ARCH - Are we all back?

[Dewart, Charles R. --G3 Contractor (Anteon Corp)]

Lord William said something like:  PS: Please consider for discussion the
setting of a standardized arrow and/or bolt to be used by all the Kingdoms
during the next Gulf War so we will not have the same problems that arose
this year.

Personally, I don't think we'll ever see a single arrow or bolt type used as
the standard.  Instead, I think we'll have several like we do now.

IMHO, there are several areas of concern we need to address.  Those are
education and procedures.

Education:  This whole game we play is a learning experience and some
mistakes will be made.  But through education, the repeating of those same
mistakes again and again can be reduced.  Everyone involved with archery
must be knowledgeable on all types of legal arrow construction.  That
includes the person making the arrow / bolt, the person using it and the
person inspecting it.  I was surprised to find that the modified markland
construction was not fully understood by lots of folks which lead to a few
tense moments.

Procedures:  They say there is more than one way to peel an onion, just
depends on how many tears you want.  One of the problems with having done
this so long is I forget where I read things.  Anyway, somewhere I remember
reading that there should be a consolidated location for the combat archery
equipment to be stored when not out on the field.  I think we MUST do this
at the next war.  Why?????

1).  It will ensure that the equipment remains as inspected.  
2).  It will ensure that only inspected equipment is used.  This one almost
got us shut down and more importantly could have gotten someone seriously
hurt.

The way we have done it and are still doing it is the archer gets inspected
and they take their stuff back to their camp.  What happens to it then?  I'm
not going to challenge anyone's honor; however, things happen.  Even the
most honorable folks are susceptible to all those things that can cause less
than a stellar performance.

So, here is what I'm proposing.  We use the arrow factory with the arms room
as our consolidated combat archery storage location at next years war.  For
those of you who have not seen the facilities, allow me to describe them for
you.  The arrow factory and arms room is housed in a double GP Medium tent
liner.  The arrow factory side of the tent has the capability to work on or
repair any of the arrow types we use.  It has a every increasing stockage of
repair parts. The arms room side of the tent has four 8 foot long bow racks.
Each rack has pegs for 26 bows and 26 crossbows.  It also has two 80,000 BTU
propane heaters and propane lanterns for work after dark.  We can also have
coffee and that sort of thing.

If security is thought to be an issue, a guard roster of those folks using
the facility could be arranged.

Here's how I see it working.  This is, of course, subject to change.  The
archer gets his armor inspected at the armor inspection point.  Then takes
his/her combat archery equipment to the arrow factory/arms room for
inspection.  Any required repairs can be made on the spot.  The archer is
assigned a peg for their weapon.  And that's where it stays the rest of the
war unless it's out on the field or the end of the event.  Those
arrows/bolts that were shot during the battle will be reinspected before
reentering the facility.  Of course the archer is free to work on their
arrows/bolts doing repairs as needed between battles.

Now, I'm not saying that this will solve all our problems.  But I think it
will go along way.  At least it should keep us from having to do multiple
bow testings.

OK, so what do you think?

Gilli









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