JEB Stuart AAR

Brothers,

A brief after-action on the affair at Aarat Va (AKA JEB Stuart):

Pro’s

1. We ate well. Creely outdid himself, breakfast @ Prime was very good for the cost
2.Camping- I know, I know, it wasn’t level. But it sure as Heck beat being sat 1/2 mile away from everything with the Confederate Artillery… our car access was great!
3. 3rd US Artillery- These guys are a good battery- an old school battery. They are safe, & they shoot well. Partnered with them, we are not assailable.
4. Your fire on Sunday probably decimated several generations of chipmunks & small forest rodents

Con’s

1. The scenario was (at least to me) incomprehensible… Let’s get together, have a big infantry fest in the woods, run off the Cavalry (from a cavalry event!?) have the artillery shooting at Lord only knows what, & stage the whole thing so the crowd can see next to nothing…
2. We were poorly deployed & used. Saturday, we were shooting at vague sounds in the woods. Sunday, we were deployed where there was no troops (at least until the “Final assault” when, by the way, we were not allowed to fire…) Apparently the powers that be consider us to be no more than noisemakers.
3. O.K., O.K, the campsite was on a slope. There, I said it.
4. Attendance!? In the not too distant past, we would put 10-12 guys on the ground at JEB. This year we had to draft Sylvia to field a full gun crew.
5. Sutler’s row was sparse. This may well be a result of the economy. I think a lot of the smaller players have just said, “The Hell with it”.
6. Giving Federal Artillery Command to some dufus with a mortar detachment- this guy has never crewed, yet alone commanded, an actual field piece. I don’t seek artillery command, but to place our officer’s & men under a guy who is clueless is a slap in the face.
7. Officer’s call- nothing like unannounced meetings on Friday night…
8. The “Mortar Battery” These people are a threat to safety-ours in particular.
9. If the event is going to finish Sunday's battle with a "grand suprise assault" sweeping up a steep wooded hill, perhaps they should consider:
A. Sending out some scouts to be sure its passible
B. Getting some younger assault troops so the force does not need to stop midway up to catch its breath.
Watching this debaucle (which we were not allowed to fire on or assualt) Creely summed it up nicely, "Sir, can we just turn our guns on ourselves?"

Regards,
Duke