I am one of the other new recruits. I have been posting mostly in other areas of CAS City, but always enjoy reading the Barracks. My main focus is the period just after the Civil War. I grew up the son of a CW reenactor and N-SSA shooter from IL. For about 5 years I shot in the N-SSA myself, but then I moved to Texas. Locally in Houston there is a lot of cool Civil War and post Civil War history. A local "Ranger" company was formed from Fort Bend county to fight the War of Northern Aggression, a black troop riot happened on the west side of Houston during the late 1800's, etc. Recently, I have been thinking about jumping back into CAS since I am changing jobs (going back to teaching 8th grade U. S. history and getting out of high school football) and will have a bit more time for shooting. Currently, I am reading a variety of books on Custer. One in particular, that I have enjoyed is Cavailar in Buckskin by Robert Utley. If I had to pick one persona it would be an infantry private in Texas during Reconstruction. It always suprised me that the U. S. almost invaded Mexico after the Civil War due to France's interference there under the authority of the Monroe Doctrine. Custer was actually a part of the force assembling in Reconstruction Texas. Also, I am amazed at the lack of manpower used to defend the Frontier and control the Natives. For CAS, I like to shoot one of my many Cap and Ball revolvers, an 1866 Musket Model, and either a 12 ga. Coachgun or an original 1887 Win 10 ga. I reload and make my own leather goods. I usually, dress in an assortment of military and civilian items depending on the day. I'll shoot in my Union Civil War Uniform or as a Confederate Vet after the war. It just depends on my mood or the weather(it can get extremely hot and humid in Houston).