State of FORCECOM March 2014

Good evening, Marines.
Here at Caldwell Station spring has finally stuck it’s confused head up among the the remaining piles of snow and dead leaves. It is still to be determined if it’s going to stick around or go back into hiding for another month or so. I’m waiting to see the true harbingers of Spring — the brightly colored ‘Yard Sale’ signs that begin to pop up everywhere.
Then I’ll know the weather has truly changed.
Right off the bat I can’t stress enough “PRTM” [my polite acronym for Please Read The Manual]. I’d say 90% of the answers to your basic questions are found in the pages of the Marine Force Manual or, for Officers in Charge, the Policy Manual. They’re on the SFMC website for download and worth the read. These are the two ‘working manuals’ for the administrative side of the SFMC. They can be found here:
https://www.library.sfi-sfmc.org/index.php?id=general
In case anyone missed the announcement on the email lists and on Facebook, BDR Duncan Cameron of 2BDE is my Deputy Commanding Officer here at FORCECOM. He can be reached at dcoforcecom@sfi-sfmc.org. He is the head honcho in regards to the Reading Challenge, so any questions about that program should be addressed to him. Expect to see his name attached to other projects as the months go by. He’s just too efficient for his own good.
We are both here to serve you so please don’t hesitate to contact either of us if you have questions or concerns.
LGN Douglas Mayo is still Acting OIC of 15 BDE until such time as a replace has been found for the position. The application process is open until 31 March 2014 so there’s still time for all you 15 BDE individuals.
3BDE OIC GEN Sam Black has hung up his OIC hat only to take up the position of Regional Coordinator for Region 3. DOIC Edward Tunis III is covering the position until a new BDE OIC is chosen. If you’re a 3BDE member and may be interested in this position, please get in touch with me for details. The application period will be open until 21 April 2014.
With various Musters taking place and the SFMC Muster coming in a few months I want to touch on awards.
It’s real simple: no one can submit you for anything if they don’t know something happened. Make sure your Unit OIC makes note of what you and the rest of your unit members have done in their Unit reports. The world of records and reports run on the theory of ‘If it ain’t in writing, it didn’t happen’. Make sure things get written down so your BDE OICs and the General Staff can find out what you’ve been up to.
Please know that both the Commandant, COINFOCOM and myself are aware that they online award nomination forms occasionally act up. If you’ve submitted someone for an award, and did not receive the auto-generated reply in your email inbox, it’s your responsibility to follow up to make sure that it got to the correct individual. FORCECOM has blank forms in text and document format that you can fill in and submit as an email attachment. And please, let FORCECOM or INFOCOM know things didn’t work so we can try to figure things out.
We can’t fix things if we don’t know they’re broken.
For those already wondering, the submission window for the SFMC Honor Awards is not yet open. Rest assured an announcement will be made when it is, but look for it someone where around the end of May.
In regards to the database: you may well be aware there’s still a fair amount of tweaking going on with the database right down at the code level so if you run across any problems [numbers not quite right, an award’s missing, you know someone is in your unit, but not on the unit roster, etc] please let either Duncan or myself know so we can fix things.
And always remember 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