...

Kieran O'Sullivan was almost a stereotypical Irishman in every way. Red hair. Green eyes. Born and raised in County Cork. But in the past five months he had been living in the United States as a foreign exchange student. Kieran had decided to spend his last year of seminary studying abroad and his parents had reluctantly agreed. In the time that he had spent in America, he had managed to recruit four other students to his own personal reenactment group; the Irish Brigade.

The students had all managed to raise and pool together money to purchase uniforms, although some were more elaborate than others. Kieran himself wore the most elaborate uniform, an officer of the Irish Volunteers. It consisted of a forest green peaked cap, tunic and trousers with a mint green shirt and brown tie underneath. Kieran also wore brown boots and the necessary Sam Browne belt. The only other student dressed as a green Volunteer was Kieran's friend Robert "Bob" Rogers, a local kid named after the colonial frontiersman.

Bob had brown hair and blue eyes and wore a slightly less elaborate uniform than Kieran. It was the same forest green but with no tie and the addition of a bandolier. Bob was also carrying a non-working rifle. The two female students represented members of Cumann na mBan, The Women's Council. They wore similar colors and tunics to Kieran but with skirts instead of trousers. The other two males represented members of the Irish Citizen Army, wearing green trousers and tunics, bandoliers, and brown slouch hats. They also carried rifles.

As elaborate as the uniforms were, Kieran's real prize was the reproduction, road-legal World War I-era troop transport. It had been built to look like a 1917 Saurer four-cylinder lorry but had a modern engine. Such a truck was not precisely Easter Rising material but Kieran's group had managed to rent it for the day from a local collector generous enough to let them take it on the road.

"How did you rent this truck again?" Bob asked Kieran as they both stared at it parked in the middle of their dorm lot.

"Mike Engels was the name, I believe." Kieran replied, "Cost us 500 just for the day. And he said he was cutting us a deal. Owns a warehouse full o' this stuff. We'll probably see 'em at the event."

"And you're sure we won't get pulled by the cops?" Bob wondered.

"Every fella knows that Armored History is today." Kieran said, "It'll only be 10 miles or so."

With Kieran's blessing, the students piled in the truck, a Cumann na mBan named Jessica Spark was the driver, as she also worked part-time as a bus driver. Jessica was even redder than Kieran, with a face full of freckles, and the most amount of Irish blood besides him, tracing her great-great-grandmother back to the actual C na mB.

Soon enough, the Irish Brigade was barreling down the highway, piled into the canvas-covered rear of the truck, on their way to the county fairgrounds. They soon found themselves intimidated by the massive decomissioned Oshkosh tank transporter beside them, with a M3 Stuart chained to it. It was also on its way to Armored History, the first ever annual county historical event specializing in heavy artillery and equipment. Kieran and Bob had lobbied the organizers for three months to be allowed on the listing.

Kieran's company had only made it about five miles down the road when they were stopped at the red light. The Oshkosh had already past them, only to replaced by a non-canvassed truck almost identical to the Sauer. This uncovered lorry had five clearly visible passenger and a driver. Kieran peeked out from behind the truck to get a good luck at them and could scarcely believe his eyes.

"Impossible..." Kieran muttered.

"What is it?" Bob asked.

"Black an' Tans." Kieran said, "A lorry full o' black an' tans."

"Black and Tans" was the common name for the Royal Irish Constabulary Special Reserve, a force of temporary constables that fought against the Irish during the Irish War of Independence. The memory of the black and tans was still bitter in Ireland and Kieran remembered no such group on the event listing. More specifically, only two of Kieran's rivals were dressed as Black and Tans proper, as in an actual tan tunic and black trousers. They also had the usual Balmoral bonnets and bandoliers. Two of them, driver included, were dressed as "Auxies" as in the possibly more reviled Auxiliary Division of the RIC, wearing green so dark it was almost black. The other two members were standard RIC, wearing the same pitch green but with peaked caps instead of bonnets.

"Where on earth did they find those uniforms?" Kieran wondered.

"The same website we found ours." Bob admitted, having done the actual ordering from the United Kingdom.

"I'll have to put in a word with management about this." Kieran complained.

"Don't sweat it, Kieran." Bob said, "They're only farbs."