The Only Way Forward - March 2016
By AD Plif

Recapping the happenings aboard the ISDII Warrior since the last newsletter:

In late December, Kappa hit a full 12-pilot roster through the efforts of its KMDR and COL Daniel Stephens bringing in new recruits. With a full squadron, the KAPPA HYPE has never been stronger!

In January we wrapped up our first Warrior League competition. We'd started it in November and had it run for three months, each one featuring a match-off between two squadrons tasked with achieving the highest scores they could muster in three assigned SP battles. In the end, Theta Squadron was victorious with GN Pickled Yoda claiming the overall top spot. Great job, Theta!

The Kappa KMDR's Challenge in January pitted the KMDR, then-MAJ Ulrich Drachen, against the rest of Kappa. It was actually pretty a close finish, with the pilots of Kappa edging out the KMDR by a small margin. As a result, the nickname and motto of Kappa Squadron were changed to new ones selected by the victors and LC Drachen had to use a special squadron report banner throughout February. We had a lot of fun discussing that competition and Kappa churned out quite a few MP medals, so it was pretty great for everyone involved.

Sigma Squadron reached 11 pilots in March, a new high after having been down to 7 pilots a few months prior. The new Sigma pilots have brought new energy to the squadron, which has been very noticeable in their reports and great to see.

Throughout March, the Warrior has been celebrating the reactivation of the ship back on March 31st, 2014. We kicked off the month with the latest installment of Warrior Trivia, Stage Four. COL Frown is back with a vengeance, meting out discipline to Wing II pilots and putting a stop to some of the shenanigans that've been going on in his absence... and also inspiring some new ones. We're also currently voting for our next Warrior of the Year, who will be announced on Warrior Day.

The leadership positions on the Warrior have remained very stable, though we did see GN Gilad Pellaeon and CPT Keth Aalith swap positions so that Keth could take a swing at being a Flight Leader in Theta. We appreciate that Gilad was very willing to accommodate our request. Outside of Theta, we've seen rank promotions for both of Kappa's FLs and the KMDR, one of Sigma's FLs and its CMDR, Sin's CMDR, and even yours truly. It continues to be my privilege to work with this group of dedicated officers and I'm very proud of the things they've accomplished for themselves and for the Warrior.

As always, the only way forward is Through.