Plan Your Weekend Around This

This coming Saturday and Sunday, 20 and 21 August, the Wartime Museum is having its second Open House of the year. The past Open Houses have been a blast and I expect the same this time around.

I've confirmed that Dave Marron from Thunder Run will be there as well as Susan Katz Keating. No big surprise with SKK. She sits on the Board. Uncle Jimbo will probably be hanging out.

I will be livestreaming some of it on our Ustream site. This time I'll be attempting a mobile livestream so it should be a bit more interesting than just a fixed camera. I've also extended invitations to two very incredible Ladies. I hope their schedules permit. If nothing else, maybe I can get UJ to do a freefly but I'd rather have the Ladies.

Come on out and enjoy the Virginia countryside, take a chance on a raffle ticket and you might get yourself a seat in a helicopter or a German tank. See ya there.

Prince William County Planning Commission

Next Wednesday, June 16th, there is a planning commission hearing for the Wartime Museum and we're trying to gather as many supporters to attend as we can.

Obviously, the more Prince William County supporters we can gather the better, but support from any of you would be greatly appreciated.

The hearing is at 7pm at the McCoart Building in Woodbridge Virginia.

If you are unable to attend all I ask is that you forward this information to friends you think may be able to go. Again, if you live in or know a lot of people in the PWC area please ask them to come out and support the Museum.

Message for the ODBA

Brothers and Sisters, we are gathered here today to celebrate our love of musicahh.

No wait...thats not it. Where is that thing? I know its around here somewhere.

Oh, here it is. (I laid it down and covered it up with YankeeMom's Milblog Award. The thing is HUGE. I had to get a special permit just to haul it back to Richmond.)

(Clears throat)...
ATTENTION:
Tuesday, 13 April at 1200 I will be live-blogging from the Prince William County Complex for the National Museum of Americans in Wartime. I'm pretty sure ya'll know who they are, from my posts last year at the Open House.

There is big news coming about the museum. Its good stuff. NMAW asked me to do this and since I love heavy equipment with guns, it really was a no-brainer. Any members who aren't busy and can get away, come on out. Would love to see ya.

Had a great weekend hanging with the Big Dogs of milblogging and Troop Support. There are hours of video from the panels, and the panel with the former Marine Combat Photographer from WWII is awesome. He was on Tarawa and Iwo Jima.

There is good stuff coming this summer, friends. I feel great. Everyone was very glad to see me and I was delighted to be seen in the vertical position. (and I stayed vertical for most of the conference.) No really, I did. Seriously, ya'll, I was very well-behaved. Well, there was that one time, when......oops. TMI.

Prayers Needed For Virginia Blogger

Journalist, Virginia blogger, military writer, POW/MIA supporter and my good friend Susan Katz Keating has suffered a heart attack and is hospitalized. Please include her and her family in your prayers today.

And if anyone else is planning on trying to keep up with me, I'd ask that you re-consider your plans.

Gunny Explains the Flamethrower

This is the type of history you can learn by spending a day at The National Museum of Americans in Wartime



and then we have a live fire demonstration:

National Museum of Americans In Wartime

Open House this weekend
Our biggest event, the annual "Open House", is this weekend, October 24 & 25 at Allan Cors’ Tank Farm (lots of tanks!) near Nokesville, Virginia.

On Saturday, October 24, and Sunday, October 25, the activities will run from 11:00am until 4:00pm. Many vintage vehicles will be on display and several will be used in live demonstrations.

Living history units will be present to display their gear and weaponry and even provide some shock and awe. Refreshments and Wartime Museum items will be available for sale.

Veterans, kids, families, and even active duty personnel love this event! If you’ve never been, it’s definitely worth the drive.

Want to get your picture taken beside a Sherman tank or even a Russian T-34? Or see a reenactment of a WWII bunker assault? Get a cool T-shirt? Then put our open house on your calendar now.

Best of all, it’s a free event! However, we do ask visitors to register in advance so we can plan for the crowd size.

National Museum of Americans in Wartime

A unique opportunity is available to those that are interested. How often is it that citizens are able to get in on the "ground floor" of a developing organization? A new national museum is forming in Northern Virginia.

The National Museum of Americans in Wartime.

Milbloggers and children of all ages were made welcome at the current home of the museum. Introduced at Milblog Conference 2009, Craig Stewart presented a short brief about the project and invited attendees to visit.

While the mission of the museum is more serious, the trip was a model on how a modern, interactive museum will attract young people. By being TOTALLY COOL!!!!!!!

The first thing one notices upon arrival is the presence of huge, armored vehicles, parked on the property. Then one notices that there are hundreds more inside the "garage." And we're told that this is just one of many.....(Speaking as a former Navy cargohandler, these guys can give lessons on packing huge vehicles into tight spaces.....)



Future Milblogger zeroing his home defense weapon. Pesky hippies....
(Actually this pic screams for a caption contest...put it in the comments.)





Now here is the TOTALLY COOL part. They were crazy enough to let a few milbloggers DRIVE!






"Yes, I am this cool. It's a gift."







ConcreteBob in his natural environment.



Then there are the idiots daring bloggers that RIDE INSIDE the tank driven by their crazy expert friends. Here I am, going airborne. Bob swears that he wasn't jumping ramps.....
Note the very cool, military spec, anti-glare/anti-dust, xray glasses. Safety first!





Here is the face of a man who has decided to acquire, not one, but two, of these vehicles......two, so we can race. Why else? Besides, think how much beer one of these things can hold. Perfect for tailgate parties.


Or if you want a convertible?




Or if tracks are too much for you....
This one is armed, so you have that going for you:

While most visitors will not have the chance to drive one of these historical beasts, they will be able to participate in other ways. The museum wants to provide interactive opportunities to see, get inside, re-enact, and demonstrate what life was like for the American warfighter. The Museum will tell a distinctly American story in a multidisciplinary interactive setting by crafting together the personal stories of the individual found throughout the military and civilian worlds. They will weave together the homefront and the battlefront and show how they are utterly, and forever, interdependent.




Their Landscapes of War will educate and enlighten visitors about the conditions of the battlefront, and the culture formed therein. The Museum will focus on the veterans from all services from WWI to the present, including those that went into harm's way wearing civilian garb, telling the stories and sharing the experiences of all those that answered the call to protect America.

Their motto: Honor, Educate, Inspire

Let us work together to fulfill that motto.

Opening day: scheduled on Veterans Day, November 11, 2012.