MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE USS GYGAX
Achievement Unlocked
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ISSUE 002
WELCOME USS GYGAX 2011 STARFLEET REGION 4 CONFERENCE
USSGYGAX . COM
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Achievement Unlocked: October 2011 Michael D. Garcia, Publisher (mgarcia@ussgygax.com) Larry L. Balsley, Editor-in-Chief (comms@ussgygax.com) Star Trek and All Related Marks and Logos are Trademarks of CBS Studios, Inc. All rights reserved. Achievement Unlocked is a publication of the Communications Department of the USS Gygax, a correspondence chapter of STARFLEET, The International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc. It is intended for the private use of our members. USS Gygax and STARFLEET hold no claims to any trademarks, copyrights, or properties held by CBS Studios nor Paramount Pictures. All content from Star Trek including still images and character names is the property of Paramount Pictures Corporation and CBS Studios, Inc. and no infringement is intended. STARFLEET The International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc. operates as a non-profit fan club and is committed to promoting Star Trek. The contents of this publication are Copyright Š 2011 USSGygax.com and/or the original authors. All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be copied or republished in any way or form without prior written consent. The rank insignias in this publication were created by Kuro-chan of Kuro-RPG. If you wish to obtain them and an up-to-date copy, access kuro-rpg.net
USS Gygax NX-63545 www.ussgygax.com 2059 Camden Avenue Box 103 San Jose, CA 95124 .
2011 OCTOBER
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE Department Reports
CO’s Report “Rolling for Initiative” Ops Report “Modus Operandi” OIC Report “From the Desk of the OIC” Academic Report Appointments & Promotions Board
Features
Comics & Fun Away Mission Report: Henderson, Nevada
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2011 OCTOBER
OLLING FOR IN You decide your own level of involvement.
It's a quotation from Fight Club, but the meaning holds true for anything you're a part of. Gygax' momentum from October has rolled right into October. A number of you have passed the Academy challenge with flying colors and we outshined the other chapters with our Academy training in October. The longest section of our Monthly Status Report was our training accomplishments! Between all of us, we managed to pass over SEVENTY courses for the chapter, and that was noticed by our Regional Coordinator when we turned in our progress on October 1st. We can keep the training ball rolling in October with this month's challenge, but what I would personally like to see if everyone passing OTS and OCC before the end of the year. I believe this is a goal easily accomplished within the time constraints, and it will earn you both a commission and a promotion to LTJG right away (if that's your desire). With regard to rank and status, I wanted to share some of my thoughts on commissions and non-commissioned status, as well as plug a bit for the STARFLEET Marines. While at the R4 Conference, I had a lengthy discussion with the Fourth Brigade CO, Major General Fleona Dysast'ar, about how the 20th MSG will bring in a new era to the R4 Marine contingient, and how even participating as a reservist is beneficial. It would be a great idea to be able to participate in both fleet and marine activities, and I've affiliated myself as a reservist as a result. This also opens up a whole other training school to you, and I think seeing some of the Marine training command courses showing up on the MSR will be a good thing. So, sit down with Lieutenant Colonel Madon and see how you can contribute to "The Natural 20s." By the time this newsletter hits the press, we will be in the middle of our Extra Life mission and having a lot of fun together! Afterwards, once we've all slept and rested, we will begin plans for our next humanitarian mission for Child's Play. Please contact our Operations Officer, Lieutenant Hadley, for more information on how you can help us raise money for that charity in the coming months. Also, we're still working on our chapter's handbook and constitution. I've heard from only two other crew on providing input on this, and would love to have everyone send in their thoughts. In particular, our rank advancement guidelines seem to be the top priority for many as they determine what will be involved in obtaining a higher rank. Of course, it's necessary to point out that most of you will top out at Commander and can
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NITIATIVE
only be promoted to Captain by the Regional Coordinator, so even if you do blow through the ranks, remember where the endpoint is within the chapter. Please, please, please send in your suggestions so we can compose our chapter's vital documents with all points of view in mind. The following personnel are being formally recognized by the CO for October: - LT Melissa Hadley, for being the only crewmember to pass the SORS challenge at 100% (all courses passed). In addition to her dedication to rise to that challenge, she led the entire chapter with THIRTY-FIVE courses passed, (twenty-five with DISTINCTION). Lieutenant Hadley will be recognized with a new commendation for our chapter, the monthly training award, the Bronze Michael D. Garcia is the Commanding Officer of Tome of Knowledge for October 2011. Congratulations, Lieutenant Hadley!
the USS Gygax and the Founder and Head Ad-
ministrator of WNOHGB.org. He can be reached - Shon Elliott, for attending the R4 Conference and setting a fine example of at mgarcia@ussgygax.com. what Gygax is all about to the rest of the region. Our chapter made a big splash at the conference and Shon was a big part of that. For his success and his committment to the chapter in attending the R4 Conference, I have promoted him from Crewman Apprentice to Petty Officer 3rd Class.
In November, I would like to focus on recruitment of new SFI members to the chapter, as well as the training challenge. Who will be our recipient of the Tome for November? It could be you! We will issue a Golden Tome for the most dedicated student in the chapter at the end of the year when we count up the number of courses completed. Keep training!
Commander Michael D. Garcia Commanding Officer NX-63545 (USS Gygax)
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ModusOperandi Okay, so we're a chapter. We have our ship, we have crew, we
One example of an important goal put forth by the
have our website. We even have some casual interest, people
shakedown procedure is determining our bylaws and
who might be joining us once they have time, energy or other
constitution. This is a requirement for our chapter, and
resources they can offer. We have some charities we're looking
it's something we can determine together in how it could
into for long-term support. Is there really anything else we need to do? Definitely!
be written to properly portray us as a STARFLEET chapter, as gamers, and as a group of friends. Some discus-
At this stage, this is where we sion has already started on the forums, so feel free to really look at our vision, what
join in!
we want to do, where we want to go, and how we want Other goals our chapter is currently working towards is to get there. This is a time for that of filling our senior staff roster. There's many posigoal setting, both short term
tions presently open as of the time of this writing, from
and long term.
Chief Engineering Officer to Deputy Officer in Charge of
Looking at our current goals, one of the big ones is our
to the chapter and helping build us as a strong and ac-
shakedown procedure. All in
tive group, please see Commander Garcia.
all, the checklist itself is a list
But outside of the on-paper business of the chapter,
of goals we must accomplish to meet our requirements for Melissa Hadley is the Second Officer and Chief Operations Officer of the USS Gygax. She can be reached at ops@ussgygax.com.
the 20th MSG. If you have an interest contributing more
completing shakedown and being commissioned. Many of these mini-goals are already completed, but there
are many more we, as a chapter, can focus on.
what other goals do we have? What can Crewman Bob or Ensign Joe get into? Well, as I mentioned last issue, we're presently taking ideas of where we, as a correspondence chapter, can assist in charity work. One we're looking at is the Fleet Admiral's Challenge. The Challenge has already started, as of October 1st, but it
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will be running until January 1st. Other charities, like
for our chapter. I don't mean the larger picture, for we all
Child's Play are do-able year round!
know that already, but what events, activities and more
Other goals we can look into are teambuilding oriented,
would you like to see? What more would you like to do?
such as syncronized Trek episode/movie watching with
Goals don't have to be large, and they don't have to be
internet chat commentary.
solved or handled in one foul swoop. But each step we
Most, if not all of us, have access to DVDs, Netflix or already-purchased iTunes Trekisodes, which would make these internet meetings very accessible. Another could be planning to have a certain percentage attendance at IC 2012 and R4 Conference 2012. Or plan an away mission to meet up once or twice in the next year for our own small con, with maybe a trip to a spaceflight museum or piece of Trek history. The possibilities are endless. At the publish of this newsletter, I will be making a thread on the forums to ask others what they envision as goals
take to discuss our ideas takes us one step closer to them. For example, as of this writing, I'm already almost 8 lbs lost in my personal weight loss program. And like a snowball effect, even the amount I've lost so far is fueling my desire to work further towards that goal. The same can be said for any goal; it only takes a few steps to get the ball rolling. Or, perhaps in our case, the dice rolling.
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FROM THE DESK OF THE OIC Hello once again from the desk of the Marine OIC. October
As of the time of this writing (late!) we are only days away from
comes, bringing Autumn and the expected oranges and browns
Extra Life. Don't forget to support our gamers in their endeavors to
to the world in places which have more than one season. By plac- raise money for the Children's Miracle Network. It's such a great es that have more than one season, I am not referring to any of
cause!
the following places:
Finally, on my own front, I've been research-
Antarctica
ing different ways to game amongst a group
The Sahara Desert
of online friends. Ultimately, this will be for the
Florida
purposes of running a table-top “pen & paper� RPG. I'm leaning towards Pathfinder,
October also brings about Halloween. It
which is in my opinion one of the best D&D
was a tradition in my family, as well as
versions on the market today, but am open to
many others, to dress up for Halloween
suggestions. Look for my post on the forums
and hit up the neighbors for high fruc-
opening the floor for discussion just after
tose corn syrup under the guise of
Extra Life. The watch words for implementing
frightening them. This is only one of
this will be cheap, easy and feature rich.
many happy traditions that I had with my family. Sometimes I still even break
That's all we have today folks. Looking for-
out the makeup. (See picture.) As a
ward to gaming with you.
brand new ship, the ball is in our court to dictate our own traditions and I do believe that Halloween will surely offer some interesting tradition fodder. That
Fun facts about Dungeons and Dragons: John Madon is the SFMC Officer-inCharge on the USS Gygax. He can be reached at oic@ussgygax.com.
being said, I challenge each of you to come up with and pitch an event for Halloween or the Autumn season for all of us to take part in. I urge you all to make use of the forums and throw out ideas. As always, don't hesitate to e-mail me at oic@ussgygax.com if you'd like help realizing them.
D&D was founded by Gary Gygax in 1974. Fun facts about your Marine OIC, John: John
was founded by his parents in 1982. Fun facts about temporal mechanics: 1974 and 1982 are only eight years apart.
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Š2011 Kirk Felton
Top 10 Bumper Stickers on the USS Enterprise NCC-1701D 10. "Our other starship separates into 3 pieces!" 9. "One photon torpedo can ruin your whole day...think about it" 8. "HONK if you've slept with Commander Riker!" 7. "Guns don't kill people...Class 2 Phasers do!" 6. "Zero to Warp 9.7 in 13 seconds!" 5. "CAUTION...We have a trigger happy Klingon at tactical." 4. "If you can read this...don't you think you're a wee bit too close?" 3. "Have you hugged a Ferengi today?" 2. "We brake for cubes!" 1. "Wesley On Board!"
Source: spacefreak.tripod.com
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Away Missi Gygax arrives at the R4 Conference 2011 by CDR Michael D. Garcia This year's Region 4 was held in Henderson, Nevada
and the issues facing the region and represent our ship in the best manner possible.
at the Sunset Station Hotel/Casino. Crewman Ap-
The first day began with a meet and greet in the Re-
prentice Shon Elliott and I arrived mid-morning after
gional Coordinator's (VADM Chrissy Killian) suite. We
a cab ride from McCarran International Airport. This
had four ships in attendance: USS Sandstorm (the
being our first conference ever, we didn't quite know host chapter), the Region 4 flagship USS PeaceKeeper what to expect, but we make it a point to present
(Kingsburg, CA), USS Angeles (Los Angeles, CA), and of
ourselves as positively as we could, listen to our peers course, USS Gygax. An officer from the R17 chapter USS Stormbringer also attended, as Stormbringer was originally launched from R4. Once we all met up in the suite, CDRE Boyd Harmon (USS Stormbringer, left) and Region 4 Coordinator VDM Chrissy Killian (USS PeaceKeeper, right) are listening to the Sandstorm members discuss their latest adventures during the Friday night welcome dinner at the Sunset Station's Grand Cafe.
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ion Report: we wandered down to the hotel's restaurant, the
www.hiddenfrontier.com and enjoy the fruits of this
Grand Cafe for dinner and getting to know each other amazing fan-produced Star Trek series online. It spans in talking over various topics about STARFLEET and
over a decade, and was a major project for that chap-
Star Trek in general. After dinner, we returned to the
ter.
suite and continued until it got too late and we retired for the evening.
The general session began on the second day at 9am. In addition to the chapters from the previous night,
USS Angeles brought the final episodes of their long-
we were joined by USS Onizuka (Chico, CA) and ISS
running Star Trek: Hidden Frontier series and their
Pegasus (Las Vegas, NV). At the start, VADM Killian
spinoffs Odyssey and The Helena Chronicles, which
gave her State of the Region address and informed us
was screened on the second night of the conference. of a number of issues: If you're interested in seeing the whole series, head to
- Region 4 is now at eighteen chapters. Three are in shakedown status: USS Sandstorm, which would commission that evening; USS Loma Prieta (San Francisco); and USS Gygax (San Jose). - She was unable to attend the International Conference in Pennsylvania this year, but she did dial in to the meetings.
Continued, page 12.
LT Hadley’s unclaimed badge and program.
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Away Mission (cont.) - Region 4 has filed MSRs at 100% three months' running. Octo- Cole, USS Angeles) to determine a course of action and anber will make it four.
nounce it to the fleet.
- Due to their inability to attend the awards banquet that even- The chapter also gave their updates to the assembly: ing, ISS Pegasus was awarded with R4 Chapter of the Year. The commanding officer of Pegasus, CDRE Bryan Schur, accepted - USS Angeles (meeting chapter) is currently up to 100 total
the award on behalf of his ship.
members, with 35 active in SFI. They do monthly trips to Dis- From the International Conference, Region 4 won the SFI Re-
neyland and the Science Center, and they're currently organiz-
gional Newsletter of the Year for 2010. Region 4's USS Angeles
ing their team for the AIDS Walk. They also had a recent trip to
won the SFI Chapter Newsletter of the Year for 2010. You can
Cirroc Lofton's cafe in LA, and watched a couple of Jake-centric
read R4's NL at www.region4.org and USS Angeles' award-
episodes of DS9 with the actor.
winning NL at http://www.ussangeles.org/index.php? - ISS Pegasus reported a major downturn in total members: 15,
option=com_content&view=article&id=89
down from 45. They are continuing their fundraising efforts - Also discussed was with the Ronald McDonald House. the state of the region's current web- - USS Onizuka read a letter of regret from the commanding site as well as op-
officer, CAPT Alvin Rupp. They're presently at 12 SFI members.
tions for those chap- They recently completed a pizza fundraiser in Chico and they're ters in need of web planning a cookie delivery for all firefighters in the area. hosting. The discus-
- USS Gygax presented with 16 SFI members. We discussed our
sion was tabled
involvement with Extra Life and our intentions in participating
while the Reigonal
in Child's Play.
Coordinator conferred with the Vice Regional Coordinator (RADM Jennifer
- USS William O'Darby is participaing in the USMC Toys for Tots charity over the holidays this year. - USS PeaceKeeper stated their recruitment is down and they're focusing on designing a new website.
Above: BGEN Fleona Dysast'ar, Commanding Officer of the Fourth Brigade. She was later promoted to Major General on Sunday morning during the farewell brunch. Right: CDR Joshua Andrews (USS Sandstorm) is discussing menu choices with CDRE Harmon.
After the general session was the Marine Muster, where Fourth Brigade Commanding Officer, Brigadier General Fleona Dysast'ar addressed the group with the current brigade numbers at 33 active marines, and 41 total (including reservists). She discussed the two MSGs, and we talked about our very own 20th MSG (The Natural 20s) and plans to expand the group in the near future. The session broke up afterwards for a break and we returned for a round of trivia hosted by USS Sandstorm. We formed teams, with USS Gygax, USS Onizu-
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ka, and ISS Pegasus competing together. We responded to and answered questions against teams consisting of part of USS Sandstorm and USS William O'Darby, USS Peace Keeper and USS Angeles, the other part of USS Sandstorm with USS Stormbringer. In the end, the team of Gygax/Onizuka/Pegasus won out by a single point. We won a couple of hand-built collages and frames courtesy of USS The crew of the USS Angeles (front to back, right to left: RADM Jennifer Cole (Vice Regional Coordinator, R4), CAPT Dave Mason (CO), RADM Sandstorm. The next event was the awards banquet and
Janice Willcocks (XO, Founder of USS Angeles), Kat Campbell, and CAPT Gloria Rodriguez (Second Officer)).
presentation of honors that night. It was at that time that USS Sandstorm was brought into commission and Commander Joshua Andrews received his promotion to Captain by VADM Killian. In turn, he promoted some of his attending crew. At that time, also, VADM Killian presented the R4 annual awards: - Commanding Officer of the Year: Captain Alvin Rupp (USS Onizuka) - Flag Officer of the Year: Rear Admiral Jonathan Lane (USS
Angeles) - Officer of the Year: Commander Stacy Levesque (USS Karme) - Enlisted Person of the Year: Karen Hoagland (USS Angeles) - Junior Member of the Year: Jonathan Williams (USS Angeles) - Mothership Chapter of the Year: USS Angeles - Shakedown Chapter of the Year: USS Karme The region award banquet was visited by Steven Manley, who portrayed 17 year-old Spock in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. He regaled us all with his stories of his career in television and movies since his childhood and discussed his scene with Robin Curtis and working for Leonard Nimoy. After his portion of the evening was over, we all returned to the admiral's suite for drinks and snacks, as well as the screening of "Tossed Upon the Shore," which wraps up the entire Hidden Frontier saga. In the end, the R4 Conference was a huge success for newly-commissioned USS Sandstorm and the region. We met a lot of new friends and were welcomed into the region with open arms. We look forward to the next conference and hope we can
Crewman Apprentice Elliott chows down on the dinner during the awards banquet.
entice more of our personnel into attending.
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ACADEMIC ACC
TOS102: Main Characters Michael Garcia, Distinction TOS103: Episodes Michael Garcia, Honors TOS104: Treknology Michael Garcia, Honors TOS105: Trivia Michael Garcia, Distinction TNG101: Characters Michael Garcia, Distinction
TNG102: Main Characters Michael Garcia, Honors TNG103: Episodes Michael Garcia, Honors TNG104: Technology Michael Garcia, Honors TNG105: Trivia Michael Garcia, Distinction COC101: Interspecies Communication Melissa Hadley, Honors REC101: Recruiting Michael Garcia, Honors COC102: Abbreviations & Acronyms Michael Garcia, Distinction Melissa Hadley, Distinction SOE102: Counter Espionage Larry Balsley, Honors COC103: Netiquette & Emoticons Michael Garcia, Honors COC104: HTML Basics Michael Garcia, Distinction COC301: Basic Web Design Michael Garcia, Distinction
CTOC101: Geography & Physiology Melissa Hadley, Honors
SORS103: Radio in TNG Melissa Hadley, Distinction COC201: Newsletter Larry Balsley, Distinction COL101: UFP Law Larry Balsley, Honors CTOC102: Religion & Rituals Melissa Hadley, Distinction CTOC103: People & Government Melissa Hadley, Distinction CSCS104: Chaplains of the Revolutionary War Melissa Hadley, Distinction CSCS105: Religion in Star Trek Melissa Hadley, Distinction
SORS105: Radio in VOY Melissa Hadley, Honors
SORS106: Radio in ENT Melissa Hadley, Distinction SORS202: History of Radio Melissa Hadley, Distinction SORS201: Beginnings of Radio Melissa Hadley SORS203: Radio to Television Melissa Hadley, Distinction SORS204: Shortwave Radio Melissa Hadley, Honors SORS206: Other Uses for Radio Melissa Hadley, Distinction SORS301: Amateur Radio Melissa Hadley, Distinction SORS302: Amateur Radio Modes Melissa Hadley, Honors
CTOC201: Analysis of Caitians Melissa Hadley, Distinction SFC101: SF Captains—Archer Melissa Hadley, Honors SFC102: SF Captains—Pike Melissa Hadley, Distinction SFC103: SF Captains—April Melissa Hadley, Honors SFC104: SF Captains—Kirk Melissa Hadley, Distinction SFC105: SF Captains—Picard Melissa Hadley, Distinction SORS104: Radio in DS9 Melissa Hadley, Distinction COE101: The Art of English Melissa Hadley, Honors
*** Courses are listed in the chronological order they are posted to the ussgygax.com Commencement Team forum. Diploma recipients are listed by order of distinction and then chronological order of posting to the forum.
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COLADES USS Gygax NX-63545
APPOINTMENTS & PROMOTIONS BOARD
Congratulations to all who have received appointments in the last month: LTJG Monica Ayhens, Acting Chief Science Officer
Š2011 Lore