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Safety is one of those magic flags that we all want to ralley around.
Who *doesn't* want to promote safety in our hobby.
But let's step back a moment.
I think most on this list would agree on most safety rules, but I
think we should be aware that one man's deffinition of a safety rule
is overkill by another's deffinition.
Back in 88 at a Rev War event at Monmouth, NJ, the British troops were
told to fix bayonets for the march from behind the "play area" out
into the field to march past the tourists in all our red-coated glory.
But one man near me in the column, became agitated at this, his
comments got louder (so I heard what he was upset about) and he
finally stormed off the field in a huff. This was a man in his 40s who
had appearantly came into the hobby via the NPS and it's rules. He had
firmly embraced the "safety faith" of NPS that prohibited marching on
the reenactment field with fixed bayonets. He was livid that the
Commanders could so blatently ignore a fundamental safety rule and
left the field rather than continue.
The rest of us just looked at each other, marched off as directed,
paraded in front of the public.....and then were told to unfix
bayonets before the Continentals took the field.
NPS and especially Parks Canada had some pretty strict rules on how
often you could fire an artillery piece on their sites. I believe the
forces at Ft. Louisberg in Canada were restricted to one shot every 30
Minutes, to *GARUNTEE* that there were no live sparks in the tube. The
accepted rate of fire in most ACW artillery units is once every three
minutes, I believe.
When I organized a napeoleonic reenactment in 97, I went to the
artilley and cavalry commanders and asked for their rules on safety,
rather than make un-informed rules. I also went to the infantry
commanders with some issues and the results were a safe attack by the
French cavalry against the British square That Had Fixed Bayonets!
It was common practice in Europe and the cav commanders agreed with
the Infantry that it was safer to have fixed bayonets around the
horses....the horses being smart enough not to get too close to sharp,
pointy things!
I imagine the fellow from monmouth would have had a screaming fit if
he saw it.
So, my lads, what is my point?
For all that we agree we must be safe, we need to be rational about
what is safe and what isn't. And I would rather get the call from the
vehicle club folks who are well versed in the safe operation of their
vehicles.
Cheers,
Jim
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Mar 02 2000 - 22:30:21 PST