State of the Corps – September 2019
Marines!
Apologies for taking so long to report on the state of our Corps but as you know it’s been an interesting and eventful number of months. Trying to keep on our assigned tasks while dealing with the small brush fires that have sparked has been frustrating, but the General Staff has been steadily moving forward as evidenced by their reports to you.
There have been a lot of moving parts in the last six months. Folks moving in and out of position may have given the impression that the Corps was suffering from a leadership vacuum, but I can assure you that was and is not the case. Many thanks to GEN Rickard for giving the GS clear cut tasks, direction and guidance and for the forward momentum generated by them. To take the commandant position in his stead was an easy transition as we all already heading in the same direction.
So, what is that direction? As you may already know we’re trying to keep the Corps in a steady state during these last few months before the end of elections and seating of the next administration. What I mean by a steady state is we’re trying to not implement any drastic changes to policy, procedures or systems. We will, however, be working diligently to complete SFI directives already in motion. One such directive is the migration of our academy to the STARFLEET Academy Moodle platform.
Another is a complete update of our operational manuals, in which we are currently engaged. Our Marine Force Manual is undergoing a complete retooling and being broken into three separate manuals: The MFM, which will mirror the STARFLEET Member Handbook as closely as we can; a Marine Recruit Manual that will contain all topics needed to orient new members to the SFMC and its military flavor; an Awards Manual with clearer criteria for awards; and a Uniform Manual which will include the newest updates and links to vendors and suppliers of SFMC costumes, accoutrements and swag.
Issue dates on these manuals has not been determined due to the required editing, proofing and ultimate approval of the manuals.
Additionally, we have combined our policy and General Staff manuals into one now titled Command Policy and General Staff Manual. This manual will contain all SFMC polices essential to our operation. We’ve stripped the Unit OIC and Brigade OIC Handbooks from these manuals and will be producing them as standalone pamphlets in the future. I’ve also suggested academy courses be developed and offered via the academy for new OICs, testing those things gleaned from these books.
Again, issue dates of these manuals have not been established yet due to the revision process. Please continue to use currently issued manuals until such time as they are phased out. I know there’s been an issue downloading the MFM, policy manual and the Arms and Equipment Manual as we have disabled the links for public download. I urge all Marines to share these manuals among the membership until we can release the new manuals and update our links.
I want to keep this report short as I will be reporting to you again next month – a bit earlier mind you. I wanted you all to know despite a bit of turbulence the Corps is operating just fine. Brigades should carry on doing what brigades do, units carry on with unit functions.
ASK QUESTIONS! Forward questions to your OICs, send them up to me or anyone on the General Staff for answers. Keep the suggestions and proposals coming! We’ve heard and listened. All suggestions or proposals have been noted and will be passed to the next command team for consideration. Most of all continue having fun and sharing your personal Trek experience with other members.
Lastly and until next month, thank you for allowing me to serve as your Commandant during this transitional period. I hope to continue to serve the SFMC in any capacity, mode or way in the near and far future.
Ooorah!
BRIAN K. ALLEN
BDR, SFMC
Commandant
*’Old School Solutions to Modern World Problems’*