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State of the SFMC – August 2013

Greetings to all marines

IC/IM has come and gone and the Corps has once again have rewarded its most deserving marines with the endowment of appropriate awards and decorations. This is as it should always be with the prime announcement of our highest awards being given the dignity and honor of personal, verbal presentation rather than a simply email broadcast of congratulations
But acclamations of congratulation for any SFMC annual award cannot be made enough so I would like to add my congratulations to all 2013 recipients and acknowledge your personal achievements that have seen you so honored. Well done marines!
In speaking of thanks and congratulations, I would also like to make mention to the host Brigade for their great efforts and energy in assembling the components necessary for any such event, but especially more focused when it is part of the International Muster. While at time of writing I am still to get a debrief from the GS team “on the ground” so I am making mention quite blindly to all that was presented for the benefit of those marines in attendance. But notwithstanding that, I am certain that COL Carsten and the other supporting marines of the 3rd BDE managed to pull off an excellent series of events, especially given the commitment and enthusiastic approach that was visible from my office
I look forward to learning more of the outcomes of the weekend
I would also like to acknowledge the great work put in on behalf of this GS , by Commanding Officer, Information Command, BGN Mark Anderson, supoerted by DCOFinance Command BGN Barry Jackson – who gallantly stepped forward to fulfill the obligations and activities of the SFMC Commandant usually conducted at IC/IM. As much I would love to have been in attendance, distance and cost make such a journey difficult even at the ‘best of times’. Mark and his support team, worked with confidence and precision and purpose to carry out these duties and I thank him for doing so
During the Muster, a presentation made on behalf of the GS, reviewed some of the work done by this GS over the last two and a half years, and gave some presentation of plans to carry us through to the end of this year. For many varied reasons, we did not achieve all of the objectives we set ourselves back in January 2011, but we have had some good successes with some of the programs we looked to initiate.
One of these, was the plans to gradually replace our dependence upon the use of real-world military devices and badges as much as possible – with the intention of putting more “Starfleet” into our Marine Corps. We certainly have a gone a long way in achieving this objective, with the release over the last eighteen months or so of unique, SFMC-designed material that now adorn many marines uniforms.
We look to further extend this and at part of the Muster’s presentation, provided overview of the continuation of these designs as created by GEN Mike McGowan – the person responsible for all current metal BOS design work and other material we now have
The intention is to provide a full range of BOS devices that carry a common SFMC design element, and we are fully convinced that this will have been achieved once this material becomes available at QM store
In speaking of the Quartermaster, GEN Olson has reported a solid sales result from material taken to the IC, which will enable us to further review items we can stock – either replacement of good selling lines or to the addition of other new materiel that would be of value to marines. This too fits within one of our posted objectives, where we have been working to establish the SFMC QM store as much as a “one stop shop” service as much as possible. The more elements we can add to the QM store with associated fiscal responsibility, the easier/cheaper it is for marines to add the necessary items needed for uniforms. Savings on freight and convenvinece shopping alone make this a worthwhile exercise
I am constantly reminded of the need to look to ways to find suitable ‘entry level employment’ for the many marines who wish to offer their services to the Corps. And while some of the Commands (Tracom in particular) are working to establish roles or tasks that have actual meaning and would give any new ‘recruit’ an opportunity to ground-level work at Corp level, I would wish to reiterate that we long ago established the office under the DCOForceCom where ANY so interested marines could register their eagerness to participate in any programs within the GS commands. This option always remains open and I would suggest that if you have a skill or an interest to present whatever services you can on behalf of the Corps – known vacancy or not – that you do so by dropping a line to DCOForceCom, listing your area of expertise or interest
A simple action that may not necessarily lead to immediate ’employment’ – but if we have a register of interested and available marines, be assured we will use it
In closing this brief report – I wish to again bring attention and focus to something regularly bought up and often highlighted. This refers to questions that seem to float about from time to time, to which the standing response has always been “read the freaking manual”.
Many of the questions that do most commonly get asked can in pretty much 99.9% of the cases, be found in the Marine Force Manual (MFM) and we urge every marine to research that resource first. We say this not just because we don’t want marines asking questions, but because in doing so, marines then get the opportunity to perhaps read and learn more than the answer to the question they may have. Our manuals are such an excellent and important resource for us and I urge you all to take the time now and then, to simply run through them to find out in detail just what lies within.
But this does not detract from the fact that there MAY be issues with information that is either not contained , is possibly ambiguous or is not clearly stated and we would always want to know of this of course, so that corrections or additions can be made. Marines should certainly not hold back in asking questions at any time – but please, read the manual first…
As always – if any marine has any question or query of any member of the General Staff, they should certainly not hold back in firing off mail to the appropriate Command. We are all here to serve your needs and always stand ready to do so
Bruce O’Brien
Major General, SFMC
Commandant, STARFLEET Marine Corps
dant@sfi-sfmc.org]]>