I spent a good part of the day hitting the Air Force base, Coast Guard Station, Trader's gun store and the paint ball range, scouring for recruits.

The best results were the paint gun range, all the men were between 16 and 30, the had a lot of questions and between their "battles" I handed out Pete's TB Notes and answered questions, hopefully more than a few will investigate us.

I also met two older gents at the gun shop, who were interested, the least interested were the military bases.

Passive recruiting involves this board, our web site and event advertisement.

Direct recruiting is reaching out and finding them. Over the last two years we have had a trickle of recruits and this would work well with a minimum of effort over the long run.. With our unit fast approaching activation in December, 2011, we need to recruit and outfit now.

Few of the 16-25 year old types had been exposed to ACW history, that's unfortunate, but there is a silver lining, they have very little exposure to bad history experiences and they are clean slates. Most of the boys I met today were eager to get involved. I ran out of handouts at the paintball range.

Our recruiting efforts need to be more direct. Unfortunately not everyone is finding out about our events. Venues like the Civil War Round Table, did not cater to our target age group, 16-45 year old. Historical societies and museum sites will also prove low yield as well. In short we need to find that group, at their gathering spots.

In addition to the LH programs we have scheduled, I would also like to find a historical restaurant or meeting place for a monthly meeting. When I find this facility I will let you know. The purpose of having a hard meeting spot in addition to the internet; it allows people to meet us in person, it show we are active and it offer a meet and greet place.

We cannot rely solely on our current advertisement, we all need to become salesman for the TBOHI. Keep some informational material on hand and don't be shy about talking to folks.

From this point forward, we will use the name "Carolina Rifles." I will have a flyer made up for us and posted as an Adobe PDF file.