ANST - The War That Got Away
Keith Ewing
keandbc at ix.netcom.com
Fri Feb 26 11:41:21 PST 1999
Hello again, Countrymen.
If my words were not persuasive enough in my last post then I have some
more words for you. In 1997 Sir Ricardo de Pisa went to Gulf War. After
the war he wrote the following missive and asked me to post it on the
Ansteorran mailing list. I did so at that time, so some of you may have
seen this before. In his last paragraph, he says that he will be there
next year, but he passed away during Gulf War in 1988. Some say that it
was the only way that he could leave his sickbed to fulfill his
promise.
Kein
The War That Got Away
by Sir Riccardo di Pisa
What a great time it was! The weather was not good, but not entirely
bad either. Just right for fighting and sleeping. It was nice to see
old friends, sit around and talk, check up on what they'd been doing
since last we met, throw back a beer or two
. Yes sir, it was fun. At
least for the third of the kingdom that bothered to show up. As close
as I can figure, it was about one third of the kingdom. Where was
everybody else? I know some could not attend due to work, some because
of school, some may have had family problems. I just find it hard to
believe that two thirds of the kingdom falls into one of these three
categories.
By the way, we did not win! It was a tie again. Thank God for the
people who competed in the static and performing arts, because they
smoked the competition. All glory to them; for if glory was to be found
it was with the Arts & Sciences and the light weapons fighters. THEY
saved the kingdom from certain defeat!!
Where oh where have the heavy weapons fighters gone? In all the kingdom
there are four hundred plus heavy weapons fighters. Where were they?
We may have had 150 fighters. Our allies outnumbered our own fighters.
What kind of army is it that has only one third of its' forces show up
for a war? How can we expect our allies to continue to show up and
fight for us when our forces won't show up?
I can remember when the Ansteorran army was a fearsome thing. When that
army went to war, the entire force attended
all of it. No one could
stand before us. Opposing kingdoms and their armies melted like ice
before the roaring flame that was the sun of Ansteorra. What glory
days! Day I'll never forget. Our fighters went to other kingdoms' wars.
They were held in high regard and kingdoms would vie for our services,
offering gifts of food, drink and
. trinkets.
I cannot take anything away from those knights and fighters who did go
to the war. They did their best, but with two-to-one odds (or more)
there was not much hope of winning. Much valor was displayed by our
fighters and much individual glory was won. Just one case in point;
William the Bear. I'll try to tell you about it, but you had to be
there to see for yourself. Imagine being in a big windstorm. Things
flying all about, men shouting, some screaming in pain, some cursing,
swords striking shields, pole arms swing in deadly arcs; it was like
being in a mad house. The only things missing were the blood and gore
that you would have in a real war. But if you looked hard enough, you
found some of that too. In the middle of all this you find Sir William,
laying about him the left and right, striking down whoever came before
him. He was like a man possessed. I swear I could see smoke coming from
his helm
or maybe it was condensation of his sweat in the cool air.
What valor, what glory he won in that battle. Ten of the enemy did he
lay low before he was cut down! Had we but ten more like him
we could have won they day. Many more deeds of honor did I observe in
other fighters, much individual honor was won by more fighters than I
can name here. But it was all for nothing. When the army came off the
field after the battle, no matter the individual glory won by them, you
could see the disappointment in their eyes, disappointment in giving
their all and it not being enough to save the day.
When we go to war, we go to have fun, do some fighting, party a little,
but most of all, I think, to win glory for the kingdom. To show the
Known World that we have the biggest, baddest boys and girls on the
block. Well, not this year. Maybe next, but only if the other two
thirds of the kingdom decide to show up. I'm sure that the ones that
attended this year will be there next year, they always seem to be. For
those of you who could have come and did not, shame on you. You missed
all the fun and a chance for individual glory. And to get right down to
it, isn't having fun the reason we do what we do? I'll be there next
year. Think about that. Next year, plenty of time to make plans. Why
don't all of you make plans to be there, maybe we could win next time.
If you have missed the point of what I have been trying to say, let me
make it clear
where the hell were you, and why were you not there?
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