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March Seminar Held at Coleman
Not as Successful as in the Past
New Soldiers Join the Ranks of Company B
During the weekend of13-15 March the first 4th Maine seminar of the year was held at Coleman Barracks. This was after the seminar scheduled for January was cancelled, due to weather, illness and lack of participation.
No women were able to attend this seminar, which makes these events less than they should be. When this happens the seminars tend to be less of a success than others where there is a good mixture of attendees. The seminars are meant for everyone and should be attended by as many people as possible. These seminars are really the only time that the 4th Maine can gather and enjoy each others company without the hustle and bustle found at battle reenactments, Grand Balls and public events. Schedules are made in advance so that people can plan for the weekends and attend. When it comes time for the seminars to be held people are not attending. At the next gathering of the 4th Maine in May ways will be discussed to try and fix this problem.
There were two new members attending the seminar, John Babcock, presented by Fred Marsy, and Christof Fischer, presented by Harald Brehm. John will be joining the ranks of the infantry, while Christof will be joining Surgeon Brehm as a hospital steward. Also attending his first 4th Maine seminar was Kelley Wright, who joined the 4th Maine last July.
Saturday was the only day that actually saw classes being taught for this seminar. These were a repeat of past classes, both for the benefit of the new soldiers and to update the 4th Maine history since Capt Robinson's trip to Maine last year. He gave an updated version of the general history of the 4th Maine and will begin to give a detailed history of the 4th Maine at coming seminars. 1st Sergt Meysmans led the assembled Company in several drill periods and it appeared that a good time was had by all.
Several changes within the 4th Maine were discussed at a general meeting of those gathered. It was announced that there would be four promotions within the 4th Maine. Three of these are in the command structure and they are Roger Stratten to Sergeant while Moses de Bruin and Fred Marsy will be promoted to Corporal. Ceremonies to officially make these promotions will be held at a later date. The fourth promotion is one meant to add a new dimension to the 4th Maine appearance in the field and at public events. Harald Brehm has been appointed the Regimental Surgeon and is tasked with setting up a field hospital for future events. He has also been tasked with improving his English speaking ability, as he will need this when speaking at public events where those attending are pre-dominantly American.
In another change, it was decided that those that drive great distances to go to an event would be given a discount in their event fees. This will only apply to a driver of a vehicle and only when that driver drives from one country to another, unless all drivers go to a different country for an event. Confusing? Here is an example. Driver A lives in Antwerp and drives to Hammelburg, Germany. Driver B lives in Darmstadt and also drives to Hammelburg. Driver A will pay half the 4th Maine event fees while driver B will pay a full fee. This is reversed when the event is held in Belgium and the driver comes from Germany. When the event is held in the Czech Republic and driver A and B drive there something else will be worked out for this situation.
Sunday morning was spent working with Inge Robinson and Cherri Kimerer in sorting through the many boxes of material in an effort to cut down on what the Company carries with it for larger events. Capt Robinson and Corporal Robinson had already made much headway in this area and those attending on Sunday made even more headway. 1st Sergt Meysmans presented the cooks with a kitchen box, made by the Company carpenter, and many of the materials in 2-3 boxes were able to be stored in this. The Company carpenter is also busy building period looking crates, taken from examples provided by Larry Smith in Maine, to store Company tents and other items in. The carpenter is also busy making period looking poles for all of the period A-frame tents, as well as uprights for the wall tents and flies in the Company.
After the mornings work was completed the building was cleaned up and everyone departed for home. Capt Robinson gave 1st Sergt Meysmans a tour of the proposed site for the July reenactment and both are working on ways to improve the plans for that weekend.