammer cocks the gun. It would be a great change of pace for the games.

Did y’all know one of the first reenactments was in like 1820 and there were even reenactments right after the Civil War with veterans reuniting.

This probably my favorite video that you have done. I can’t tell you how many time I have been asked some variation of this question. The point you made about not wanting to mess up our stuff is one that I had not thought of, but you are totally right! A Union army fatigue blouse is a simpler and less expensive garment than an 18th century regimental coat, but a well made and accurate example will probably cost you north of $200. I don’t want paint getting on mine! I also know a few people who use original items from the 1860s in their impressions, including buttons and firearms. I am sure they do not want them getting hit by projectiles.

This largely depends on the group, but in my group, you bet your ass we do airsoft at private tactical events.

The audio bit is a great point. And for another reason not touched on in the video: soldiers and officers don't yell during battle because they want to; they yell because they have to to be heard.

I've never reenacted, but I plan to in the future when I can afford to travel and buy the gear! I knew a guy who did civil war reenactments as an officer, and he said he would sometimes voluntarily die at a really bad time in the battle so that he could give his second in command a chance to shine. What a lovely community of living historian actors.

As for the taking casualties... I was at the Battle of Hubbardton a few years back. This battle in reality had a contingent of Brunswick troops on the British side involved. During the reenactment, this was represented by a grand total of 1 guy!! So there was no way he could take a hit. It's just the limitations of reenacting. All the battles would be over after the first volley if "Hit Points" were realistic. Your totally right on the educational points.

An obvious problem is that if you’re re-enacting a certain battle then obviously one side has to win, which becomes difficult if the ‘losing side’ re-enactors are better shots and are clearly winning a skirmish.

Nice use of your footage from Brandywine! As a camp follower I often get this question when standing to the side of the battlefield so it’s good to know I have been offering the right answers!

I've seen airsoft battles where people get hit, and refuse to admit it. As for reenactment, it's a form of acting.

I got a lot of feelings about this. I used to be an avid airsofter and collector of Vietnam uniforms and gear. At the time, I definitely considered myself a reenactor. I did just about all of my normal airsofting in kit and did more than my fair share of larger tactical events as well. I slept overnight in the field, stood firewatch, endured nightime VC attacks, eaten (reproduced) Crats....but watching this though, I realize now that it wasn't really reenacting as we weren't doing it for the public or spectators, just ourselves. I'm not sure the experience is all that lost by using bbs vs blanks, though a few events I've been to mixed in a few blank fire guns for added effect. Having projectiles whizz past your head...or knowing that you're on patrol and at any moment you could feel an impact and be hit...that's something I think blank fire misses out on. The one purely blank fire event I went to, I remember every time we got shot at, the group I was with would look around, almost trying to decide who was going to be the casualty. In airsoft, you just learn to hit the deck and hug mother earth for cover. I understand the point about the glasses, though they never really bothered me. I don't agree that airsoft bbs have a chance of damaging your kit though. They don't really go that fast or have that much energy. I'll also say that it's much cheaper to afford airsoft guns than the historical firearms, particularly for the era I did. I had an M-16A1, an M-14 with a wooden stock, an M-60 and a 1911 all for less than a real steel version of any of those (except the pistol).

1:19 hey heat stroke is realistic, deadly, and historically accurate!

Well said, Brandon! Strongly agree on all points, especially the bit about engagement distances. There have been so many times where I've been at events, and we waste so much time just standing there shooting at each other without anyone going down, that it begs the question of "what are we even doing here?" But as you said, that's a rant for another time.

Because SS and 82nd reenactors would get pelted by 100 bbs and go "You didn't hit me! You didn't hit me!"

I love reenactments, but I’m not going to lie, that firing squad at 02:21 felt a little too real

As someone who enjoys both airsoft and reenactment (and has overlapping kits used for both), I can say that you hit the nail on the head. They are different experiences with different purposes. Would it be interesting to have some advanced laser systems that detects who might be hit in any given engagement? Sure, but the technology needed for that seems at least a little far into the future and it, of course, has little to do with the theatrical and historical aspects of reenactment. It’s all about what you want out of your experience. Also, I would definitely watch a video talking about reenactor issues. I certainly have no lack of opinions regarding the community, negative and positive :).

This is awesome, I have a lot of people I know both online and in real life who always ask me this question and now I can just refer to this instead of giving a sub-par explanation myself (:

I watch re-enactments for the living history, it may get confused at times but from the stands I can tell you it’s stunning to watch. Keep up the great work boys, the efforts greatly appreciated

"Maybe you're tired and you need to become a convenient casualty in a shaded part of the field" That's great lol

Hello Brandon. A good case / explanation for your hobby. It reminded me again of a member of "The Sealed Knot" bemused at the lack of interest from my university wargames club. It was the expense of the metal figures that meant no-one could afford to also start buying kit to go to reenactments, plus you do not get to be the general as a beginner. Talking of the cost of metal figures, imagine the cost of the lead for all those muskets if you had real ammunition. I was lucky to get the metal from some old broken windows to make model soldiers, when mixed with printers metal. It saved me a fortune. If only I had turned my hand to making reenactment kit. The money from wargames was not enough to start a business.

To be fair, some reenactments do use Airsoft. For example, there's a couple events I go to that reenact both WW2, and Vietnam, where we use airsoft weapons and the general rules around that. We also include people playing as 'medics' to make the usual respawn system in Airsoft make more sense. Take a Vietnam reenactment we did as a good example. A patrol is sent out by a commander from a FOB (spawn area) to check a local village for VC presence. Some of the people in the "village" are civilians (npc's), and mixed in with them are VC players. The villagers often aren't told if there's VC present, though sometimes they are told, and then the patrol is expected to behave using rules of engagement that happened during the war. If a firefight starts, and someone is hit, then they're not allowed to move from where they 'fall' until a medic has attended to them. The medics assess the soldier based on roughly where they were 'hit' and call out if the person is walking wounded, or KIA. If the soldier is KIA, then that soldier walks from the battle with their hands and weapons raised. They return to an assembly point a short distance away, and only return to the fight if support is called in. Simulating more troops being ferried in by helicopter, or more VC filtering in. With WW2 engagements, we use that same system, though 'respawn' is allowed to happen after a person waits in the assembly area for a period of no less than five minutes. Both scenarios operate under a deathmatch type system, where if every soldier from one side is KIA, then the opposing side wins the battle. The group I routinely reenact with is actively working on the planning phases of recreating some aspects of the Pacific aspect of WW2, with the goal of being to give participants a general idea of what soldiers from both Japan, and the Allies faced in the various jungles. (We're in Florida, so there's some areas that aren't too far off from what many of the islands were like.)

I have a friend who Larps a lot as a hobby (medieval and renaissance) and he did use a functioning blaster few times. It was basically a spring powered Nerf gun built inside of a realistic flint/matchlock replica, using rivals balls and flour for smoke. (No goggles needed) It is certainly less realistic, but lot more “gameplay” focused because that is one of the key differences between Lara and reenactment. That one is ment to be a game for the participants, on top of an immersive experience. Also: 14:35 Yeah, that can be bit irritating. I remember watching a recording of an ww1 battle, where a German squad stood in open terrain like 10 meters from the Russian trench getting lit up by rifles and machine guns for several minutes while blazing away themselves and taking almost no loss at all. Before retreating seemingly at random. I don’t want to mock them because they still performed well, but not the best acting am afraid.

As a western gunslinger reenactor, we often go down based off scripts, or my favorite method, after the revolver has been emptied 😅 typically we make as much noise, smoke, and drama as possible before taking a dive

I'm always amused when LARPers view reenacting as a game, missing the point of "Acting" in "reenACTING". In my time in the navy, our explanations for not using airsoft or paintball are similar to yours, our uniforms and kit could get damaged by BBs or paintballs, and we would have to replace this gear out of our pockets, then there's explaining to the senior NCO why your gear got damaged, and how what you would do to fix it. Even when we used MILES gear, we still used blank ammunition, in order to get a feel for combat, it's noisy, smoky, and confusing, besides, BBs and paintballs don't have the same ballistics as actual small arms, alterall, the purpose of training is not to have fun, it's to get you ready for war, it's to get you work as a unit, not show off how awesome you are, the instructors will get on your case, if you do things without orders, or breaking ranks, you are not an army of one.

Sounds to me like reenactment with accurate material culture and experimental archaeology with hit tracking should be two separate events, each capturing certain aspects of the real conflict.

Thank you for this extremely informative video about the reenactment hobby. As an outsider, I imagined this was the reasoning, but it's great to have confirmation. On the topic of people overacting deaths, I think it's probably a good thing. Means they probably haven't seen too many of them, and if someone can go an entire life without that, that's a win.

Yo Brandon. I really appreciate the volume of new videos coming out. Keep it up

Jesus Christ whenever I watch your videos I get this immediate urge to get into uniform and go on a march or something, you rock man

the americans charging at the british redcoats while they ran away with a bunch of portapotties in the background while brandon was talking about historical accuracy mad me laugh. Nice video brandon.

As both a reenactor and an airsofter I can say I agree with you wholeheartedly on the general view on using airsoft for reenactment. Aside from the thing with BBs putting holes in the uniform, I've never experienced this personally but I've no ideas about what the energy limits may be where you live. I help run events for a historical airsoft group and we have trialed different solutions for eye pro that would at least look aesthetically similar and found issues with misting up and also found that the insurance had issues with non regulated eye pro so we ended up dropping it. There are aspects of both hobbies that are absolutely wonderful and, as you said, they have different aims in what they do. You are absolutely right about the lake of weapon fire and such creating the sounds of a battlefield but there can still be times when airsofting that you'll get an image of what things would have been like. For example, at a ww1 event we had the germans launching a charge across no mans land to an Entente held trench. As expected the MG made short work of everyone, when it came time to respawn I turned round and the view of everyone who was behind me laying on the ground made me think about how horrific it must have been to have actually experienced those events in person. Damn near made me quit the hobby.

So to summarize, real projectiles aren't used, because for the most part its less of a competition, and more of a... well, reenactment.

"You didn't got hit when you walked into the MG42??" "I dodged all the bullets 💪"

reenactments is essentially a big wargame. In the marine corps we do it all the time with blanks and huge areas that go on for miles. It isnt about whether you individually got shot but if you had numbers, positioning, fire superiority, and overall tactics. That was the decider.

I just found your channel. I had an uncle that died before I was born but I had heard a lot about. One of the things he was really into was civil war reenactment. So it was kinda cool to learn a little bit about the hobby.

Without even watching the video I can already say that historical accuracy and the spectacle of the sound of gun fire. Also since you talked about it in your warcrimes video (at least i think), you either get paper telling you when you are going to be hit or you just "feel" when its best to be hit.

Reenactment is a fascinating sub genre to me, I’m not apart of it but I can understand why it exists

Paintball or airsoft could be a handy form of cross-training with reenactment for the sake of simulating experiencing being hit as well as testing if your formations or positions are effective or accurate. In other words, it could be like HEMA with guns. Also, can you talk about inclusivity with reenactment?

They definitely should incorporate it more for sure! I have been to cold war themed reenactment events that used blank guns along side airsoft, and it definitely makes for a more realistic and trackable attrition. Great video, keep it up

This is very interesting, because in LARP, there's a very easy way to determine hits ^^ I don't do LARP myself, mostly because I can't square deep roleplay and intricate costume design with the (in my opinion) extremely simplistic and immersion breaking combat systems I've seen. This video actually convinced me that, given the opportunity, I would like to give this reenactment a try. Is it common to have events that rent costumes, kind of like "tryout" events? Would be a shame to invest so much and then hate it ^^

This is the first time I’ve more complex explanations of re-enactments and wow this sequence was cool 2:37

I did Civil War Reenactments and at some events they would mark one of our cartridges with a black marker to indicate that after you fired, you were to become a casualty. It was a fun system and we would also limit our rounds so that we weren't burning too much powder.

Never seen your videos before, never been interested in it... but loving history and hearing how you described a few of those scenes makes me really want to get into it.

I'm part of an english civivl war reeneactment society in the UK, so as someone who also does reenactment, for my lot, the simple easy answer to that question is safety... especially when you have a crowd to think about, you don't want anything flying out the barrels of those guns... for everyone's sake

i did reenactments of the war of 1812 for almost 8 years and we used cap guns, depending on the volley that was fired on you, then one of the people in charge of your company would tap you and tell you you are dead

"An educational event for the public." Indeed, but Brandon, is that fire real...?

Reenacting is not a combat simulation sport, it's a display. You show off to the audience, make the noise, and come to the historical result at the end of your battle. Airsoft/paintball/lasertag/nerf and the other combat simulation sports are exactly that, simulating the combat more directly than reenactors do. I would suggest that reenactors actually should go and play a combat simulation sport, but I would not expect that to be used in a reenactment display. By playing a combat simulation sport, any of them, you have far more vested interest in the immediate few seconds ahead of you, where you will move to, shoot to and shoot from, and you have very much an interest in not being hit. Whilst it is still a sport, it is far closer to the combat side of a battle than reenactors usually see. I would be interested to see a reenactors take on how such an experience will change your 'living history' understanding how how soldiers behaved, why they did certain things, and how some learnings could be brought into the reenacting displays. Unfortunatly there's a lot of snobbish attitudes towards that type of thing from reenactors, just as the whole premise of this video is snobbishness aimed the other way. It's something I've tried to argue against for years, just because what someone else does is different, doesn't automatically make it worse than what you do. That's why I'm impressed by your video today, because you make no disparaging comments towards airsoft or the other sports, but rather identify the requirements of reenacting, and why it is as it is. Well worth watching and I'll keep it for showing my fellow shooters what reenactment is, and why it's different, and why that isnt bad.

As someone who has absolutely zero experience with such, I always sort of just assumed reenactments were more like scripted plays than competitions where the idea that someone did or didn't get hit would come into question.

I've never seen a re-enactment in person, but I'd be down to check one out, and I'd be down to participate, whether I choose to get knocked down in the first 3 minutes or the last hour or so. To me, it would be a fun experience regardless. Although, I would probably want to go down sooner rather than later, just so I can see what happens throughout the rest of the battle. It's just something I would love to witness in any capacity. There's no "faking" most of what I know about the outfits or the sounds. It hits different in regards to actual sounds versus recorded sounds. Personally, I wouldn't have it any other way myself. Airsoft and Paintball are both so much fun, but they themselves hit different between each other. For one, it hits with pellets and it's a much different feel between weapons and equipment. The other hits with balls of paint that have a completely different feel and often force you to play very differently compared to Airsoft. That being said, firing an actual weapon is so much more taxing and has so much more kick. Even in a training scenario using a screen and modified realistic weapons (which I had the opportunity to use at an Airforce base once) has a much different feel than that of actual firing weapons.

Definitely good points here, curious if you'd try some mixed blank and airsoft events and provide opinion on how you feel about them. Definitely something different than normal reenactment tacticals. Especially if you can run a gas blowback gun which at least sounds a little better. I don't personally feel like blank or airsoft are inherently better, more like each provides different things which is why I like mixed events.

I reenact AND do historical airsoft. I started off airsofting before I did reenacting and it's a great gateway into the hobby. Also, when reenacting season is over, I do airsoft to get me something to do, a long with encouraging younger crowds to join the hobby.

2:34 was actually such a sick reenactment

Maybe they can have a vibrating pager that will vibrate when they should take the next hit, it will be more manageable and make sure the casualty is roughly accurate. The system can also take information like general direction of a line infantry or a cannon to decide when to send the signal. Individuals can still choose a suitable moment to take the hit by themselves.

Some good insights on re-enactment. "Winning" really has no place.

2:22 I knew what was coming, but good lord was that brutal.

"Where else can the public learn how a cannon sounds?" Halifax, Nova Scotia 1200 every day of the week.

I've never been to a reenactment nor am I a reenact myself but I find it so cool you guys use original firearms such as the SMLE Brandon mentions in this video. I would love to see a reenactment one day. On a different topic I would like to get my own original Mosin Nagant or M1 Carbine.

Keep up the good work Mr Brandon.

You know, I went into the video thinking "of course shooting something is better" and he thoroughly convinced me otherwise

1:24 yeah, it would be a bit odd if Johnny Reb won at Gettysburg 😂😂

This was absolutely fascinating I’ve never seen one of your videos but the passion and excitement in your voice alone really energised me I guess I’m into historical reenactment now 🤷‍♂️

I'm surprised so many reenactors get asked this question. It would be weird to gamify this and then have the side that's supposed to lose end up winning.

I think the best way to emphasise this distinction is to show the difference of intentions behind re-enactments vs LARPs. The core differencing point of re-enactments is to be as visually and historically accurate as possible (all within safety ofc) to be a large scale performance that can be spectated, while LARPs are more focused on your own personal experience and the interaction with other players, influencing consequences. While there are certainly many similarities with the hobbies, they are fundamentally different in what they are trying to achieve. Unfortunately on both sides there are people who should actually be attending the other, but thats just a consequence of their similarity,

Having done Revolutionary War reenactments for a couple years, there would be so many other issues with some of these alternatives. We did a reenactment in which we had to fight several skirmishes through the streets of an actual town with like, 50-100 people in total. Paintballs and BBs would have probably led to several very angry shopkeepers looking for new windows (as it was, there was already a risk with the cannon we brought) and with something like LIDAR the whole thing probably would have been over by the first engagement.

I have no Desire to Renaact or have I been to a Reenactment yet, but I salute all Reenactors for keeping history alive, without you guys alot of historical knowlege would have been lost, you guys are both Actors and History teachers Combined.

The sound and visuals of real guns going off is reason enough to warrant the irritation of people refusing to take hits. For real, that part at 9:23 was chilling to hear.

deciding to die cause youre tired and want to lie down in the shade is the most historical reenactor thing ever

The "laser system" gear is a good idea though. With that you fire blanks so you still have a loud bang but the bang triggers the laser. But you'd have to be able to cover the vest without covering the sensor.

We usually use blanks in the re-enactments. They simulate the original gusts of smoke from the guns, we never use real bullets. We also cannot directly shoot at the re-enactors. You cannot aim for them, you also have to stay a distance away from them.

As someone who doesnt do reenactments or intend on doing it I find this entertaining

being exhausted and deciding I'm gonna 'die' in a shady spot so I can get a breather has me howling haha.

Don't despair about paintballs. Paint in paintballs wash off very easily. It's made of edible and water soluble dyes

American Civil War and WW2 reenactor here. Maybe it would be possible to do some kind of low profile hit system, almost like laser tag but in a way that it doesn't get in the way and still feels authentic. Not to say as well it would have to be done in a way that doesn't get in the way of the experience from the reenactors side. At the end of the day, my impressions are meant to be me experiencing what the people I'm portraying would have experienced.

Also the liability insurance: anytime you have projectiles coming out at speed there is the potential for injury. Eyes obviously, but mouth, ears are issues when you have 1000s of airsoft pellets flying around. Gettysburg can have 10,000 participants. That being said, there are things like WW1 airsoft events in Finland. It does not look like they are wearing googles, which could not happen in the US given our nasty liability laws. The airsoft events are much smaller in size. But there is definately something to be said for the ripping battalion volley of smoke and fire.

Reminds me when i was watching a movie in Senior year Gov. class, and a historical reenactment of a battle came on, and he got up, walked up to the tv, and said “watch this guy” Dude took two steps into like a 100 yard dash, then slowly fell

2:23 That guy second from the left needs an oscar for that fall

This is why modern day soldiers wear safety glasses even in combat, to help future reenactors.