11AUG12 - Weekly Meeting

[Aryte]

[18:00:13] Aryte Vesperia: A very good evening to you all! Welcome and thank you for attending. Please be sure to hold your comments and questions until provided the opportunity to speak. Interruptions affect us all.

[18:00:38] Aryte Vesperia: Statistics

Sworn members: 321

Cadets: 9

Applications

New: 9

Accepted: 1

Denied: 5

Review: 3

Operations

Defensive: 98

Offensive: 15

Allied Assistance: 0

[18:01:41] Aryte Vesperia: Diplomatic notes this week: fire and brimstone. XAF is fairly unhappy with us . . . but not one fuck is given. In short, Isabella ran her mouth and got slapped down with a ban as a punitive culmination of the last several months of having to deal with her. In other news, we dropped huge amounts of ordinance on CPC, SLAD, and 2142. It was extremely therapeutic. They do not seem to mind it too much. Other than CPC, who had a small conundrum when their gunship was vaporized by an Enforcer missile. See last statement: no fucks given. All in all, raid activity has dipped—but that was expected with the return of folks to school. It will level back out. Just keep trucking and we will resume a higher sense of activity once the semester is underway.

[18:02:21] Aryte Vesperia: Unit reports this evening?

[18:02:25] Hollowmengitus Yifu raises hand.

[18:02:30] Ethan Schuman raises his hand for Astra.

[18:02:59] Aryte Vesperia: Mr. Yifu.

[18:03:03] Hollowmengitus Yifu: Terra has had an below-average week. Raids were led, enemies conquered, nonetheless!

Shizzerk, the CO of A-1, has gone on LOA -- to Alaska. Let's hope he doesn't get mauled by bears or lost in the woods. Foward any messages you have to his XO, Riff Petrov, for the time being.

There isn't a lot to report; the headline of today's meeting is very important, so let's get right to that.

[18:03:35] Aryte Vesperia: Mr. Schuman?

[18:03:38] Ethan Schuman: The past week was pretty average for Astra. While we didn't see much in terms of air raid activity and training, I personally ran two raids with quite a few Astra in attendance. Palaestra pushed through most of the Icarus candidates to get their basic training completed. I do want to emphasize to all that Icarus pilots are required to complete a couple of additional events to gain normal defense priority and offense deployment capabilities. These "events" can be extremely simple, such as doing a 10 to 15 minute dogfight practice with an Astra pilot, or participating in another person's training phases. The purpose of these events is to ensure a better comprehension of basic flight principles, and to increase skill retention over time, as Icarus pilots will usually be on the ground and not getting regular flight time. As I said, these events can be quite simple, and you can get them down quite quickly, so do so.

[18:04:58] Aryte Vesperia: Thank you. Any additional reports?

[18:05:30] Aryte Vesperia: Excellent, then.

[18:05:33] Aryte Vesperia: Onward!

[18:05:45] Aryte Vesperia: Well. I promised you all a meeting worth making arrangements to be present for. So let us get right to it. There are two major topics to cover. I will begin with the smaller of the two.

[18:06:03] Aryte Vesperia: ✠ Strategic Initiative

[18:06:17] Aryte Vesperia: We have spent a good deal of time idly chewing on the notion of what our underlying “strategy” is and has been over the years. Currently, our group goals are quite simple—and they have been that way for years: survive and grow. Sounds reasonable, no? In theory, certainly. But it leaves quite a lot of room for interpretation. It does not shape us properly; it does not guide us to an ultimate task, nor provide us an object to focus upon.

[18:07:04] Aryte Vesperia: Looking back, examine our strategy in 2006. We were a new organization, with an ambitious aim: defeat the largest (and at the time, most powerful) force on the grid. Our goal was clear to every man and woman who joined: the AN was going to go down, by our hand. It pushed us. It provided us a real, tangible reach. And, by God, we dismantled them over the course of time. We clawed our way to the top with a great deal of strife and bloodshed.

[18:07:47] Aryte Vesperia: Now, that sort of attitude would be labeled “extreme.” We would receive scorn from others and be labeled as “too serious.” To that, I say: fuck them. For the entirety of our existence, we have remained the villains. Even our allies, the Merczateers, broke apart the Symphony under the pretense that the Ordo was too much of a political liability. Now, let’s remember, this is all while we were timid and avoiding being “insulting” or “extreme” by putting aside our original plot in order to embrace a mundane desire to simply survive.

[18:08:37] Aryte Vesperia: Think about it. All the time you hear “man, I miss the good ol days . .” The good ol’ days were blood, strife, and a spine. Today, we (the community) are wrapped in politics, timid because of bans, and afraid that someone’s feelings might get hurt because we bombed them, or used a weapon that was too strong for the situation, or that we outnumbered them.

[18:09:27] Aryte Vesperia: Friends. I am too tired of that. We all should be. We have put far too much time in to this group to have our hands tied by fear of repercussion, or considerations of attempting to be “the good guys.” Fuck the moral high ground. We’ll take it by force, with firepower and collective arms.

[18:10:02] Aryte Vesperia: That is not to say we should shirk procedure, honor, and integrity. Quite the contrary. We must embrace it. We must confide in what our processes dictate within the Ordo. We must remain strong among one another—trust me, we have recruited far more new members through demonstrating power, over demonstrating how “nice” we can be to others. We will not break our own rules, or the rules of others, but timidity be damned.

[18:11:05] Aryte Vesperia: As such. Let us explore the future. Let us consider our new strategic norm today and state it to a candid world. Let us show the recalcitrant mob that is the SLMC that we intend to remain oh so much more than your average collection of folks in the same uniform.

[18:12:03] Aryte Vesperia: Henceforth, our strategic aim shall be centric upon military dominance. We will not politically pander; we will not entangle ourselves into treaties. Our goal will be to project the presence of imperial might among all elements of the SLMC, to hang our banner over every world, and unravel—forcibly—those who seek to undermine our presence through acts beyond the battlefield. Our primary AO shall remain varied throughout our common foes—for now. Upon the conclusion of development projects that will provide us the necessary teeth, our aim shall be to wade into the CC as a crusading force. We’ve no intent to move a region there.

[18:14:19] Aryte Vesperia: In short. Our strategic initiative is to conquer. We will bring bloodshed to everyone's door, or fight to the point in which there's nothing left to fight. Let war be our motivation. Let conflict inspire our designs, our development, and our process.

[18:15:13] Aryte Vesperia: Next.

[18:15:22] Aryte Vesperia: ✠ The Reformation

[18:15:42] Aryte Vesperia: Yesterday I announced my plans to dramatically reshape the Ordo Imperialis as we know it. The officer corps collectively appeared to be on board and supportive of the ideas invested in the plan. However, I shall prefix this statement in the same manner I did for them: give it a chance. Avoid the sensation to cry “that’s an extreme change.” The Ordo needs to be innovative. We need to work outside of the box. We need to try new things.

[18:16:19] Aryte Vesperia: Ultimately, the details are not all in place. There will be many questions—and I welcome them, but you must work with an open mind here. You must embrace this as an opportunity for the Ordo to advance, or it shall be inherently flawed by resistance. !

[18:17:12] Aryte Vesperia: To begin, I am looking to revise the Ordo’s structure . . . from the top, to the bottom. We need to consolidate our forces effectively, provide opportunity for the masses, and decentralize our power to ensure the ability to survive all events. I believe I have figured out how to make that occur.

[18:17:54] Aryte Vesperia: The first step? I am planning to entirely dissolve both Astra and Terra.

[18:18:02] Dresden Xaris: !

[18:18:27] Aryte Vesperia: In their place, I am effectively reorganizing the main combat units into . . . well; think of a Marine Expeditionary Force. The term we shall utilize shall be homage to our foundation: legions. We shall have conducive, unified forces under legionary tags. Rather than, say, Cohors A attempting to collaborate with Astra for manpower, Legion X will pull from its own forces to supply that air power.

[18:19:05] Aryte Vesperia: Rather than putting a band-aid on our lack of pilots, we will have the flexibility to appoint and dismiss aircraft qualifications. The training portions will remain. The administration of that training will remain. The divisions, however, will no longer be in existence—nor shall the /division/ among forces.

[18:19:57] Aryte Vesperia: Initially, I am looking at three Legions. Plus one auxiliary force. The auxiliary will be the entry level for all new members of the Ordo. From there, the legions will recruit. Additionally, the auxiliary will house inactives. From a vertical standpoint, the group will be adjusted to the following: Office of Imperator < - Legionary Council < - Legions < - Auxiliary < - Schola.

[18:20:35] Aryte Vesperia: The council will consist of our current O-5's. They will devise policy, act as an effective senate, and hold the ability to . . . essentially be me (with the necessary number of votes) in my absence. Legions will act under constitutional law, as set by the handbook-- their primary codex. Every legion shall have the ability to devise their own rules therein-- provided it falls within the constraint of the codex.

[18:21:23] Aryte Vesperia: Commanders shall, effectively, be able to devise how their units are run. Whether it is standard codex, or an ultra-specific force. Legions shall be fleet centric. Each shall have a flagship. Legions will grow as the group grows. If an officer grows within a legion and aspires to lead his or her own: he will request the honor from the council. If said officer can raise the necessary forces, without cannibalizing other legions (beyond . . say, 10%), then said officer may raise their /own/ legion.

[18:22:11] Aryte Vesperia: It will be the responsibility of each legion to maintain adequate air power. If, for example, my legion consisted of 10 people, and I had 3 pilots . . . if one of my pilots went inactive, it would be up to me to appoint a new one, ensure they enter Palaestra, and that they pass. As such, legion commanders will be combined forces leaders.

[18:22:48] Aryte Vesperia: There will be administrative corps devised to ensure basic proficiencies remain -- effectively, a number of inquisitive auditors who will maintain proficiency among the legions. It will be their responsibility to ensure the handbook codex is followed, and the group wide training expectations (ART/Palaestra) are imposed.

[18:23:38] Aryte Vesperia: The Praetorian Guard is going to join this legionary structure. It will be its own legion. It will also be seeing a change of mandate. Rather than simply treat it as a repeat of what I expect from every legion (squad combat), the Guard will focus on an operator mindset. They will focus on force multiplication, special tasks, and operating in small groups. The Guard will remain officer centric, but raise additional forces from the first tier of each legion.

[18:24:41] Aryte Vesperia: In tandem with this project, I am changing our ranks. We will be seeing an infusion of traditional rank names, with a bit of flair. Additionally, we will be introducing grades vs rank. For example, an E-3 may become a corporal, or a specialist-- based upon their skill sets and potential of making a worthy NCO. The council shall hold respective deviations pertinent to their assignments.

[18:25:36] Aryte Vesperia: I understand this is a big change. I understand there are a lot of questions and changes. Bear with me. Let's give it a try. We've got nothing to lose.

[18:26:46] Aryte Vesperia: As for a time line: too early to tell. My focus for the remaining month has to remain upon preparing for an officer exam. However as time permits, I shall work upon this and prepare for the transition. Ambitiously, it could be a matter of a couple of weeks. The transition should be rather simple: establish legion cores from existing elite units, divided up Astra personnel accordingly, fill vacancies from staffing in B units, reorganize the educational elements to IEA centric (and the administration therein), provide the invitations to the new groups and begin actions.

[18:27:12] Aryte Vesperia: The difficult part will simply be going through and modifying all of our existing documents and policy to reflect the new legionary structure.

[18:27:47] Aryte Vesperia: Upon the posting of this log to the meeting forums: feel free to ask questions on there. I shall answer them and provide clarity where necessary. Otherwise, hold your horses and maintain status quo for now. You will be kept in the loop. But it is necessary to keep proceeding as is and wait for the switch to be thrown before making any movements.

[18:28:12] Aryte Vesperia: Ladies and gentlemen, I am excited to give this a shot. I hope you are too. I hope you see the benefit I see—no other group has done this or organized in such an effective manner. There’s no reason we should continue running in the footsteps of traditional structure. Let’s maximize our potential and prepare for the escalation of conflict properly.

[18:29:23] Aryte Vesperia: I will be spending the remaining thirty minutes alloted to the meeting answering questions in the top channel of TS3. I stress that you realize /it is not in stone/. My answer may not be true a week later.

[18:29:53] Aryte Vesperia: Thank you for coming. As always, it was a pleasure to speak with you all. Dismissed. I’ll be in the top channel on TS3 and the sim will remain closed until 7 for uninterrupted questions.

[Phares Sarjeant]

Interesting. I think Vegetius would applaud the new structure. -within the ancient Roman legions were mixed capabilities such as cavalry, light soldiers-, heavy soldiers, missile throwers etc.. Obviously the Legions were organized into specialized Cohors but as the divisions are to be Legions rather than cohors the historical intent appears to fit within the scaled version that is SL and the transition should fit well. Pretty sweet.

http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-10.html