re: #22 William Barnett-Lewis

I have to remember that one to pull into a fantasy RPG someday :)

Of course my favorite neo-feudal oath remains the one near the beginning of “The Warrior’s Apprentice”

I like the one from “The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted”.

An officer with little golden bars on his shoulder strutted in and stood
before the flag.

“This is a very important occasion,” he said in a voice heavy with importance. And occasion. “You young men, the fittest in the land, have been chosen as volunteers by your local draft boards to defend this country we love against the evil powers abroad that seek to strip away our freedoms. Now the solemn moment that you all have been waiting for has arrived. You entered this room as funloving youths. You will leave it as dedicated soldiers. You will now be sworn in as loyal members of the army. Raise your right hands and repeat after me …”

“I don’t want to!”

“You have that choice,” the officer said grimly. “This is a free country and you are all volunteers. You may take the oath. Or if you choose not to, which is your right, you may leave by the small door behind me which leads to the federal prison where you will begin your thirty-year sentence for neglect of democratic duties.”

“My hand’s up,” the same voice wailed.

“You will all repeat after me. I, insert your own name, of my own free will … “

“I, insert your own name, of my own free will.”

“We will do it again, and we will do it correctly, and if we don’t get it right next time, there is going to be trouble.”

We did it again, and correctly. Repeating what he said and trying not to hear what we were saying.

“To serve loyally … to show respect to all of the senior. officers … death if I show disloyalty … death if I should desert … death if I sleep on duty …” and so on to the very end, which was “I do swear this in the name of my mother and father and the deity of my choice.”