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State of FORCECOM Jan 2014

Good evening, Marines.

With the start of the new year and the new Command cycle, I want to thank Commandant McGowan for his faith in my abilities and his decision to retain my in the position of COFORCECOM. For those who have worked with me the last 3 years, nothing has really changed. My job it to provide support and information to the individuals of the STARFLEET Marine Corps. My office door is always open. Usually because the cranky CW3 who’s now sitting in the front office playing ‘Hangman’ in my electronic appointment book and acting as ‘Chief Screener and Tea Fetcher’ forgets to close the thing. So that’s to your gain.
With some Brigades gearing up for their annual awards cycle, I’d like to touch on a couple of specifics.
Commandant’s Campaign Award: This is the reporting cycle for units to report activities for the Commandant’s Campaign Challenge. Don’t know what that is? To quote the ‘Marine Force Manual’: /This ribbon is given for completing or participating (certain criteria may have to be met to
qualify) in a Commandant’s Campaign. /Still not much? This award is issued by the Commandant for those who volunteer in support of ‘Toys for Tots’ and the ‘Special Olympics’. For the 2013 award cycle any hours spent in support of the Sargent Major’s ‘March for the Disabled’ will also be counts.
If someone wants to use another project, there is no guarantee that it will count – that will be on a case by case basis as decided by the Commandant.
The data collection period covers from 1 Jan 2013 through 31 Dec 2013.
It’s not enough to simple say ‘I and my unit did stuff’. I will be compiling the list to submit to the ‘Dant and will need the following:
who, what, where, when and why [marine’s name & SCC#, activity, where did it take place, the date, what all happened and how long did it take]. A minimum of four documented hours is required.
Please have this information to your BDE OIC in the Feb 2014 report.
This way I can make sure I get a report from every brigade and nothing gets missed. This info needs to be to me by 28 Feb 2014.
FORCECOM’s Reading Challenge: This is a year inter-Corps competition to encourage folks to read more and it’s honestly very simple to get involved. You can not count books that you are required to read for work. E-Books do count since you still have to read them.
Your Unit OIC will need the following data ASAP and the rest of the year until the June report: Unit #, Name, SCC# and then the book title, author, ISBN and page count.
It’s just perfect if I get it this way:
Unit #
Name, SCC#
book, author, ISBN, pages
book, author, ISBN, pages
book, author, ISBN, pages
Name, SCC#
book, author, ISBN, pages
book, author, ISBN, pages
The Reading Challenge runs from 1 June to 31 May. I will compile all the data submitted and winners will be announced at IC this year. There are winners for Brigade, Battalion, Unit and individual [adult and cadet]. The top three in each category will receive certificates and first place in each category will be authorized to add a streamer to the Guidon [white with black block letters that says ‘READING (year won)’].
Awards and Nominations: As mentioned above, it’s coming up on that time of year to start your thinking about award nomination. As the Sergeant Major is fond of telling me ‘If you can’t come up with a reason why your unit and it’s members are the best of the best, there are problems.’.
Okay – I paraphrased that a bit, but it gets the point across.
Here’s the URL for the online form: https://www.sfi-sfmc.org/awards.php
If anyone is having problems using the online forms, please report this to me ASAP. [We can’t fix it if we don’t know it’s doing it.]. If it’s a nomination for a Brigade level award, also let your BDE OIC know ASAP.
The person making the nomination should be getting an email telling them their nomination went through so if you don’t see that in your inbox, report the problem.
If you’re wondering what awards are out there, who issues what and if you’d be eligible for something, you can find descriptions of the awards on the SFMC website here: https://www.library.sfi-sfmc.org/ – or in the Marine Force Manual starting on page 57 – Section 8 – Awards, 8.2 SFMC Achievement Awards.
And if you’ve got questions, always remember to use your chain of command. Everyone from your Unit OIC up to the members of the General Staff are here to help you. Just run your thoughts and concerns up the chain and we’ll help you out.
Stand Easy, Marines.
BDR Jari “Gato” James
COFORCECOM]]>