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State of SFMC – October 2013

Greetings to all marines

Over the last several weeks, I have been very fortunately involved in working with the marines in my own Brigade which has seen quite a lot of inter-activity.
My reasons for raising this here is that I have been again reminded of the rewards that are gained from the camaraderie that is developed almost immediately one signs on as a member of the Corps and suggest that if you haven’t been personally involved with your own unit, battalion or brigade lately for whatever reason, that you perhaps look for opportunity to do so.
While there is nothing uniquely different about the 11Bde that sets it apart from any other Bde in the SFMC (other perhaps than the massive distances between us all as we are spread over two different countries and in other places around the world), it is simply that with my seemingly unending busy life in the real-world, I had forgotten the rewards to be gained by just taking the time to shoot the breeze with my marine buddies I personally recommend such communication to any marine – unit attached or not. Find some other marines to communicate with and you will likely find the same sense of ‘belonging’ that I have just recently been reminded of.
One of the key elements of discussion going on within the 11Bde, is the assembly of a proposal to organize a Wilderness Challenge (WC) – something that will prove quite difficult given the fact that as a brigade, we are so widely scattered. And as a consequence of my involvement in assisting the Brigade teams to go about assembly of such a proposal, it brings to light the fact that the WC may be languishing somewhat as an almost ‘forgotten element’.
Of course as the Northern Hemisphere summer ends and you head towards the winter months, the ideas of creating a WC probably isn’t to the fore.
But this should certainly not stop any marine, unit or group, from putting some investigation into just what could be created – no matter when such an event might be planned for.
That simple element of getting together as a group to plan and to discuss a proposal, especially one such as a WC (but of course in fact any SFMC event you want to do) once again serves as a fulcrum to draw marines together in common bond and common objective.
If ANY marine has any questions about organizing a possible WC, or simply wants to know more of this excellent program, I recommend that they contact the WC committee chairman – GEN Wade Olsen (captwho@wildblue.net) – who would be most pleased to hear from you and to provide whatever assistance he and his team can.
A note here once again on SFMC award nominations , with particular reference to those for our highest awards, the Gold or Silver Nebula .
Over the last three years of the term of this GS, we have been fortunate to receive several nominations that have reflected the bravery or solid deeds performed on behalf of others put at risk of death or serious injury. We are always most honored to review and to bestow an appropriate award to any deserving marine.
But for us to be able to do this, we first must have received a nomination that not only compiles with the award criteria that is well stated in the MFM and elsewhere, but (most especially in the case of the Nebula awards) is well supported by as much material pertaining and outlining the event and consequences as can possibly gathered.
Without this, the GS is hard pressed to then evaluate each nomination and differing scenario of the vents involved and cannot easily or readily, make a positive decision.
We again remind all marines, that if you ever find yourselves in a position to witness or to physically become involved in any situation that could see yourself or your fellow marine be put forward for a Nebula award, that you make sure you have as assembled as much supportive documentation as you can. We do want to pass these awards out as true recognition of the personal achievements and possible risk and sacrifice of our marines, but cannot possibly be expected to do so if we cannot justify the nomination, or to verify the facts associated with each nomination.
Also in this past month, there had been announcements of the release of some revised manuals that have been published to the website, primarily the SFMC Policy manual and the SFMC MOS manual.
Unfortunately, we have been somewhat remiss in not broadcasting these publication releases perhaps as singularly and as widely as we perhaps could have (although they have been included in various “State of…” reports) – and now with the appointment (at last after nearly 3 years!) of a G-3 officer within InfoCom, we will certainly ensure that all future publications of any SFMC manuals, will be announced in a simple and straightforward fashion. It certainly is not intended that marines should ‘discover’ any replaced or newly published manuals by accident
While on subject of manuals, I
understand that there are plans within TraCom to try to finalize the revision work being done to some SFMCA manuals, as these will hopefully be released shortly.
So too there will be another revision to the MFM with our intention to have this published before this year ends. These will of course be announced once completed to ensure you are all advised of the changes or availability etc
The SFMC Quartermaster has recently made announcement of the addition of new metal devices to add to our selection of uniform items. As we have previously announced , new designs have been created and finalized for all SFMC BOS devices, but unfortunately, with changes advised by our bank to the facility provided us, we are not in position to be able to order the manufacture of these new designs all at once.
Instead, it has been decided to have these made in pairs, with new order cycles working in tandem with the need for us to ensure we funds available in the SFMC bank account, to cover off the bank’s requirements placed upon us (put simply, if we allow our account to fall below a certain level, we will incur bank fees that are considered prohibitive) It is suggested that you watch for announcements of any new releases as these come to hand.
Bruce O’Brien
Major General, SFMC
Commandant, STARFLEET Marine Corps
dant@sfi-sfmc.org]]>