It is with great pride that I step up to the position of Commodore of the ship which is the home for the most amazing group in the TIE Corps. This will be quite a lengthy introduction, however, it is VERY important that you read completely through it and respond appropriately, as I spent many hours putting this together.
This ship is not held together by durasteel, it is not held together by the command staff (like myself), it is held together by pilots, like yourself, who dedicate their time to the enjoyment of not only themselves, but their squad-mates. Because of this, no matter how much I write, no matter what ideas I try and implement, the Imperial Star Destroyer Challenge cannot grow and thrive without the cooperation of its crew.
I take pride in the image of the Challenge. The image of our ship is determined by the actions and attitudes of its members. As such I would like to share a very important quotation of Charles Swindoll with you.
Attitude:
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude
on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.
It is more important than the past, than education, than
money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes,
than what other people thing or say or do. It is more
important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will
make or break a company...a church...a school...a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding
the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change
our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act
a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only
thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and
that is our attitude... I AM CONVINCED THAT LIFE IS 10%
WHAT HAPPENS TO ME AND 90% HOW I REACT TO IT. And so it
is with you....we are in charge of our Attitudes.
And now for a little bit about my TIECorps history, I joined the TIECorps at the age of 12 in February of 1999, before the mandatory age requirements. I drifted in and out of training, until finally being placed in Thunder squadron. I was promoted to Lieutenant, and then took up a position as flight leader for five months; following some time in that position I became a reservist. 8 months later, I remembered the TIECorps and returned to active duty in my beloved squadron on my beloved ship. I quickly gained a flight leader position which I held for over a year. During this time I sent in an application or two for the position of CMDR, but I was beat to the position by a few different people. Finally I was appointed CMDR of Thunder, a position I held proudly for 17 months, 1 month less than the current record holder, Beef.
The following information I have brought together is a compilation of information and policy (new AND old) so PLEASE read completely through it.
Services:
As your Commodore I can provide many services including, but not limited to the following simple bulleted list:
- Custom Uniform Design
- An ear for problems you are having in your Real Life
- Raining of rewards upon deserving people
- Answers to questions about the ship or command staff on the ship
- An ear for problems you may be having with your commander or ship mates
- BSFing (for CMDRs, or if your CMDR has gone on leave)
Communcation:
If you need to get in contact with me there are many ways for you to do so:
-(average response time 0.2-6 hours) at sgeers@hotmail.com
-(average response time 1-2 days) at sgeers@ualberta.ca, COM@isdchallenge.tcbg.net and sgeers@gmail.com.
Messageboards
-(daily) as Stuart
-Usually found lurking in Emperor’s Hammer, TIECorps, Soapbox, Thunder, TIECorps Battlegroups, Wing X
MSN
-(usually on at least 6 hours a day or more) at sgeers@hotmail.com
IRC
-under the name `Stuart or derivative there of
-found in channels #TIECorps, #Corporate_Division, #emperor’s_hammer, #wing_x, #isd_challenge, #TC_Battlegroups, and #ehcoc
AIM
-(usually on 2 or 3 times a week) as ltsgeers
Other Important Ship Policy:
General communication:
Please remember that you, the individual pilots, are responsible for the image of your ship. This means that if a single member uses excessive profanity and displays great disrespect to any officer it makes our entire ship look bad. For the most part, please be gentlemen and ladies, especially in public internet settings, and adhere to the Codes of Conduct and Articles of War. Violators will be dealt with, but for the most part I will be doing the disciplining instead of involving the HCI.
Squadron Communcation:
-I would like EACH squadron to have a mandatory, agreed upon, instant messaging program. This includes at least one of the following: IRC, AIM, MSN, ICQ. My preference in order from most desired to least desired is the following: MSN, IRC, AIM, ICQ. This means that every member of a squadron will frequently use the instant messaging device chosen by their squadron.
-I would like to instigate more communication between squadrons, but I feel it more important to develop good communication intrasquadron before we move to intersquadron.
Reports:
-Currently Weekly Squadron Reports are due weekly on Saturday or Sunday
-Monthly Squadron Evaluations are due no later than the 3rd of the following month.
-Ship Reports will be out every two weeks
-ALL reports must be uploaded to the databases - WSRs to the http://www.ehtiecorps.org database and WSRs and MSEs to the http://isdchallenge.tcbg.net database.
AWOLing:
-AWOLing is to be kept to a minimum. Obviously, pilots will be removed if their email address becomes inactive.
-No pilot will be removed and declared AWOL without approval of the COM
Messageboards:
-Commanders, please place a request on the COMM office website http://www.ehcomm.net to be placed as the SOLE moderator of your squadron’s board. The only other members who have authorization to be moderators on the board are Squadron Executive Officer, Wing Commander, and Commodore.
-Each Squadron is not expected to use their board; however, their CMDR is still responsible for moderating the board. Board use is still encouraged especially in Wing X.
Freeworlds and other MMORPGs:
-Like Galacrack (Star Wars Galaxies) Freeworlds does count as weekly activity, however, like Galacrack, it does NOT excuse you from competitions. If there is a competition running you are expected to put that competition as a higher priority than Freeworlds, especially concerning mandatory competitions. Your superior generally has no way of knowing if and how often you play MMORPGs so it is recommended you keep them informed as to your level of activity in that regard.
Rewards:
-I am a great believer in rewards such as positions, ranks, and medals. It is of great concern to me if a member’s activity is not rewarded, whether due to negligence of a superior or any other reason. It is my intent to try my best to monitor activity throughout the entire ship and award those deserving. If any of you notice one of your colleagues putting out a great effort and seemingly not being awarded accordingly, PLEASE let me know. This especially applies to squadron members regarding your Flight Leaders and Commanders.
-Any person on this ship has the power to recommend awards for any other member on the ship. Though the requests may not always be ratified by me, I will do my best to address each case.
Ship Standing Orders:
These were written by former COM RA Locke Setzer, and have been slightly modified.
Commodore
The Commodore of the Challenge is responsible for…
• The health of the ship, including the welfare of all members within!!
• Developing good relations with the Wing Commander and distributing responsibilities accordingly, as well as the creation of rules and procedures for the ship as a whole
• Overseeing the Monthly Squadron Evaluations as ran by the Wing Commander
• Providing an informative report on a bi-weekly basis about the issues of the ship as well as other things deemed comment by the Commodore
• The processing of the BSFs and the recommendation for medals and/or promotions when deemed earned for the Wing Commander
• Processing of medals and/or promotions for Challenge Commanders upon WC’s recommendation if out of the WC’s power to do so
• All external competitions for the pilots of the Challenge
• Sharing responsibility with the Wing Commander to increase the overall population for the Wing by means of recruitment as well as gaining as much exposure outside of the ship for the Colossus as possible
• Ultimately responsible for recruitment efforts for the Challenge, the exposure of the Challenge to the TC Battlegroups as well as the TIE Corps overall, which also includes the image the Challenge represents
• Making oneself easily contactable through mIRC, AIM, active email presence, or other such means.
• Updating, maintaining and modification of the SSO’s
• Producing one item of activity each week, ranging from flying to graphical work to MP to mission design to fictional writing. Work in other jobs such as Tactical Surveyor or Professor is NOT counted!
Wing Commander
The Wing Commander of Wing X of the Challenge is responsible for…
• The health of the Wing, including the welfare of all members within, in particular that of the Commanders of Wing X
• Working with the Commodore, which requires adherence, while at the same time giving a fair and honest opinion at all times as well as keeping communication about any and all plans/comps/etc. the WC wishes to do.
• Training of Commanders as well as assisting them in gaining a working relationship with their squadrons. He is responsible for their performance overall
• Overseeing the Monthly Squadron Evaluations provided by the Squadron Commanders
• Providing a weekly report to provide information about Wing Events, Orders, news from within as well as anything else deemed necessary by the WC
• The processing of BSFs for all CMDRs as well as the recommendation for medals and/or promotions by oneself when deemed necessary
• Processing of medals and/or promotions for Flight Members and Flight Leaders upon a Commander’s recommendation if out of a CMDR’s power to do so
• The appointment of all Commanders to new spots with consultation of the COM, as well as the removal of inactive or ineffective Commanders, with the approval of the COM.
• All internal competitions for the pilots of Wing X
• For the maintaining (and creating if need be) the ship website for the Challenge and its pilots.
• Sharing responsibility with the Commodore to increase the overall population for the Wing by means of recruitment as well as assisting in increasing exposure outside of the ship for the Challenge as much as possible
• Maintaining both the ship email group as well as the email group for all Challenge CMDRs
• Making oneself easily contactable through mIRC, AIM, active email presence, or other such means.
• Assisting the Commodore in other ways that may present itself
• Producing one item of activity each week, ranging from flying to graphical work to MP to mission design to fictional writing. Work in other jobs such as Tactical Surveyor or Professor is NOT counted!
Commander
All Commanders of Wing X of the ISD Challenge are responsible within their individual squadrons for…
• The health of one’s Squadron, as well as the welfare of all members within
• Working with the Wing Commander in particular as well as the Commodore in exception, which requires adherence, as well as keeping good communication with both flag officers about the direction of their squadron
• The training of Flight Leaders to one day move on and become Commanders, as well as the strong encouragement of taking the SM/3 course to all members
• Providing a Monthly Squadron Evaluation to the Wing Commander every month, to be sent in by the 3rd of each month.
• Providing a weekly report to the members of the squadron to inform them about current squadron activities, news, competitions ranging from squad based to ship based, and anything else the Commander deems necessary.
• Confirming that all pilots within their squadron are subscribed to the Ship Mailing Group and contacting the Wing Commander about any problems
• Providing a squadron vs. squadron competition, a innersquad comp ranging of any activity deemed appropriate, or any other such comp on a fairly regular basis
• The processing of BSFs for all squadron members. Also, the recommendation for medals and/or promotions by oneself when deemed necessary for members in the squad with the consultation of the WC.
• The appointment of Flight Leaders
• Constantly supporting ones own squad and increasing exposure outside of the ship by any means necessary, as well as keeping recruiting a strong part of one’s squadron’s agenda
• Making oneself easily contactable through mIRC, AIM, active email presence, or other such means.
• Producing one item of activity each week, ranging from flying to graphical work to MP to mission design to fictional writing. Work in other jobs such as Tactical Surveyor or Professor is NOT counted!
• Above all else, participation in competitions designated by the Wing Commander or Commodore as mandatory. This will usually consist of Ship vs. Ship competitions, or competitions run by the Battlegroup Commander.
• Assisting the Wing Commander in other ways that may present itself
Flight Leaders
All Flight Leaders of individual squadrons of Wing X of the ISD Challenge are responsible within their individual flights for…
• The health of one’s flight, as well as the welfare of all members within
• Working with their individual squadron commander, which requires adherence, assisting him in any way he needs necessary, as well as
• Constantly supporting ones own squad and increasing exposure outside of the ship by any means necessary, as well as keeping recruiting in mind at all times
• Having good email activity
• Producing one item of activity each week, ranging from flying to graphical work to MP to mission design to fictional writing. Work in other jobs such as Tactical Surveyor or Professor is NOT counted!
• Above all else, participation in competitions designated by the Wing Commander or Commodore as mandatory. This will usually consist of Ship vs. Ship competitions, or competitions run by the Battlegroup Commander.
Flight Members
All Flight Members of individual squadrons of Wing X of the ISD Challenge are responsible for…
• Adhering to their flight leader and squadron commander
• Keeping in contact through email, mIRC or other such means with their Commander (as well as their Flight Leader, preferably)
• Recruiting whenever they find the opportunity
• Attempting one item of activity each week, ranging from flying to graphical work to MP to mission design to fictional writing. Work in other jobs such as Tactical Surveyor or Professor is NOT counted!
• Above all else, participation in competitions designated by the Wing Commander or Commodore as mandatory. This will usually consist of Ship vs. Ship competitions, or competitions run by the Battlegroup Commander.
Routine:
I would like every member of the ship to attempt to adopt a routine similar to this following example at least once a day, it will benefit everyone.
1. Log in to your Squadron’s selected Instant Messaging Program
2. Check your email
3. Check the TIECorps site for news http://www.ehtiecorps.org/news.asp
4. Check the Ship’s site for news and comps http://isdchallenge.tcbg.net/main.php
5. Check the BG’s site for news and comps http://www.tcbg.net/main.php
6. Check the Wing’s Messageboard http://www.ehnet.org/mb/viewforum.php?f=46
Please include the above things in your daily internet routine.
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Thank you very much for your time Ladies and Gentlemen, I look forward to serving you all.
COM/RA Stuart/ISD Challenge
GOE/SSx2/BS/PCx11/ISMx9/IS-3BW-4BR-2SW-3SR-1GW/LoC-CSx2-Rx4/CoLx3/CoB/OV-4E
[GLDR] {IWATS-AIM-CBX-FLA-GFX-IBX-IIC/1/2-M/1/2-PHP-SM/3-TM/1-TT}
I'm going to contort you until time and space have no meaning!
"I......just.......love......dots!"
"No matter what you do, the squirrels always win!"
"Shoot for the moon - even if you miss, you'll be among the stars!"