[Loch-Ruadh] Gulf War Tips Page

Sat Feb 6 07:33:31 PST 2010

Cait that was great.  In my years at war we have seen temps range from 92 
degrees all the way down to 16 degrees.  That does not consider the first 2 
wars that were in June and the temp were about 100.

Aingeal
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sonja Crocker" <sonja.crocker at gmail.com>
To: "Shire of Loch Ruadh, Kingdom of Ansteorra, SCA,Inc." 
<loch-ruadh at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 06, 2010 5:43 AM
Subject: Re: [Loch-Ruadh] Gulf War Tips Page

> Here are some tips that I posted to the Ansteorra list.
> Caerell - feel free to post any of this either in its entirety or in 
> pieces.
>
> Cait
>
> We attended Gulf Wars last year and this is what we learned from that
> experience.
>
> 1. Garb: Cotton fibers are best. Dress in layers! It was wet and extremely
> cold (in the 40s) at night and cool to warm during the day. The average 
> temp
> was between 65 and 75 during the day. I suggest wearing headgear with a 
> wide
> brim or with long scarves. Most of us had sunburned necks and shoulders. I
> also suggest wearing very comfy shoes. Expect on walking around 1-2 miles 
> a
> day at least. There are many things to see and do but they are very spread
> out and can be far from camping areas.
>
> 2. Tents: Use rain flies or tarps over the roofs of your tent/s and/or
> pavilions. It rained a lot and it rained hard. I also suggest putting a 
> tarp
> down as a floor and connecting the corners to make a sort of bath tub. 
> This
> will help in keeping the rain out of your gear. We packed all of our garb 
> in
> plastic storage bins. We plan on having a mesh bag to hang from our 
> pavilion
> frame. We will use it to keep our dirty garb in.
>
> 3. Bedding: We used cots and they were wonderful. The ground gets cold at
> night. Be sure to bring plenty of bedding or a tent heater. We had three
> quilts on us and still had to borrow a heater to keep warm. The kids each
> used a sleeping bag made for cold weather and they were fine. Being cold 
> at
> night and early morning were our biggest problems. I hated changing into 
> my
> garb in a cold tent.
>
> 4. Cooking/Firepit Safety: You can buy a cord of wood on site. That is 
> what
> we did. We bought one cord for a group of 30 people and it lasted all 
> week.
> We still had some left by week's end.
>
> 5. Heaters in Tents: Be sure to use a heater that has an automatic cut-off
> system in place in case it turns over or runs out of fuel. Also be sure to
> keep your windows and doors cracked open. This will help with proper
> ventilation. The small cans of fuel will not cut it. It will be best to 
> use
> the big 20+ pound container. We used the small ones and they did not last
> the night.
>
> 6. The most important issues to be aware of are sunburn and dehydration.
> There are MANY water bearing tents so please make use of them. There is 
> also
> one tent that serves the best pb&j and bacon sandwiches. They are offered
> for a donation. They are wonderful and the protein is a definite plus. Be
> sure to take plenty of snacks that are full of protein. This will help 
> keep
> your strength up during the day. We took lots of peanut butter and 
> crackers
> and beef jerky. They really helped keep the kids happy and full.
>
> 7. Camping with Kids: We had about 10 kids in camp with us. Here are some
> ideas for keeping the tots happy. There is a Minister of Children area. It
> is a wonderful resource. They have classes every day. They are offered for
> kids 6-12. They have classes for a couple of hours in the morning and a
> couple in the afternoon. Gulf War policy is that kids must always be in 
> the
> line of sight or in hearing distance of their designated adult. There are
> also youth archery competitions and youth combat. As long as an adult is
> with the child, he or she may also attend various demonstrations which are
> fun and worth it. My kids are 8 and 11. They loved playing in camp, going 
> to
> class, and watching the fighting. They also loved watching the blacksmith 
> in
> the Early Period Encampment. A lot of the camping is very open. This year,
> we are setting up tents in such a way as to have a closed in area for the
> kids to play in. Having kids running around a fighter's tent at o dark
> thirty was not a pleasant experience for the fighter I am sure.:) Pack 
> many
> snacks for the kids. They will eat more than you think. We had a 12" by 
> 12"
> by 36" box full of snacks. I thought it would be plenty. It lasted three
> days. I have a better idea this year. We plan on having a gallon baggie 
> for
> each child per day. This will be full of snacks (peanut butter crackers,
> goldfish, jerky) for the day. I noticed that the kids ate more while in
> camp. We plan on grabbing a snack bag each and leaving for the day.
>
> More good info:
>
> There are plenty of places to eat there. There is The Goode Bakery. They
> sell meat pies and pastries for a reasonable price. There is also a grill
> and a cafeteria onsite. The grill is a little pricey, but the cafeteria is
> not really. The cafeteria sells meals for about $6.50 a piece. For this 
> you
> get a main item, two sides, bread, a drink, and a dessert. The helpings 
> are
> very generous. They have a weekly meal plan. You can by meal tickets. You
> get a discount when you purchase them I think. There is also a gas station
> at the entrance with a grill. It is inexpensive and they have great food.
> They also sell ice onsite. They have a golf cart that comes around and 
> sells
> it to each camp once a day. I think it ran about $2 - $2.50 a bag. They 
> have
> onsite showers and toilets. They installed better water heaters last year.
> Now, the water actually gets hot and stays that way through most of the
> shower.:) They are well lit and have power outlets. Our bath house had two
> showers each and about 5 unisex toilets. There are also porta-potties but
> they had queues constantly and they were smelly. Be sure to get EVERYTHING
> out of your car that you will need. Cars must be moved early in the week 
> and
> it is a good mile's hike to the car parking area. We forgot some things in
> the car that first day. After trekking out there once, we made sure that 
> did
> not happen again.:)
>
> This will be our second war. I am hoping to be better prepared this year.
> Take lots of garb. Figure at least one outfit per person per day. For the
> kids, I suggest two outfits per day. If you can't do this, then have the
> kids wear an under tunic and over tunic. You can always switch them around
> during the week. My kids were constantly covered in mud. This will happen. 
> I
> have heard that there will be lots of rain again this year. Bring an
> umbrella too. I wouldn't care if it isn't period. I will be dry.:) Once 
> idea
> I was told was to keep a set of mundanes on the front seat of your car, 
> for
> the trip home. It will stay dry and be ready when you need it.
>
>
> Cait
> Loch Ruadh
> End of the World
> Gulf Wars XIX
>
>
>
> On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 10:06 PM, CL Nurmi <cnurmi at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
>> Always keep an extra set of dry clothes,socks ,toiletries,etc,in a sealed
>> plastic bag for just in case we get another really bad Wet War again,also
>> blankets.
>>
>> --- On Fri, 2/5/10, pbedwell at vzw.blackberry.net <
>> pbedwell at vzw.blackberry.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>> From: pbedwell at vzw.blackberry.net <pbedwell at vzw.blackberry.net>
>> Subject: Re: [Loch-Ruadh] Gulf War Tips Page
>> To: "Loch-ruadh lists" <loch-ruadh at lists.ansteorra.org>
>> Date: Friday, February 5, 2010, 3:36 PM
>>
>>
>> I agree with the good shoes but however make sure they are broke in and 
>> not
>> brand new as those would cause blisters.
>> Vivian
>> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Terry Sikes <tdsikes at prodigy.net>
>> Date: Fri, 5 Feb 2010 13:19:28
>> To: Kingdom of Ansteorra SCA Inc.Shire of Loch Ruadh<
>> loch-ruadh at lists.ansteorra.org>
>> Subject: Re: [Loch-Ruadh] Gulf War Tips Page
>>
>> Gulf War tip #1-  Bring several pairs of shoes, including good walking
>> shoes and shoes suitable for wet wear.  Our land is almost the farthest 
>> from
>> the main activities areas and the road has lots of foot bruising
>> rocks. Blisters are period, but not enjoyable.
>>
>> --- On Fri, 1/29/10, Padraig Ruad O'Maolagain 
>> <padraig_ruad at irishbard.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> From: Padraig Ruad O'Maolagain <padraig_ruad at irishbard.org>
>> Subject: [Loch-Ruadh] Gulf War Tips Page
>> To: "Shire of Loch Ruadh" <loch-ruadh at lists.ansteorra.org>
>> Date: Friday, January 29, 2010, 1:06 PM
>>
>>
>> This just occurred to me:  how about we create a Gulf War Tip page on the
>> Loch Ruadh website?  Anyone could contribute ideas about any aspect of 
>> Gulf
>> War that everyone needs to know:  clothing recommendations, meal ideas, 
>> ways
>> to waterproof tents, etc.  Anyone who has ever attended a Gulf War has
>> picked up good ideas that can useful to almost everyone, and especially 
>> to
>> those getting ready to go to War for the first time.
>>
>> Caerell, is there a way to do this so that you as webminister don't have 
>> to
>> enter everything manually?
>>
>> Now that I've tossed out the idea, how about some brainstorming?
>>
>> Padraig
>>
>> *****************
>> Nunc Est Bibendum
>> ************************************
>> Politicians prefer unarmed peasants.
>> ************************************
>> Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.
>> - John Stark
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> -- 
> Cait O'Hara
> mka: Sonja Crocker
> _______________________________________________
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> Loch-Ruadh at lists.ansteorra.org
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