How to use your skein

A young man shows up at a small authentic picket post event wearing his new commutation jacket.  He had ordered it four months in advance, nevertheless there was still some nail biting coming down to the wire, but the box arrived the Monday before the event and now he’s beaming with pride as he wears it to its first event.  In the parking lot his sergeant sees him pull in, wanders over, says hello, and starts chatting.  As our hero begins pulling out his gear and putting it on for the march into camp, the sergeant sees the young man’s new jacket and says “What’s that?”

“My new commutation jacket,” the young man replies, “took forever to get it but isn’t it cool?”

“Well,” says the sergeant, “it’s okay but you’ll need to wear something else this weekend, we’re portraying Company D of the 39th Virginia this weekend, and so we’re all wearing the John Speck jackets.  You’ll have to get a loaner or something, because they weren’t wearing those.”