State of FORCECOM August 2015

Good day, Marines.
Quick reminder.  There are two positions open at Forces Command: 7 Brigade Officer in Charge and Electronic Certificates Officer.  Even though both position are titled ‘Officer’ any qualified member of the SFMC may apply.  The positions close on 18 September 2015 so please contact me ASAP if you have an interest.

This month I’m going to focus on some concerns I have about the reporting process.
** First off , ‘please’ do not make changes to your Unit’s information without clearing it with FORCECOM first. No changes to unit name, nickname, slogan, branch of service, etc. By this I mean do not simply make a change to your unit report. You need to send me an email asking about the possibility of making your change.

It’s not an automatic that this can happen.  There may be another unit in another Brigade that is already using that name.  That means no matter how much energy and enthusiasm you’ve already invested in it, you can’t have that name.  If someone is already calling themselves ‘The Lollypop Guild’, you’re out of luck.  I’m sorry if you’ve asked the SFI ship registry to change your ship’s name so it ties in with you unit [and it was approved]. Equally sorry if you’ve already invested a lot of bucks in have a friend who’s a graphics designer come up with a new logo.  Check first.  We may be able to come up with something fairly close, but it’s right of prior domain.
** When submitting reports the online reporting for asks for Unit.

Please just use the unit number.  Do not use your Unit name, use special characters [1st, 53 rd, etc], etc.  Your report is logged in and archive by unit number.  Anything extra you add or change has to be fixed manually on my end and just adds extra steps no one needs.
Don’t use unit names. Believe it or not, I don’t have you all memorized. ;}

And there are only two unit types for administrative records: Marine Strike Group [MSG] or Marine Expeditionary Unit [MEU]. Ignore the MUC and MTU options.  We don’t use them.
Acceptable: 305 MSG, 88 MSG, 920 MEU
Not acceptable: 305th, The Jolly Rogers, The 299th MTU

** Now with another International Marine Muster come and gone and with the major awards season over, now is a good time to check out your personnel records on the database.  No one’s going to know something is missing but you so it’s a good to get in the habit of reviewing your personal records every couple of months or so.

And besides, you may discover an award or two you didn’t know you received.  That’s always a nice surprise.
It’s a fact of life in electronic record keeping that sometimes things go missing. An email may get eaten by a spam folder.  Records can be lost on a hard drive. It is the responsibility of the individual to keep a copy of all his personal records, awards received, courses completed, etc.  If you find an error, it’s certainly acceptable to point it out and request the data be added, updated or changed.  Just know that you’ll need to provide documentation so that the appropriate correction to the database. Documentation can be a scanned copy of the certificate, an email from the issuing authority, a copy of a Unit or Brigade report noting the award, etc.
I

can’t emphasis this point enough: if it can’t be documented, it can’t be changed, corrected or added.  If this all sounds familiar, it’s something I try to stress every few months or so.  It’s never a good idea to wait until the last moment to discover something’s missing, especially if you’re getting ready for a formal dress event like your Unit Holiday formal dinner or an upcoming Brigade Muster.
Just think of it as ‘preventative maintenance’.
That’s all for now. Keep it safe out there and be nice to each other.
Stand easy, Marines.

BGN Jari James
COFORCECOM