26MAY12 - Weekly Meeting

[Aryte]

[18:00:27] Aryte Vesperia: Good evening and welcome everyone. Thank you all for joining in. Please be sure to hold your comments and questions until provided the opportunity to speak.

[18:00:38] Aryte Vesperia: Statistics

Sworn members: 310

Cadets: 10

Applications

New: 8

Accepted: 1

Denied: 2

Review: 5

Operations

Defensive: 96

Offensive: 19

Allied Assistance: 2

[18:01:05] Aryte Vesperia: Diplomatic notes: Aaaand we’re off. Mid week we experienced a full scale 2142 raid and promptly took the fight back to them after a successful defense. The result was an astounding combat maneuver and a strong performance by the Ordo. All in all, we had a good fight with ‘em and managed to pull a good victory from it. Initial indications are favorable, with limited fallout from 2142. I owe the raid team some Imperator coins. Otherwise, a major thank you to those who participated in either the defense and/or offense. It was a definite highlight for the week.

[18:01:53] Aryte Vesperia: In other news, Chaos has managed to crawl back out of its hole and has provided some combat as well. As a general rule, escalate heavy and give no quarter. They will aim to bomb our hub and keep us pinned—do not give them that luxury.

[18:03:14] Aryte Vesperia: Unit reports this week?

[18:03:16] Hollowmengitus Yifu raises hand for Terra.

[18:03:20] Aryte Vesperia: Mr. Yifu.

[18:03:36] Hollowmengitus Yifu: Hello, Ordo. Terra had a mediocre week. Raids were led and many participated, but not at the regularity of weeks passed.

[18:03:53] Hollowmengitus Yifu: Invictus is going to be undergoing some changes this week, which will affect members of the squad. Stay tuned for that!

As for Evalidus, command reports a dip in activity, and expects activity to ramp back up around June. It should also be noted that their special "artillery" piece is still under production; I honestly can't wait to see it in action, so here's to a swift completion!

[18:04:25] Hollowmengitus Yifu: Insidiae reports the slaying of Diablo and real-life work eating up a large chunk of time. While I do find the saving of Sanctuary a good past time, please do not allow it to overcome you! Raids should be picking up next week, says command.

Praescius reports that it is evaluating members to enlist within the squad at this moment, looking to fill slots for the coming Summer.

[18:04:50] Hollowmengitus Yifu: As a side note, please remember that promotion exam completion is only a minimum requirement of being promoted: it doesn't guarantee promotion!

That's all for Terra tonight.

[18:05:48] Aryte Vesperia: Thank you. Next?

[18:05:56] Ethan Schuman raises his hand for Astra.

[18:06:01] Aryte Vesperia: Mr. Schuman.

[18:06:12] Ethan Schuman: Astra had mixed success this week. I'll start off with the bad. Raids and general flight activity was down below what I'd like it to be, and this will be addressed at the staff meeting this week. Communication regarding some vital issues was also muddled up. A lot of this resolves around the events of my personal life last Saturday until after the staff meeting, as multiple events and goals that were supposed to be discussed were not because I wasn't there to bring them up. This will be remedied at the next meeting. On the positive side of the coin, I posted the signup sheet for Project Icarus on the general forum not too long ago. While I was hoping to have an Astra supervisor selected and the charter online by now, my absence at the last Astra staff meeting made that difficult. For those of you who are not aware, Project Icarus is the official name for the Ordo auxillary air corps program. This program allows any Ordo member, regardless of position, to become certified to fly fighters in active combat even

[18:06:12] Ethan Schuman: ts without formally joining Astra.

[18:06:34] Ethan Schuman: Now, this part deserves its own section so people take greater notice of it instead of it getting lost in the text of my usual post. I would like to say that of the positive things we experienced this week, the best events, hands down, were when Chaos retreated from battle simply at the sight of us launching fighters. We intervened in Badnarik twice, and chased them out of Titan as well. It's one thing to be the best air force in the community. It's another thing entirely when a group that has sworn hatred of you, and all you stand for, turns tail and runs simply at the sight of your presence on the battlefield. It's a huge source of pride and an ego boost for me as a commander to know that those I command are so intimidating.

[18:06:59] Ethan Schuman: That's all for Astra this week.

[18:07:09] Aryte Vesperia: True that. Thank you.

[18:07:11] Aryte Vesperia: Next?

[18:07:16] Kaska Czarny raises a hand for IEA.

[18:07:22] Aryte Vesperia: Ms. Czarny.

[18:07:26] Kaska Czarny: For the Imperial Education Administration: 36 Schola phases, 10 Armatura Phases, and 1 Ludi course held. (Numbers include the prior week as well.) Plenty of new graduates out of Schola, with a large chunk of that being contributed to the effort of Riff Petrov! Starting this weekend there will be set times for the NCO Academy to be held. Awanken Wasp is in charge of the project and at the moment we have recruited Shizzerk, Riff, and Carrious to be dedicated instructors for the course. Like Armatura you can simply request a class, though there will be scheduled classes regularly as well.

Drasamax has temporarily taken over the Schola director role while Vain remains inactive. The role may open up in the future as staff shuffles around. Drasamax also has an officer coin up for grabs for any instructor who manages to hold 15 Armatura or Schola classes by June 9th. For those who consistently preform above and beyond, there is also the Imperial Historian merit to earn. This coin would be a good step toward earnin

[18:07:26] Kaska Czarny: g the merit/tome.

As always anyone interested in teaching simply needs to apply at http://forums.ordoimperialis.com/index.php?/topic/13701-iea-scholaarmatura-recruitment-application/ or contact me directly. That's all for the IEA this week!

[18:08:33] Aryte Vesperia: Thank you.

[18:08:37] Aryte Vesperia: Final call for reports.

[18:08:56] Aryte Vesperia: Moving on.

[18:09:07] Aryte Vesperia: ✠ Development Update

[18:09:34] Aryte Vesperia: First and foremost, take a moment to inspect the attire I am currently sporting—this is the tunic piece of the new officer dress uniforms. The enlisted set is fairly equivalent, but lacks the silver embellishments. Further, the overcoat (command attire) will fit over and feature the epaulettes, etc. All in all, it is coming along very nicely. Mr. Hand is really producing some quality work here. I am incredibly excited to see it come to fruition.

[18:10:25] Aryte Vesperia: The style, as mentioned previously, is based off of our original dress attire from 2006. It will remedy some basic issues (such as merit grids), while setting us back apart from most military groups whom have largely embraced the tie/single button style.

[18:11:20] Aryte Vesperia: Looking forward, I need to prefix future projects by stating we’ve made a determination as to who will be handling our region build. After discussing it with a few prospective options, the ultimate choice has come down to tasking the project to someone we’re all quite familiar with and know is capable of producing the style and quality we’re looking for: none other than Disembodied Hand.

[18:12:51] Aryte Vesperia: As a reminder: although tasked to the project, it is imperative that he not be disturbed. You are to correspond with me or any other appointed individuals regarding the build. Disturbing him or any other developers will be detrimental to the process. Nevertheless, he has already begun making a schedule for events—foremost, a very rough plywood outline will be done to desk the combat flow of the concepts. After which, the actual building will begin in the sky. As prims are needed over time, we will dismantle the current build.

[18:13:37] Aryte Vesperia: Mr. Hand will be primarily devoting his attentions to the build, with the ultimate goal of completion by 01JUL12.

[18:14:13] Aryte Vesperia: Nevertheless, as discussed during the donation intake: any leftover cash shall be utilized for funding other major group projects. The idea was floated amongst the donors, ultimately coming up with a prospective list of items, including, but not limited to: the AR replacement, heavy mecha, Archetype completion incentives, Thanatos replacement, frigate-level fleet vessel, super-heavy tank, aaaaaaaaannnnd a mini-tank to appease everyone asking for it.

[18:15:09] Aryte Vesperia: PS. The AR is on the forums: http://forums.ordoimperialis.com/index.php?/topic/17410-in-progress-avtomat-kyvari-12/page__pid__128715#entry128715

[18:16:05] Aryte Vesperia: Moving on~

[18:16:09] Aryte Vesperia: ✠ Congratulations etc.

[18:16:27] Aryte Vesperia: Changing gears a bit. I would like to take a moment to just extend some congratulations to everyone who has completed another semester (or nearing such). For those of you who have now graduated: awesome! Otherwise, welcome to the summer. Yaaay.

[18:17:03] Aryte Vesperia: Historically, summer has really been huge for the SLMC – for us individually, a great time of growth and improvement. I really look forward to continuing that trend. What we can generally expect is some slow period for the next week(ish) as folks shift back to off campus, but after such an explosion of activity grid wide.

[18:17:58] Aryte Vesperia: Ordo wise, I would like to set a few goals and start things off on the right foot. First up, we will be holding our bi-annual group photo two Saturdays from now, on 09JUN12 at 6:00 PM SLT. It will take the place of the meeting (for the most part—reports still to be delivered). Per the norm, formal dress attire is expected. If you can’t get that sorted, we’ll figure something out. Last time we had. . . a ridiculous amount of people show up. Let’s get that same turn out! Fill the sim!

[18:19:16] Aryte Vesperia: Otherwise, I generally want to spend this summer maximizing our processes and improving the overall quality of our procedures. This includes really honing in on the entertainment value, training practices, and continuing the build that progressive military atmosphere. On top of that, I would like to see an overall increase of personnel activity and a cut down of inactive personnel. What that means is: more recruitment and erosion of folks who’ve been inactive without notice for long periods of time. I really want to see our “300” number be as reflective as possible— something we’ve been working on for a few months now and have had huge success with already.

[18:20:02] Aryte Vesperia: Moving on.

[18:20:03] Aryte Vesperia: ✠ Combat Expo / AC

[18:20:24] Aryte Vesperia: At the end of June, the annual combat expo is scheduled to begin. The Ordo (and NJ) was invited to attend and we’ve every intent to make that happen. For those of you who did not see last years: the expo is a neutral ground demonstration, where we are able to set up a booth and market ourselves along with the rest of the community. It was good fun last year and was generally a healthy experience to just get out there and interact.

[18:21:07] Aryte Vesperia: We are going to go into it a bit more prepared this time around. I am in the process of selecting an officer to oversee it. However, the idea was presented that the OID would be good to get involved here. As such, after an appointment is made, I will be tasking the officer to work hand in hand with Marcus to get the details hammered out.

[18:22:11] Aryte Vesperia: Further, we’re only a couple weeks away from the typical mass vacation. I’ve decided we’re going to do something a bit unique this year and take the opportunity to both give Disembodied some open sim time for the new build, but give Ordo a challenge to undertake for the weekend. From June 15th to the 17th, I am going to be tasking the Ordo to . . . well, occupy New Jessie. Not simply show up for a raid, but literally make it a base of operations for a large period of each day.

[18:23:16] Aryte Vesperia: It’ll be a great stunt to pull while the sim is being worked on. A campaign merit will be involved and a general schedule of “garrison command” set up among the officer corps. In short, we’re going to make NJ a gigantic warzone for a few days.

[18:24:29] Aryte Vesperia: Next up ~

[18:24:30] Aryte Vesperia: ✠ Keynote

[18:25:22] Aryte Vesperia: For today’s keynote, we shall revisit the teachings of Clausewitz and explore the relation of power and the means of victory as it relates to the use of force. We shall begin by asserting that the generally acceptable thought and paradigm is that the superiority in numbers because everyday a decisive mention; the idea of assembling the greatest number before a battle should be regarded highly, but it is not sacrosanct in its place.

[18:26:39] Aryte Vesperia: Courage and spirit are equally, if not more important. As we have seen and expressed at times, the courage and spirit of a fighting force multiplies its physical numbers exponentially without the necessity of actual manpower being present. This, added to the material means of a force, creates a trifecta in which we can value the absolute strength of a fighting force.

[18:27:25] Aryte Vesperia: As we have already discussed, the nature of combat is to bring about the destruction of the enemy’s means to combat through the greatest exertion of force at a given moment. This entails a degree of finesse: a deployed force of 10,000, if deployed incorrectly and left to a leisurely manner could find itself routed by a more effectively, combined force of 1000.

[18:28:49] Aryte Vesperia: On Second Life, we are often regulated by the imposition of regulations that tie our hand to exercise great numerical superiority on a single field presence. This emphasizes the need for our focus upon the two additional elements of strength: spirit and material. The latter of which, it must be noted, can equally find itself tied up into regulatory tape. That said, the spirit of a force should be taken as the greatest impact on any given battle.

[18:30:08] Aryte Vesperia: That is not to say superior numbers is insignificant—likewise to material. Consider our standing: as an organization with numerical advantage, we are able to simultaneously defend and assault other groups. This removes a hindrance that most organizations suffer. Further, we benefit from the ability to operate at a 24/7 standard, attracting a more diverse and preferred recruitment pool.

[18:30:57] Aryte Vesperia: However, the spirit of our individual fighting man or woman is and should always remain the core interest of development. Spirit and courage are developed through the culture, educational, and operational conduct of an organization. If the individual soldier is unmatched, then the unity of forces is inherently improved.

[18:32:46] Aryte Vesperia: As such, it is mentionable to remind every personnel to take advantage of the training opportunities out there and to be ready to really push the envelope. Further, be comfortable with being uncomfortable—take the time and chance to do your own training, provided the core elements of ART are incorporated and adhered to. Additionally, it is encouraged that every individual remember the core necessities of combat: medic teleporting, accuracy, and cohesion with others. Do not be reliant upon technology (ex: Exodus TP), rather use technology to enhance already profoundly excellent skills.

[18:34:01] Aryte Vesperia: Thank you. Have a great evening. :J

[18:34:03] Aryte Vesperia snaps his fist to his chest, presenting a brief salute.

[18:34:06] Kyra Vixen salutes! "For the glory of the Imperator!"

[18:34:06] Markius Faulkner salutes and shouts. "VICTRIX! It's a piece of cake to bake a pretty cake!"

[18:34:08] Wynand Doomdale thumps his paw to his chest and salutes.

[18:34:09] BurrWolf Qin salutes! "For the Glory of the Imperium!"

[18:34:10] conger Mint salutes!

[18:34:11] Incognitustealthy Resident salutes.

[18:34:11] Andriste Nesiote salutes crisply. "Heresy grows from idleness."

[18:34:11] Larry Furlough salutes!