[Archers] WoW incident

[Janyn Fletcher]

Well told COG and it still amazes me how people simply walk into active
ranges and trust they won't be hit! I see it a few times each year and it
just amazes me. A few years back at Kingdom archery championships the event
was held at an archery/gun range and during the shoot the head of the
facility wearing all camo popped out of the woods right in front of us
shooting. We called hold and he said "oh no please keep shooting, I'm
watching you all." Really?

 

Sounds like this was handled correctly. I ask that we not yell and scream at
people when we can but when they are 100 yards away, that makes it
difficult. Also it amazes me how one person being selfish (knowing they are
or not) can stop the complete activity until they are taken care of. Glad
you all noticed and were watching, this is what our jobs are as marshals!

 

Thanks for the report COG,

 

In Service,

 

Janyn

 

 

 

From: archers-bounces at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
[mailto:archers-bounces at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org] On Behalf Of John Atkins
Sent: Monday, October 14, 2013 8:49 AM
To: archers at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
Subject: [Archers] WoW incident

 

Archers,

During the Champion's Shoot at War of the Wings an incident occurred that I
would like to flesh out for all on this list and those who were
participating in the shoot and witnessed it.  First a description of the
incident.

 

As archery is typically located in the "back forty" of most event sites it
was my intention to bring it out for the populace to view, much like the
Grand Exhibition Tournament at Gulf Wars.  Thus, two hours before court I
set a range on the battle field behind but within view of where court was
going to be held.  There were several fighters still on the field doing
pickups but I set the range such that we were shooting away from them and
left them plenty of room to do their thing.  As we were shooting one squire
began walking down the tree line about 60 yards away from our shooting line.
However, he continued walking until he, unknown  to him, entered our 45
degree safety zone/cone.  We shouted to him that he was going onto a live
weapons range (we had to shout due to his distance from us).  He responded
that he was "just trying to find his stuff" left on the field.  Reluctantly
he moved out of our safety zone.  However, he then got his truck and drove
into the back of our range, about 75 yards down range, got out of the
vehicle and resumed his equipment search.  Again we shouted with no
response.  As Baron Achbar was near us, we asked him to "talk" with the
young squire, which he did and ultimately the squire left the field,
obviously not happy.  In both cases as we were telling the squire he was in
our safety zone and to clear the field, he responded that he was "too far
away" to be an issue.  However, when he drove his truck on the field I  had
a few "volunteers" to "put a shaft or two in his tire" to make the point
that our weapons could easily carry the range at which he was.  As I am
mostly a lazy person and did NOT want to deal with the paperwork, we did not
shoot the squire nor his truck, haha.  However, when I relayed the
story/incident to Doubghal, our site coordinator, household brother of the
squire and a heavy himself, he said it would be no issue, When I reminded
him of the paperwork, he said it would be no issue if we buried the body!
:)  (That's Doubghal.)

 

I believe this incident brings up a few points.  Most non-archers have no
clue how powerful our weapons are.  In this case with all Champions on the
line, their weapons could easily fling a shaft 150 yards or more.  As many
of them are hunters hitting something at 100 yards is a very doable thing.
In fact, after the champion shoot, just to prove the point, they set a
target at about 85 - 100 yards and shot at it.  Many do not know the skill
of the better shooters in the archery community.  There is the perception
that if they can move, archers will not be able to hit them.  i.e. All we
can hit is s static target.  Read Cam's Facebook post to clear that
misperception.  There are several other issues represented and wrapped up in
this incident that, as archers, we are all painfully aware of.  Generally
heavies hate archers unless we are on their side and hit what they point
out.  I believe there is also the perception that archery is what a heavy
does when they are "too old" to continue fighting.  Again as archers these
are issues we all know about but what's important is the relationship
between the archery community and the heavy community.

 

Now the MAIN point of this post is the what happened afterwards.  When I
talked with Doubghal about it, he said he would talk to the squire's knight,
Sir Afshin.  Apparently that was done because Sunday during break down Sir
Afshin came into my camp with his squire and apologized for the incident.
This was a difficult thing for the squire to do because he felt he was
treated in a less that chivalrous manner during the incident.  Perceptions
are perceptions but I believe the main point here is that the squire
apologized for the incident and I believe he should be commended for that.
We parted on amicable terms and I believe Sir Afshin and his squire should
be applauded for their follow up action.

 

Christophe of Grey

Archery MIC for War of the Wings

 

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