ES - FW: ANST - The War That Got Away

Vicki Marsh zarazina at flash.net
Sun Feb 28 19:30:36 PST 1999


Again, I apologize if you have already received this, but....

Sir Riccardo was a close friend of mine, and it is good to read his words 
once again.  As long as we remember his teachings, a part of him will live 
forever.

Xene

-----Original Message-----
From:	Keith Ewing [SMTP:keandbc at ix.netcom.com]
Sent:	Friday, February 26, 1999 1:41 PM
To:	ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG
Cc:	ansteorra-chivalry at Ansteorra.ORG; 
ansteorra-armored-combat at Ansteorra.ORG
Subject:	ANST - The War That Got Away

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(1998). 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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