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Supporting your group at Pennsic
As Pennsic continues to grow, it becomes increasingly apparent that encampments or groups of encampments need to augment the services provided by the Chirurgeons and Waterbearers. While both the chirurgeonate and the waterbearers have done, and will continue to do a fantastic job of providing much needed support for combatants and non-combatants at war, the sheer number of people have made it more difficult for them to meet everyone's needs. This plan outlines what your group, alone or in combination with other groups, can do to help support the chirurgeonate and the waterbearers and help keep both our fighters (archers, fencers, etc) and non- combatants healthier and happier during war. This plan will be most successful if it is worked out well in advance of war and your group has the opportunity to get used to this resource and work out the kinks. Be aware that while combatants are the single largest group of individuals that use waterbearers, the water- bearers do in fact support a wide variety of people, including heralds, list ministers, marshals and spectators. This information will focus primarily on how this system can be used to support fighters, but it will work at virtually any event with any group of people doing any physical activity. The most elementary part of this plan is people - some must be trained, all must be competent and reliable. If every encampment had one warranted chirurgeon (or at the very least someone with the training to be warranted) it would be a great help. If your camp does not have such a person, you may want to encourage someone to get the training. More people are injured dancing than fighting, so even if your group does not have a large number of fighters, this is still a valid suggestion! Since this person is the most obvious choice to help spearhead this plan, encourage them soon! The other people that you will need are waterbearers. An average of 1 waterbearer to every three or four fighters seems to work well. This will allow you to closely monitor how much each of your fighters are drinking, and when problems arise that require the attention of a chirurgeon there are still enough people to get the liquids out to the rest of the fighters. Please think about also volunteering some people to work with the official waterbearers on the field. If you only volunteer for one battle, that significantly cuts down on the amount of work that the waterbearers have to do, at least for a few hours. (In order to help on the field during battles you must have a combat waiver on file - indicated by a blue membership card. If you do not have a blue membership card you can sign a combat waiver on site.) The next part of this plan is to have some type of shade near the field (use common sense when choosing where to put your shade - do not block roads, walkways, etc.) Many groups can utilize a single shade, and while it may seem that there is an amazing amount of space available, there is not room for everyone to have their own shade set up - work with others to share the expense, set up, maintenance and use of a shade. This shade should be large enough to provide shade for the majority of the fighters and support crew in your group. Think about walls for your shade - as the sun moves around, walls that can move with it will greatly increase your available shade. Make this your base - have banners or other obvious ways for your fighters to find it. Now all you need is water and a way to get it to your fighters. Many people are hesitant to drink the water at Pennsic - Using bottled water, water from home or filtering the water from the wells is recommended. So far we have covered the minimum that could be done to help share the burden of fighter support - helping make certain that the fighters that you know and recognize are watered and have shade available while still allowing the waterbearers on the field to do their jobs. Everything covered beyond this point is nice to have, and will help make things more comfortable. In addition to having water, consider having ice, a medical kit, favorite flavors of sports drink (diluted, please!), salty bits (pretzels, potato chips, etc.), dried fruit, fresh fruit, pickles and cookies. Take a good supply of tubing for straws, too. Virtually every fighter (and a lot of non-fighters) welcomed cool, wet towels, and you will need them to treat any heat-related problems. Some extra things to think about for added comfort include tables, dedicated bottles for each fighter and support crew (with extras for whoever may need them), and an ice chest. Hauling all of this stuff to and from the field is work. You will most likely need the assistance of your fighters to get it there. The best way to do that is to get them used to this system well in advance of war - this way they will likely see the benefit and there will be little grumbling about all the extra stuff they have to help haul. A wagon helps, too. Think about how you will get this stuff to and from the field before war so that you have what you need when you get it to the field. Figure out how much of it you can safely leave at the field over the course of the week. An alternative to having all of this available near the field is to make certain that it is available back at camp when the fighting is over. Having a table set up with various munchies and lots of cool non-alcoholic, non-caffeinated beverages for the fighters and support crew to graze off of when they get back is just as important! This also lets the fighters get out of armor and begin cooling down without having to then carry all of their armor back to camp. Try experimenting with different ways to carry water. Many fighters carry bota bags or other personal water containers underneath their armor during battles. As discussed with the Earl Marshal of the Middle Kingdom, there is no problem with fighters carrying water in this manner. He did make it very clear that should a blow land on a water bottle, canteen or bota that the blow still counts. The only other word of advice I have is to think carefully about what you put into your water bottle - be aware of just how exciting things could get when the red stuff you have in your water bottle goes spewing everywhere when the bottle takes a direct hit! Below is a list of all of the things mentioned above. As you find things that you would add to it, please let me know!
While the focus of your support staff will be on the fighters in your group, it should be in the very nature of anyone serving as a waterbearer or chirurgeon to offer assistance to anyone that needs it. If a fighter that you do not recognize stumbles into your shade and requests a drink, do not turn him or her away. At the minimum, give him/her a drink, let him/her rest and assist him/her in getting where he/she is going, or get a chirurgeon. You never know who you may be assisting - maybe a future (or current) king or queen! Heat related problems become life threatening very quickly - refusing someone a drink and a place in the shade could ruin his/her day, ruin his/her war, or worse. If you will be providing support to only those in your group (partisan waterbearing), please do not wear anything that could be perceived by others to be waterbearer stuff - for example blue and white baldrics, the waterbearers badge, etc. Wear household livery instead. This is especially true if you will be stationed near resurrection points or other well populated areas where the demand for water is high. If you are a partisan waterbearer, be aware that you will not be allowed to interfere with the operations of the Kingdom Waterbearers Guild. If you are making it difficult for them to function effectively, you will be asked to move. If you are functioning as a partisan waterbearer do not expect to use the supplies provided by the Kingdom Waterbearers Guild. If you would like more information on specifically what a waterbearer does or suggestions for training waterbearers, please contact one of the people listed here or your local waterbearing guru. |