Bravo Fleet
Happy Holidays, Bravo Fleet!
With Christmas over and New Years quickly approaching, many things are going on in the fleet as always. I will first say that I am slowly working on the 2025 Bravo Fleet Roadmap and expect that to be released sometime very early in the new year. We have a lot being cooked up and 2025 is looking to be a very exciting year for Bravo Fleet! So look forward to that. But onto the meat and potatoes of this announcement…
Bravo Fleet Operations Officer
With Leah recently stepping down as Bravo Fleet Operations Officer due to IRL, I want to say many thank yous to her for her hard work and dedication both as Operations Officer and Task Force 93CO. The truth of the matter is that real life will always take priority. Leah saw that and did what she had to do. Its worth mentioning, as with her recent promotion to Rear Admiral, that Leah served as Task Force 93CO for a total of 2 years and 1 month up until she stepped down last week; add to that, she served as Deputy Operations Officer and then Operations Officer for a total of 2 years up until she stepped down. That is a phenomenal amount of staying power in both positions and hats off to her for all that she has done! We look forward to a time when IRL settles down and she can jump back into the staff saddle again.
To take her place as Operations Officer is no small shoes to fill, but it was a fairly easy decision none the less. After a very quick discussion with the rest of the Bravo Fleet Senior Staff, I approached Captain Callen Varro (Hurkx) about taking over as Operations Officer. Hurkx has done a phenomenal job since taking over as Task Force 17 CO nearly a year ago now, and has been Deputy Operations Officer for the past 2 months. Hurkx is great at engaging with members, providing activities and avenues for members to engage in, and training staff. I’m happy to announce that Hurkx has accepted the position and will be joining the Senior Staff as Operations Officer!
Task Force 21 Commanding Officer
Since the inception of Task Force 21 back at the end of August, the task force has really grew into its own and settled in nicely. Originally, Commander Aaslin Braim (Annex) was the TFXO who was slated to take over TF21 in the new year but he went and got himself promoted to Security Officer. Pfft! After Annex moved into being our Gaming Overlord, the search for a new TFXO commenced. There was a great opportunity for one of our up and coming junior staffers to get involved and Commander Mamof took the reigns. Already familiar with a lot of the ins and outs of Bravo Fleet, Mamof has seamlessly slid into the TFXO role and really made it his own. With that in mind, I will be stepping aside as the TFCO of Task Force 21 and Mamof will take over as TFCO.
In addition, I will be officially lifting the transfer restriction into TF21 effective January 1, 2025. Four months have passed and the Task Force has settled in properly and the new car smell is a little faded, so hopefully people don’t inundate the new Task Force!
Task Force 72 Commanding Officer
Similarly to me taking over TF21 temporarily, Admiral Liam Dahlgren (David) has been sitting as TF72CO for the past 4 months ensuring that things are stabilized and staff are properly trained up. We both feel that the time has come for his TFXO, Commander Trevenan Williams (James) to take over as Task Force 72 Commanding Officer! James has been a fantastic TFXO, cheerleader, and mentor for Task Force 72. David and I are both very excited to see what he does with 72 in the future!
All of these position changes will take effect January 1, 2025, that way everyone is ready to hit the ground running when normal operations resume after January 2.
Correcting an Error
This will be a small adjustment in the eyes of many, but a long overdue one. I made a mistake. A huge mistake. Over five years ago before Bravo Fleet became what it is today in any way, shape, or form a lot of people came back to “rescue” Bravo Fleet from the abyss. Fast forward to when Bravo Fleet switched to what it is today in April of 2020 and we implemented the rank and award structure we have now. As part of the rank structure, it was simple: anyone who was BFA (the precursor to the BFC) started at Commodore, RPG GMs started at Lieutenant Commander, and everyone else with an active account at the time started as a Lieutenant Junior Grade. New people would start as anyone has since as a Cadet Freshman Grade. These were gifts from me to the membership. But one that I couldn’t possibly have foreseen the troubles it would cause was I gifted every former BFCO or former BFCO-adjacent the rank of Fleet Admiral. It was a nod, a gift, and a thank you. But now that Fleet Assets, prestige, and so many other things are a reality I have come to realize how much I have hampered these people and tilted the balance out of their favor. If Fleet Assets had been in place at the time, this would never have been the best decision for these people or even in the top 5!
After discussion with the Bravo Fleet Judge Advocate General, it has been decided that these gifts are going to be amended and eight current Fleet Admirals who received them as part of that gift will be amended to Captain. This will allow them, should they ever return to active duty, to achieve medals and promotions that will earn them the appropriate prestige. By being at Fleet Admiral, we found out firsthand with myself, MJ, and JonM how difficult it can be having never earned the prestige you get from ranking up. Hopefully, this will help correct that mistake!