zero in frustration

I think there is a difference between representing Heer and representing SS; for me, the latter is a step too far. One could always dress up as an Italian or a Finn.

How lovely of this jackass to group Finns together with Heer and the Italians, we clearly were as bad (I think the US didn't even declare war on us, and the brits fired a couple of artillery rounds into one of our harbors). Read the whole thing, didn't bother to reply there as this is off-topic.

When I was starting out I had a wee look at Zero In and now and then might search their to see if a specific question had been asked before but overall never felt any need to join other than should I happen to see something I couldn't find anywhere else in their 2nd hand section.

The Arnies forum was a lot more helpful and of course not limited to only being allowed to talk about a single retailer so that was of much more use.

And of course here has been a great source of information for me, I'm still not sure if I am confident or comfortable enough to do full costume stuff but the weapons are some of my favourites and I'm slowly working on tinkering around with what I have and growing a modest collection.

On the "is it right to dress as x" topic, well no matter which nations' uniform you wear I'm sure their forces will have done something horrific, that's just the nature of war.

Of course Germany is seen as a special case because they were the aggressor, but I know enough about the 1900s to be aware of the state Germany was left in post-WW1 despite all sides involved being "the villians" and have little doubts of the wounds that caused.

Does any previous incident excuse a future act of cruelty or ignoring of common values, no, but it can help to explain why it happened.

I do have to say that while I've probably got above average knowledge of 1900s european military history and politics with my various years of school and uni level study, and research done from my own interest, I'm far from an expert and new things can always change my opinions be it new information or simply being in a different fame of mind. For example I was all set to deck myself out in Soviet gear (and a few years ago I would have jumped straight in) but I pondered about it then I did some refresher research into things like the occupation of Poland and up went a red flag to the part of me which was already unsure about doing full on uniformed airsoft.

Mind you I am one of those people who can find a billion reasons not to do something if I'm the slightest bit anxious about it.

Christ that was a bit of a ramble, sorry about that.

something else to consider are the results of the now banned "Milligram experiment" [link]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment#Results[/link]
this is a chilling insight into what normal people will do when a figure of authority gives the instructions , 65% of people would give a fatal electric shock if an authority said to do it , while it's a comfort to think "i'm one of the 35% who would not " ,the fact is that you very well may not.
this excuses nothing but it is something that must be factored into the equation of evil intent.

Unfortunately that experiment has been recently criticised for poor design and even worse methodology, it basically found that the results are completely wrong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_ex ... nipulation

still disturbing even when it's less than 50% , further add to it the social conditioning the German people were subject to in regard to racial matter's and the pseudo-science involved and although we can never forgive or forget it does give a fuller picture.

my 2 cents in this is that people have there right to say "why are you dressed like a nazi" but mind you i was in a 1st waffen ss division leibstandarter uniform at the time ive been a ww2 axis airsofter from day one and after nearly 4 years im just branching into modern gear . the average civi let alone airsofter doesnt know sweet fuck all about ww2 and have grew up without realising the difference between the death and concentration camp guards who im more than right in saying are some of the most sickening and disgusting indeviduals ever to grace this planet and the waffen ss and wehrmacht forces who all in all were just squaddies just the same as the tommie atkins, doughboys and reds they were faceing and if anything history tells us that no country is left untainted with horror they have committed in war. and as i hear a line in recent tv series that explains all of this " a beast stirs in a man when you put a sword in his hand" just in the real world its a gun rather than a sword. the best thing to do is just tune out their bullshit and get back to skirmishing

SS, Heer, FJ, Japanese, heck, Tommys, Canadians, GIs, and Reds all commited unnecessary war crimes though. GIs executed SS prisoners on the spot because of the war crimes they committed, and all sides executed prisoners unnecessarily (sometimes accidentally) or civilians. In war, no one is "the good guys".

While I may be quick to argue that not all German soldiers of the second world war were believers in national socialism or indeed, any more evil than the Tommies and GI's they faced off against I feel the most important thing to remember is that we cannot truly understand the actions or mentality of people we never knew from a time we do not live in.

As has been said here previously, there are no 'goodies' or 'baddies' in war, only two groups of human beings from all walks of life who are forced to shoot each other.

Vietnam airsoft is another example. Let us remember the My Lai massacre and many other atrocities the American armed forces committed in that war, yet, plenty of airsofters will happily dress up as a grunt of the era and no one bats an eye.

It's only a bloody game.

Just because you will do something when instructed does not absolve you of the responsibility for doing it.

It does if you are German.
The concepts of Pflicht and Dienst put the burden of morality on whoever gives the order, not on those who carry it out.
It's also worth remembering that up until 1944 the British army felt the same way, as the Manual of Military Law specifically stated that a soldier could not be punished as a war criminal if following orders from government or commander.
The Allies accepted and adocated the Nuremberg Defence until it became inconvenient for their own prosecutors.

As CW says, it doesn't pay to think about these things too deeply when playing shooty shooty games though.

As an old airsoft mentor of mine used to say at the start of every game:

"Remember you're just a load of adults dressed up in silly clothes playing with toy guns"

(or something like that)

it's got more to do with historic interest ,interest in weapons , tinkering and adrenalin than ideology for me , my choice initially was patriotic to do British , then comradeship to do German as my local player group did German .my family has always had German friends for as long as i could remember (through church , exchange student's and family friends ) and i could never really equate them with an entire nation of Nazi's .
and you really have to send you'r thinking back in time to the 1930's ,both in terms of what was militarily legal/moral and you'r understanding of the outside world, the media was very different to modern day and some of the sudo science such as cranial measurement to predict the behaviour of an individual from the shape of their head was taken seriously and that was extended to race as well , it's easy to mock now as they mocked the flat earth theory , it's progress , often painful .

For me, the attraction of German changed from simply liking the kit to being more interested in the typical German squad structure in combat - the way the squad was commanded, the use of MGs, the co-ordination and fire and movement of the rifleman and a good hefty dose of Prussian Elan. Plus you get to sing better songs.