What I meant to say was...

At Whipping Winds this past weekend, I taught a short class on Marshalling for Rapier where I covered field marshalling and weapon inspections before doing an open Q and A period. And whether because of the crud I was suffering from or just my natural absent-mindedness, there were a few things I forgot or I feel like expanding on.

The first omission (and probably the biggest) was on the subject of injuries. If you are the marshal in charge of an event or a practice and there is an injury requiring outside medical assistance (ambulance, EMTs, etc.), you need to contact both the Kingdom Rapier Marshal and the Earl Marshal (currently Don Azir and Duke Allan) as soon as possible with all of the details of the incident. In this case, as soon as possible means within twenty-four hours, but if you can send something up as soon as the EMTs have left the scene, that is better (make a trip into town if you need to). For some reason they get grumpy if they hear about stuff from Corporate before they hear about it from their guys in the field. Go figure.

The next thing I want to go into is rules vs. rumors. As many of you know, canes have been on the experimental list for quite some time. At the event, a couple of people brought them and I did the standard hold 'em up and ask if anyone had any problem facing them. One gentle, got rather upset, insisting that Don Azir had just approved them and was writing them into the rules. This was even corroborated by a marshal-at-large who was there. The gentle with the can was even more upset when I told him that I didn't care and that until I saw the written regs, I was treating it as a rumor. Here's the thing. It's not that I thought he was lying, even without the corroboration of the other marshal. The problem was that I have heard nothing from higher-ups about the subject, and I have seen no regulations about canes, so rather than trying to enforce rules I have never seen as to construction standards and such, I enforced the rules that I knew to be good. In my opinion, it is always better to enforce outdated rules that you know than to try and enforce new rules that you have never seen before. The flip side, of course, is that to have a responsibility to keep as up-to-date on the rules as possible.

We also spent a good chunk of time talking about drinking and fighting. The rules say that if you're impaired, you can't fight. Of course, they don't define impaired which leaves the decision up to the marshal in charge. So I told them my basic rules: if I can smell it, you can't fight and if you walk up with a beer in your hand, you're done (yes, I've had it happen). But probably the best way to handle it is for fencers to marshal themselves. If you have a drink, just don't fight. Likewise, if your cold medication leaves you fuzzy or your on prescription pain meds - or even if you just feel "off", don't fight. Remember, this isn't like deciding you don't need to wear a cup where you'll be the one hurt, this is an instance where your stupidity will hurt someone else.

The last thing I want to talk about is the authority and responsibility of the Marshal in Charge (BTW, who was the MIC for rapier at Whipping Winds, and where was he or she on Saturday?). The Marshal in Charge is ultimately responsible for everything that happens in his list field or on his melee field. Everything that happens is his fault. That is why the Marshal in Charge is the ultimate authority for his field. Whatever they say is law. The Marshal in Charge can tell the Society marshal what to do, and they must listen. Now this doesn't mean that being a MIC gives you the right to be a petty tyrant, even if it does give you the ability. Remember that every decision you make can be held up for review after the fact. Now both out kingdom Rapier Marshal and Earl Marshal are very supportive of their troops in the field and will probably stand behind your actions, whatever they are, but if that action was really stupid, you may find yourself with your warrant and authorization pulled.