Having already come to grips with the idea that The Zouave needs more support if it is to continue beyond 1991, I am now prepared for the kind of heavy-duty effort required to truly build a stronger foundation. The survival of this magazine, however, depends on the answer to the following question Are you prepared to go above and beyond the call of duty to make The Zouave as healthy as it should be? We need volunteers to cover a number of areas that would be of great assistance. Our primary need is more subscribers, making recruitment of new members the best gift any of you could give to this organization. The truth is that we won't survive past this year without growing, and we won't grow without some fanatical help from the membership, especially those of you who have written in stating that you love The Zouave. Letting other people know that we exist would be a great assist. Therefore, I have enclosed a flyer in this issue which I would ask each member to photocopy and give to a few friends. Those of you who attend gaming conventions are asked to bring some of these flyers with you, along with a copy of the magazine to show to those people who are involved in ACW scenarios. If each member was able to get another person to join we'd be in fantastic shape. Some of you have already done this based on my plea in the last issue - thanks! As you may have noticed, this issue has fewer pages than those preceding it. However, if you examine the type carefully, and even count the number of words per page, there is as much writing as ever - we simply used smaller type in certain areas to conserve space. Rather than give up on The Zouave, the number of pages in each issue will be dependent on how much money is left in the coffers. The more members = more money = more pages basic math! The first person to correctly guess the identity of the officer on our last cover photo was Martin Vilne. Congratulations! That particular image was used because of the strong resemblance to Union General Jefferson C. Davis. It was in fact Col. David Shunk of the 8th Indiana, who was a brevet Brigadier General. Martin will be receiving a copy of Roger Hunt's massive volume, Brevet Brigadier Generals In Blue, as his prize. This book gets my vote as the most important Civil War reference book to come out in the past few years! We also still need more articles from our members. We have received a number of scenarios over the past few months, but still lack the necessary backlog of other types of articles. As a result of this, over the years, I have had to write far more material than is healthy for the magazine. Those of you who have the flair, please send in some great articles! Finally, I apologize for the delays in almost everything this year. The recent move to our new address presented nightmares in trying to find everything. We had orders for various products that went months back and have only recently been rediscovered and the products mailed out. There were numerous letters that required a reply something I didn't have time to do. To prevent the overload in the future, my wife has volunteered to be our secretary and respond to most inquiries herself. She promises to make my life miserable by forcing me to answer more personal mail before retiring for bed something about not having any more children if I don't. In essence, we're getting more organized and hope for a massive push from the rest of you towards a better magazine! PLEASE NOTE Because of the unusual situation ofwar in the Middle East (maybe that's not so unusual when you look at the history of the region), any member of the allied forces facing Iraq will have his subscription continued for the duration without having to send a renewal check until after the conflict is ended and everyone is back home. We are also sending several copies of the magazine to the International Red Cross, asking them to please give them to any allied POW's that might have an interest in them. We have a fairly large number of military personnel who are subscribers to this magazine and, undoubtedly, many of them are currently located in the Persian Gulf area. The U.S. military has assured us that mail is being forwarded to the front lines, although with an understandable delay. The editors and, I can assume, a vast majority of our membership, wish all of our servicemen well and pray for your safety. We are proud of you and want all of you to return safely to your homes. We also salute the allied troops who have undertaken the task of helping to liberate Kuwait. While taking no political views of right and wrong in this conflict, we solidly support all of our allied troops who must do their job. Come home soon! Back to The Zouave Vol IV No. 4 Table of Contents Back to The Zouave List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1990 The American Civil War Society This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com