From March 1991 to November 1997 I was a member of a Civil War Reenactment group. Our unit was called the Second Regiment of Infantry, U.S. Regulars, Company "C". Our Regiment was part of a Brigade made up of several Regiments based all over the Eastern United States from Maine to North Carolina. The Brigade was called Vincent's Brigade and its Commander (and the commander of my Regiment,) was Colonel Wayne Wolff. For all the important and serious sounding names, there couldn't have been a more relaxed and friendly group of people with similar interests in the world. We were a group of people who were interested in that part of our history we call the Civil War. We expressed our interest by dressing and equipping ourselves, as authentically as possible, in nineteenth-century accoutrements, and spending weekends reenacting the life and battles of those times. Six years, I was a soldier in the Union Army. My experiences on the re enactor's battlefield will remain in my memory always. The sights, sounds, smells, and exhilaration - however recreated - are as close to stepping into a time machine and being taken to a bygone era as anyone could dream.

A lot of things happened while my friends and I experienced the adventures of a century-and-a-half ago. Countless weekends, I would pack my knapsack, put my rifle on my shoulder and march off to war. I marched many miles in my "brogans" and fought many "battles," simulating my death countless times and firing thousands of blank rounds from my musket. One of the highlights of my career as a re enactor was during the 130th anniversary reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg. This coincided with the making of Turner Films' "Gettysburg." Footage from the reenactment was used in the film. I got a chance to meet many of the actors including Jeff Daniels, Sam Elliot, Tom Berringer, and Martin Sheen. Some of my friends worked as seconds in the film and had larger parts, ending up with more "camera time." I did end up in the film, only noticeable as one blue soldier among hundreds lined up to fire a volley of rifles at the oncoming Confederate troops during the scene depicting "Pickett's Charge." Several members of my Regiment worked on the film "Glory." Their experiences while working on that Oscar-winning film and my small involvement in the making of "Gettysburg" are an enduring source of pride.

I still feel that, as war films continue to be discounted as "cliche" and "passe" by many, these films stand as epic achievements in depicting the strong emotion and pathos of the time There is some brilliant acting in these films - Jeff Daniels as Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Sam Elliot as John Buford, Tom Berringer as Longstreet, and Matthew Broderick as Robert Gould Shaw. The Regiment remains. The faces are new and only a few of them remember Pvt. Jeff Lambert or that he was ever a member of their Regiment. It remains in my heart a very interesting part of my life with many very happy memories. My battle-scarred Springfield musket hangs on my living room wall. Whenever a guest asks me about it, they had better be prepared for a longer stay, as I recount my "war" stories. This is me...

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