[Regia-NA] The shield wall

[Steve Etheridge]

>We were wondering about this, when four of us showed up at the Fort 
>Macarthur event in Los Angeles last summer. The morning's first event was a 
>parade before the MOOPs, each group stopping to introduce themselves. Most, 
>nay, all of the other groups comported themselves with great military 
>precision, including shouted orders in various languages (yes, Latin and 
>Gaelic). We sort of straggled.

I have to say that this sounds achingly familiar.  One of the things that 
Paddy the TO and I have decided to to is try and get the millitary wing of 
Regia acting a little more organised.  When we have got that cracked, we 
will try to get them _being_ a little more organised ;-)

I want the warriors to line up and obey orders because it is Authentic.  
Paddy wants them to do it because it makes the shows safer, easier to plan 
and much better looking.  At the recent Lichfield show we managed to get 
each side lining up in three distinct units, and performing spontaneous 
unplanned maneuvers dependant on their commanders whim, with the commanders 
on the other side reacting well to them.  Good hard scraps, too.  It was a 
multi-period event, and you know that you have done well when you get 
applause from other re-enactors.

Not that we are perfect.  People still tend to straggle, and there is a lot 
of english "underneath" the orders.  We still suffer from the "hairy arsed 
barbarian" mentality - "I don't obey orders".  But we improve.

Steve

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