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[RC] Cavalry...a misnomer (was: OD's 15 Calvary Division Rules) - k s swigart

Mary Howell said:


Old Dominion Cavalry Rules
The concept of the calvalry is to mimic the rigors
and primitive conditions a lone calvalry rider would
have faced in crossing the wilds of uninhabited
territory far from human intervention. The modern
test of a solitary horse and rider is to compete on
their own, without help, across 100 miles of
natural countryside.


Lest one think that the subject line of my post is about the persistent
(not only in assorted discussions among the unedited of Ridecamp, but
apparently the OD rules as well) confusion of cavalry (mounted soldiers)
with Calvary (the hill on which Christ was crucified) or worse calvalry
(which is not a word at all), it is not...though I do find this constant
mistake to be mildly entertraining.

I consider it a misnomer to call it a Cavalry (note correct spelling)
division for several reasons, the first being that cavalry (like most
soldiers) rarely ever do anything alone.  Soldiers are usually in armies
and cavalries usually in troops or divisions...and followed, damned
closely, by the Quartermaster Corps.  It is a rare army indeed (and
usually a doomed one) that allows itself to get cut off from its supply
lines.

Additionally, no cavalry soldier worth his salt who had allowed himself
to get cut off from his supply lines or his division would then allow
himself to be disuaded from pillaging rations for himself and mount from
just about anywhere, anything, or anybody....certainly not hay that had
been left lying around by others, and probably not hay still in use by
others.  He would, after all, probably be armed.

When I read the list of the OD Cavalry rules provided by Mary, all I
could think was, "No mounted cavalry, whether alone or not, would allow
itself to be govnerned by these rules."

So, perhaps it WOULD be more appropriate to call it the OD Calvary
Division, Calvary being a virtual synonym for having to face great
adversity alone. As in Christ's dying declaration, "My God, why hast
thou abandoned me."

kat
Orange County, Calif.
:)



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