Bravo Fleet
To all the members of Bravo Fleet:
First, let me say that realizing that this is my 102nd report to all of you is remarkable to me. It feels as if it wasn’t too long ago that I was doing everything I could not to become BFCO again. And now, here we are, five years later. I feel we’ve accomplished so much together and have had a ton of fun along the way. But I also feel we have so much more to go and we will enjoy the ride to get there!
With our most recent Fleet Action, Labyrinth, at an end and the shinies are falling upon everyone, I wanted to announce some changes we have been working on over the past few months.
Bravo Fleet Science Officer
One of the biggest changes included an update to the Bravo Fleet Charter: the addition of the Bravo Fleet Science Officer as a Chartered position in Bravo Fleet Command and the Bravo Fleet Senior Staff. So what is the Bravo Fleet Science Officer, you ask?
The Bravo Fleet Science Officer would be tasked with managing the Bravo Fleet Wiki and the Bravo Fleet Map, to chronicle the fleet’s history and ensure that Bravo Fleet content is up-to-date and accessible for our members. They will also tag in for fleet stories by spearheading Campaigns, so we can get in an on-off cycle with the Intelligence Officer continuing to handle Fleet Actions. The distinction between Science and Intelligence would be the difference between practice and theory: intelligence will continue to manage fiction writing, decide the broad strokes of canon, and chart our overall story for the fleet, while the Science Officer will ensure that’s all recorded cogently on the wiki. Those of us who were around in the Before Times will remember this as similar to the old role of Bravo Fleet Historian which last existed in the 2010’s. As one aspect of this, the Intelligence Office will then also take over managing RPGs, leaving all fiction (collaborative or otherwise) being managed by one person. This will leave Ops with the sole responsibility of training, mentoring, and pinch-hitting for TFSS, and solve a dangling thread that we had with that office remaining in charge of RPGs, despite the TF staff having no RPG-related responsibilities.
Now as you read this, it probably has become obvious who the role should and is going to go to. So please join me in congratulating and welcoming Commodore Alexandra Sudari-Kravchik (McGig) to the position of Bravo Fleet Science Officer! The Wiki Goblin is more official than ever, and as a member of the BFSS will no longer be able to terrorize you in the Fleet Actions!
New Logistics Officer
Another big change in staffing is coming in the form of the Bravo Fleet Logistics Officer. Since the announcement and deployment of the Fleet Assets System, Admiral Liam Dahlgren (David) has been temporarily serving double duty as Bravo Fleet Logistics Officer in order to help prop up and stabilize the department for a smooth transfer to a new leader. In the past two months, we’ve had a flurry of ship purchases, and the current staff has been through the wringer with the initial flood of requests. The decision on who to replace David was not an easy one, however when Fleet Admiral Luke Duncan (MJ) approached us about taking over the position it seemed like a natural fit.
MJ has spent the last two and a half years shepherding the Task Forces as Bravo Fleet Operations Officer, doing an excellent job at training staff, promoting activity in the Task Forces, and being a cornerstone of the Bravo Fleet Senior Staff. Before that he served as Bravo Fleet Chief of Staff for 8 months, and before that he served as TF17CO for 8 months. In short, MJ has a rock-solid foundation of how Bravo Fleet functions and the role Logistics plays in the large web of our club. With all that in mind, MJ will immediately assume the duties of the Bravo Fleet Logistics Officer. Look for future announcements from him regarding staffing if you have any questions about that. Congratulations MJ!
New Operations Officer
With MJs lateral move over to Logistics Officer, which leaves the role of Bravo Fleet Operations Officer open. David and I discussed multiple options, but the most glaringly obvious was right in front of us and didn’t take much time or difficulty to land on. The current Bravo Fleet Deputy Operations Officer, Commodore Imya Jori (Leah), has served as Deputy coming up on the past 2 years now. In addition, she’s served as TF93CO, in two stints, for almost 3 years. Leah has a solid grasp of the fundamentals of the Operations Department and how it runs. She’s been a mentor to other TFCOs, has been a guiding hand for all members, and has been a champion of activity and having members be involved. The latter can be attested to in Task Force 93 winning both Fleet Actions in 2023 — The Lost Fleet and We Are the Borg.
New Task Force
One of the things that we have been looking forward to pulling the trigger on for almost a year now is opening a new Task Force. For various reasons, we’ve held off. Between member fluctuation, staff training, and just really bad timing, we haven’t been able to do it before. Now, I feel like we’re in a good position to finally do it. I’m happy to announce that we are beginning the process of opening a new Task Force! I don’t want to give away too many details right now and spoil the surprise, however, our 6th Task Force will be opening in the next month or so. The reason we’re announcing now and delaying the actual opening is that we learned a lot of lessons from opening Task Force 47. One of those lessons was don’t ever open a Task Force right before a Fleet Action. The other was to stem the tide of people flocking to the Big Shiny New Thing. When Task Force 47 opened, people flocked there in droves to the detriment of the other Task Forces. This was not great right before a Fleet Action. That is why we’re making this announcement now, after Labyrinth.
What we are looking for is one volunteer from each current Task Force willing to transfer into the new Task Force when it opens, admittedly a little blind because you won’t know the details of the new Task Force until it is officially announced to everyone. If you think this is something that would be for you, please feel free to reach out to your TFCO, TFXO, Leah as the new Operations Officer, or even David or myself to let us know you’d like your name thrown into the hat. Before the Task Force is set to open, we will inform the person from each Task Force that they’ve been chosen. I can’t guarantee the metrics, but we will most likely operate on a first-come, first-serve basis just on the principle of fairness. In total, we should have 5 volunteers from the current Task Forces, plus the new TFCO and new TFXO, to start as the core of that Task Forces social identity. Once the Task Force is established and announced, I will be issuing a moratorium on transfers into the new Task Force. My hope is that this will have two positive effects: it will give the new core members of the Task Force time to establish the identity and camaraderie of the new Task Force and it will also help us prevent a TF47 situation as we head into the fall and winter when the next Bravo Fleet Campaign is set to begin.
Task Force Executive Officer Applications
As part of the staffing changes current and future, on behalf of Leah I am also announcing that we are opening two Task Force Executive Officer positions for applications. These TFXOs will be randomly assigned as needed in the coming weeks instead of specifically applying for a known Task Force assignment. Being a Task Force Executive Officer is an excellent training opportunity to learn more about Bravo Fleet, how it operates, see behind the curtain of how the sausage is made, and to help contribute to creating the atmosphere that makes people enjoy their time in Bravo Fleet.
A Task Force Executive Officer is the deputy leader of their respective units and are Task Force Commanding Officers in training. The role is a lot of fun, but does come with expectations on what needs to be done on a regular basis to keep our members enjoying their time here in Bravo Fleet. You will be given training on the job to get to grips with everything we do. If you are interested, please review the job description (which includes further information about expectations) on the application form here. We will be accepting applications until August 30th!