Bravo Fleet
It has been a while since my last true Fleet Command Report and my first one after we finished our 2025 Fleet Action: Nightfall. Again, a huge round of congratulations to everyone who was involved. Nightfall was a huge success and each year our Fleet Action’s build on top of one another from previous years. They continue to be more active, more participants, larger word counts. It’s truly a testament to how far Bravo Fleet has come since we took a plunge into the unknown away from being a “sim group” to what we are now back in April 2020. We hope to keep that train rolling for years to come!
One of the downsides to Fleet Actions, in that they are all encompassing for every activity Bravo Fleet offers packed into six weeks, is that they typically cause a fleet wide burnout for a month or two afterwards. Our solution to that? Well, a summer vacation, of course! If you haven’t heard, Bravo Fleet is on Shore Leave for the next month! What is Shore Leave? Shore Leave is a four week writing campaign that aims to be a collaborative, low-stakes writing Campaign where people can come together and write different stories. Much of the idea springs from our usual Campaigns, either stand alone or in Fleet Actions, tend to be big stakes, end of the galaxy type stuff. This allows for something Bravo Fleet as a whole can do, together, that might be a little more personal or character-driven.
Upcoming Events
So what does that mean for events for the rest of the year? In 2025, we’ve approached events to be something more spread out throughout the year. The Fleet Action was a little earlier than normal. Shore Leave is a shorter Campaign that usual.
This allows us to bring a new event around September, which will be called War Games. It’s not something we’ve done before, but it is something I’m excited to try out. It will be, in every sense of the word, a competition between members, between teams, between friends. That event will, however, be very short and quick. Because the time period it’ll be dropping will be right around when most people are heading back to school either as students or teachers, we didn’t want it to be something that would be a huge time sink. But! We wanted something that could help a lot of people take their minds off things for a few minutes of their day.
That timing also means we will have a lot of time towards the final few months of the year to prep and ramp up for a more traditional writing Campaign!
Upcoming BFMS Changes
In a few short weeks, the Engineering Team will be deploying an update to BFMS, which will automate a lot (think… 99.9%) of the promotion system in Bravo Fleet. This will be a rolled out update where the first phase will be a little more button pushing, and in the final phase BFMS will take care of the automation checking and submission of all promotions below Commander (promotions to Commander and above will remain unchanged). The Operations staff has been made aware of this for some time and has been working diligently behind the scenes to help make the transition a smooth one.
The reason I mention this publicly, ahead of its rollout, is that this will shape the way Bravo Fleet functions moving forward. Staff won’t have to spend nearly as much time on combing through dossiers and writing promotion recommendations. From a user side, cadet and junior officer promotions will happen much quicker than ever before. This will free up Ops staff to do many other things, including their day to day interactions and assistance of members. The current state of thought is to let this update roll out and see where we are in the coming months.
I say this because, as it stands with current membership numbers in Task Force staff, we would normally be very close to opening a new Task Force under our traditional philosophy of TF staff to member ratio. However, with TF staff being freed up quite a bit, this may allow for larger Task Forces where TF staff can still keep the same pace with individual member needs. All of this is to say, we will be monitoring how things are going forward and I hope to report back in a few months on our philosophy going forward.
Judge Advocate General
One of the two annual jobs of the Electorate of Bravo Fleet Command is to renew or confirm terms for the Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer and Bravo Fleet Judge Advocate General. Back in April, I was reconfirmed for another year as Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer. Not too long ago, I passed the record for the longest cumulatively serving BFCO in Bravo Fleet history. On October 15th, 2025, I will become the longest consecutively serving BFCO in Bravo Fleet history. There was a time when that would have been crazy to think of for anyone. You can look back in the history of Bravo Fleet Commanding Officers and see that tenures were decidedly short. I think that says a lot about the new era Bravo Fleet (is it even new anymore?!) and the longevity of staff and membership. Which brings me to…
This week, the Electorate voted to confirm Commodore Max Barrick (Slagar) to another term as Judge Advocate General. Which leads me to also mention that Slagar has also become the longest-serving JAG since the position was re-established. His tenure has been overall a great success, and his reconfirmation is just further proof of that.
As JAG, Slagar has overseen one formal trial during his previous term, but more importantly, he has successfully resolved countless complaints before they reached that stage which is always the primary goal of the JAG process. The role of JAG is first and foremost a safeguard: a check on the Executive Branch (which includes me and the Bravo Fleet Senior Staff) to ensure we are not overstepping or infringing on the rights of our members. Its secondary purpose is to maintain fairness across the fleet and enforcement of rules and policies.
A key part of that balance involves knowing when to step in and when to encourage people to handle issues more constructively. Slagar has consistently demonstrated excellent judgment in knowing when and how to do just that. While much of this work happens behind the scenes away from the public, I can assure you it happens more frequently than people might imagine. Many members’ first instinct is to file a JAG complaint, but more often than not, a calm conversation and some perspective prove far more effective. And Slagar has been instrumental in facilitating that approach.
He’s also served as JAG during one of Bravo Fleet’s most “interesting” eras, particularly with the rise of Artificial Intelligence. A few members of leadership, Slagar included, have brought valuable experience to the table as we navigate the rapidly changing AI landscape. His insight has helped both the JAG office and the BFSS stay informed and adaptable in response to these evolving challenges.
Congratulations to Slagar on reconfirmation!
