Shrimp's Commander Rex Application

[Glory22]

Steam Name: Keegan | Synr.gg
RP Name: Shrimp (Kix)
RP Rank: Major
Discord ID: keegan#3868
Steam ID: STEAM_0:0:159204113
Battalion you are applying for: 501st (Rex)
Experience:
When I first joined Synergy, I initially hopped around a bit trying to find a battalion that was a good fit for me. After joining 41st and CG, I made my way to 501st as a CPL, my home on the server since November 17th of 2021. 
Within the 501st, I have been in the following positions:

CPL->MAJ
As a trooper within the 501st, I have focused on providing entertainment, roleplay opportunities, and engaging trainings/simulations to others within the battalion since I became an NCO. On the server I came from, and for a while here, I had noticed at times people seeming bored, hopping around with nothing better to do. It is during these times that it has always been my goal to keep people engaged, hosting trainings, events as staff, or (more recently) deployments. It has also always been a priority of mine to remain unbiased and fair to every trooper in the battalion, providing the patience required for newer players, while also recognizing when punishment is needed, and what kind to provide. Aside from the standard tasks of an Officer and Senior Officer of managing the NCOs, SNCOs, and Officers, bringing them to a path towards success within the battalion and server, I have been engaged in several other parts of the 501st, trying to stay well rounded.

332nd->332ndO
In 332nd, I dedicated vast amounts of time. From optimizing the tryout dupe to be less of a strain on the server and not crash those hosting, to hosting plenty of trainings/tryouts, I was one of the most active people within the position of 332ndO. When I applied for Kix, it was my goal to return to 332nd on my Jedi to potentially get Jedi Officer within it.

TC Kix
I got Kix extremely recently after wanting a fresh experience within the battalion and a small change in what I was spending my time doing so I could focus more on providing the entire battalion with more training and things to do. Time management was a key thing that I learned in 332nd, with tryouts that take a long time to set up.

ARF->ARFO->ARFL
The first thing that I joined in 501st, ARF will always hold a dear place in my heart. After receiving ARFO and ARFL, I updated all the documentation, and established a system of trainings/certs that gave troopers something to work toward and get on to do, and with a bit of luck and dedicated ARF Officers to help in my goals, we were able to revitalize ARF from a poor state to a thriving specialization.

MED->MEDO->MEDL
In my time in MED, I have created new documents for the specialization, and recently have helped grow the numbers of MED to a good level, with several decent choices for MEDO positions coming up. 

Intel->Intel Officer->Intel Manager
In my time as Intel Leadership, I have done my best to help maintain the current roster, ensure changes to it are done properly, and train new people into Intel.

Jedi Padawan
Recently I joined 501st on my Jedi (rank locking it), to help increase the presence of Jedi even further within the battalion, and increase roleplay opportunities between Jedi and Clones. In this position, I have hosted numerous 501st trainings already where I need the assistance of the clones to aid me in some task (typically losing my lightsaber).

Meena Tills

I recently also received the position of Senator Meena Tills to allow additional roleplay opportunity for the server.

Other Server (Inquire in DM if name needed)
On the first (Synergy is my second) Garry’s Mod Star Wars RP server I played on (an Imperial one that averages around 90+ players at peak), I quickly rose the ranks to become the Medical Vice Commander (equivalent to CMD on Synergy; there was only one other person in Medical that was in a Command rank at the time), having to handle nearly all disciplinary issues, officer trainings, and so forth. Upon reaching the rank of Medical Commander (BCMD) and soon after Medical Senior Commander (between BCMD and RCMD), I refreshed the entire documentation of the battalion, consolidating numerous old documents and making them easier to understand, as well as worked with other battalions to establish good relations. 
After being promoted to Marshal Commander of the Army (RCMD), my tasks grew immensely. Now, I was in charge of training new Commanders, teaching them how to work rosters, aiding them in decision making, keeping them active, and when necessary punishing them for their misdeeds. Overseeing Army Battalions such as Nova, 501st, Medical, Havoc, Shock, Stormtroopers, Imperial Commandos, and advising numerous battalions outside of the Army branch was my duty. After becoming a General of the Army, I was a step higher, and did many of the same tasks with more weight behind them. After playing on Synergy for a bit to mess around during a period of feeling burnt out, and with the longstanding disillusions with the server I was on, that server management ordered that I, alongside other High Command, strip around ⅔ of the reserves (Legacy and Legendary) ranks from people who had earned them with blood, sweat, and tears, without any cause other than missing a “note” saying what they did on the roster. They were logged with everything else required and it had never been a requirement to have a “note”. As the main person who stood against this decision (nearly all High Command had qualms about this rash choice to remove the reserves and stated similar opinions as me, however), I was made an example of and removed. (If in need of more information please DM me: keegan#3868. I know it may be off putting to hear I got removed from such a position, but I understood the risks of standing up for a cause that I deemed worthy, and the other High Command at the time stood by me in future forums posts stating that I was a good General and a loss to the High Command team). 

Why should you become a Battalion Commander?:
I am an extremely well rounded person within the battalion, being in every group within the battalion that I can be in at once (Clone, Specialization, Subunit, Intel, Jedi) and being very active on all of them, and working to impose good, meaningful change whenever possible. I have made good friends with many people within the battalion, and have worked to grow the 501st since my beginnings here. While it is a challenge for anyone to manage having good friendships and remaining unbiased, I have done my best to do so and give every trooper a fair opportunity. With the 501st being the main battalion depicted in any Clone Wars related content, it lends itself to many roleplay opportunities and time to have fun with everyone, something that has always been a goal of mine to do, and always will be.

Do you understand the lore of your battalion?: Yes.

Availability: 
All times in CST. These times are typical for the duration of the summer (when my term would be active). The times shown below are when I am available to get in game to interact with my troopers and Jedi.
Sunday: When I get up until 1 AM.
Monday: 5 PM - 1 AM.
Tuesday: 5 PM - 1 AM.
Wednesday: 5 PM - 1 AM.
Thursday: 1:30 PM - 1 AM.
Friday: When I get up until 1 AM.
Saturday: When I get up until 1 AM.
I’m nearly always available in Discord and Teamspeak though if needed, even outside of these times.

Estimate of how long you've played on Synergy Roleplay?: 332ndO MEDL MAJ Shrimp has played for 479:53:50. I first started playing in the Fall of ‘21.
Do you have a microphone?: Yes.
Where do you want your battalion to be at the end of your term?: 
Across my time in 501st, my experiences in these positions, and my discussions with the people in them, I have come to the following conclusions. If I were to receive the position of Rex, I would take a period of time after each meeting to hold a session where people can approach me privately to discuss the goals they have, the issues they have, and guide them in the right direction to success (this is of course not the only time people could approach me!). This way, I can not only achieve my goals, but also help others in achieving their goals that they might think impossible otherwise. Upon achieving Rex, one of the first things I would do would be to host a meeting like this to grow the list below, and refine points that need it.

Command:
Any Senior Officer jumping up to Rex would be strange at first for a Commander, however it would be my first priority to get this awkwardness out of the way so myself and the other Commanders (Silly, Kryptos, Phaser, and Drage [XO]) can work effectively as a team. After that point, I would assign each of them to work alongside a Senior Officer or two to complete the goals assigned to the Senior Officers.

Officers:
As Rex, my goal would be to establish a set of tasks for the Senior Officers to work upon individually, along with a weekly focus for improvement that would be chosen by myself and the commanders. These tasks would range from managing WOs, to Officers, to NCOs, to finding us a deployment or two, to hosting trainings, etc. These would work on a rotation or lottery system, and consistent success in completing these would mark the promotion of a Senior Officer.
For regular Officers, my goal would be to provide them with tasks designated by Senior Officers so that they can continue to develop their skills and improve the battalion at the same time. These tasks would ideally coincide with the Senior Officer tasks often, so that there is a group of 3 people working together: a Commander, a Senior Officer, and an Officer. This would help build sturdy bonds within the upper echelons of the battalion.

Warrant Officers:
I wish to make Warrant Officer much more of a learning period than it is a trial period. Someone who is at WO has clearly excelled at their duties of being an NCO/SNCO, and has been trusted by the battalion to take the next step. Therefore, the WO phase will be to teach them how to be a good officer, by giving them tasks, allowing them to decide disciplinary issues, etc. Once they have had a good run at most aspects of being an Officer and know what they are doing, they will be moved up to 2LT. It will not be attached to a time limit but rather based on how good at their job they become. This will alleviate the immense stress that can be placed on people who fear that failing WO would set them back a huge amount of time from getting 2LT, to the point they may leave. With this change, it would also change the requirement to go from CSM to WO to be more difficult as it would be less likely to be sent down from WO.

NCOs:
I wish to help our NCOs in several ways. Firstly, I would task Officers with creating a TeamSpeak guide for NCOs to disperse to assist new players in joining the 501st TeamSpeak and creating a bookmark to our channels. The task of getting new players set up with TS is often challenging over words, and a visual guide of what to do would be of great benefit. This would be an excellent task for a Warrant Officer to begin with. By the end of my term, I want 501st NCOs to all have their SGT training before they become NCO (get it at CPL), and would provide NCOs/SNCOs with a training idea document that includes necessary dupe files, etc. (Officer task) Furthermore, I would like NCOs to feel more comfortable asking the questions they have, as it is quite often where they end up asking me a question and saying they’ve been holding onto it for a while.

Merits:
One cannot talk about NCOs without the discussion of merits. I would keep the merit system around, as I feel it is the tried and true method of proving work. However, I would work to improve this system by adjusting point values and adding new methods of earning points. For example, recruitment into a specialization/subunit should be worth way more than 5 points for the time and effort required to do it. Adding more methods of earning points, as well as adjusting existing point values to make them more meaningful (nothing should be worth 5 points, at that point people question whether to even log it or not when it takes 150+ to go anywhere) would be two ways to help the current merit system. However, I do acknowledge that some people are against merits in any capacity, don’t fill them out ever, etc. To this, I would make it a task of Officers to help encourage people to fill out merits if it is noticed they are at a high TIG and haven’t logged anything. Otherwise, if a trooper has been seen doing good work and just hasn’t logged it, they may be promoted at a date of (regular minimum time + 3 days extra) following standard promotion protocols (a few Officers agree, etc.). Senior NCOs, however, MUST fill out merits to get promoted, as they are near Officers and should be proved to have done the work required of them to help show their mettle.

Enlisted:
Enlisted troopers will receive a channel where they can be checked up on, and will be individually pinged in this channel if their activity starts to decrease with enticements to get on. This channel would also be used to help direct them what trainings they need to join e.g. SUP and how to get them/from whom.

Disciplinary:
I would remove the standalone Disciplinary Team from the battalion as it has failed its intended purpose since its rocky introduction and is not active any longer. The responsibility to decide/punish troopers who break rules would return to solely Warrant Officer+ positions. I have already started motions to do this by putting up a suggestion for it in the 501st Discord.

Jedi:
Jedi in a battalion is something that can be difficult to maintain. Without an active Jedi presence, it can be hard to gather new people into the battalion. My solution to this would be to work alongside the Jedi Lead and Anakin to utilize Jedi as their purpose in lore, to lead on the battlefield. 501st Jedi would be encouraged to take detachments of clones into different TeamSpeak channels and provide them orders and work alongside Event Leads to effectively manage our troopers. This would be one way that Jedi would qualify for rank equivalency promotions, which would encourage this behavior to lead and interact more with fellow clones. Furthermore, I wish to have it be a common thing where it is pinged (or people are asked) that if they have VIP and a Jedi life that is not currently in a battalion, that they can join 501st and rank lock their Jedi. This would help to swell the numbers of 501st Jedi, increasing its presence and the draw from people outside the battalion. 
Another goal I have for Jedi is to utilize them often in their final task alongside the 501st. I would aim to do a Jedi vs Clones simulation frequently as a scheduled thing, which would give Jedi and Clones a chance to bond over slicing/blasting each other to bits. This simulation could even be done as regular deployments where Jedi and Clones work together for a bit, then split off, and at the end will fight each other.

332nd:
332nd is in a great place with numbers, but struggles with a purpose. Currently it essentially acts as a way to get a different helmet color. However, it has been a goal of the current Vaughn, myself, and the other 332nd Officers for some time now to come up with more for the subunit. As Rex, I aspire to use my influence to seek GMs who are willing to deploy 332nd on themed events based on the final season of the Clone Wars, as well as utilizing them much more as an independent subunit, working as a squad to accomplish a goal. Aside from helping out in this way, I leave 332nd in the hands of the 332nd Commander, as he can be trusted to make the decisions necessary for other changes, and if needed I will step in or help out.

Torrent Company:
Filled with lore characters with massive stories behind them, TC has so much roleplay opportunity available, and many of them do act like their characters at times. As with 332nd, I trust the TC Commander to make good choices, and would only step in when truly necessary. I will seek to keep TC in a stable state as it is now, along with giving them more opportunities to show off their characters, perhaps by utilizing TS comms between them and holding the duties of their characters in battle.

Specializations/Regiments:
The Specializations are currently on a great path, with active and engaged leads and officers, and a good structure above them. None of them are overly outdated in terms of documentation either. My goal for them would be to encourage much more cross-regimental trainings where two or more of them work together to focus on using their unique skills. This task would be delegated to REGL/REGA/Leads, with Commander assistance as requested, and would get the specializations working together and recognizing the strengths of each, and to hopefully use these strengths in battle.

Intel: 
Intel is currently in a great state, however one of my main goals will be to help pass on the knowledge of the functionality of roster (backend work) as well as the 501st Bot made by Silly, so that Intel Officers, our future Intel Managers/Directors, understand how it works, how to fix it, and how to update it. Currently this system is fragile, as much of this knowledge is held by a few people, with the Bot being solely understood by Silly at this time. Furthermore, I am interested in a system to require more involvement from every member of Intel, rather than allowing people to do absolutely nothing in it while just a few take the brunt of the work. I would potentially develop a rotation of channel assignments where each week, different Intel members are grouped together and assigned to work to keep a section of the Intel work complete. Since there are only 6 logged channels and Merits to be accepted, this would result in some people getting a week off now and then, which would be a healthy break to not burn them out on it. In this state I would also like to increase the draw to Intel by offering a better path to receive merit points for NCOs in it. If an NCO succeeds in keeping their channel updated throughout the week, they would be rewarded a certain amount of points per action they did, and not a measly amount.

Communication:
Communication can always be improved upon; however it is currently in a decent state from the top down. However, I feel that communication going up the chain can be improved upon. There is no current way (outside of going directly to someone in TeamSpeak) to make a trooper report in a way that stays anonymous / out of the eyes of the person reported (meeting requests can be obvious if someone makes a request then someone gets punished right after), and one of the first things I would do as Rex would be to make a report form. This form would work with either people or general issues. Depending on the rank of the person reported, it would vary where it would send its responses to. If the person is an NCO, it would go to an Officer. If they were a Senior Officer, it would go to Commanders, etc. This would help encourage people to not just hold the things that bother them in, and to get them out in a secure and private manner. 

Deployments:
The 501st Legion has numerous recorded battles in lore, and I would love to be able to reenact many of them, and also get the battalion to participate in non-canonical deployments. 501st as it is does not receive many deployments, and I would love to work with the Gamemaster team, as well as some of the Senior Admins within the battalion to make it happen. Having deployments more often would be an easy draw to the battalion, especially if it is something familiar like a battle from an episode of Clone Wars.

Interaction with Other Battalions:
It would be a great goal of mine to get frequent joint trainings with other battalions, as well as utilize joint/mixed comms during regular main server events often. For example, if there are 6 212th on and 6 501st, they could split half and half to create two mixed groups that would work together.

Do you understand that if you go inactive that you will be removed from your position?: Yes.
Do you understand that your position has a three month term limit and you must reapply after three months to maintain your commander rank?: Yes.

[Mystic]

+1 deserves an interview forsure

[Whataburger]

another contestant rises to the stand.

+1, I believe that you are competent enough to get to the interview phase and from there on out, Good luck.

[Kryptos]

+1 I think you definitely deserve a interview for sure. I think by looking at the things you have said in your application that you have a very thoughtful and clear vision as to what you want to do with the battalion. I would be happy if you got the position. Good luck pal!

[GregRocks]

+1

You're active and a solid member of the community. I think you should at least get the interview.

[Bleach]

+1

fuck it

[Hansen]

+1 

 

Good ideas for the battalion.

Great guy with experience, great officer and deserves a interview.

 

Edited June 9, 2022 by Hansen

[Slak]

Although I believe the other applicant is a better choice, I see no wrong in giving you a shot. I had some personal 1on1's with you in the past. You seem really confident in your ability for 501st, so if you do get I won't have a doubt on you. 

+1

[Damon Gold]

+1 Great officer, knows what he is doing, good ideas for the batt
he at least deserves a chance for a interview

[Corey]

+1 You are indeed dedicated to the battalion which I respect a shit ton, I believe he would be a good Rex who has a vision on what he wants 501st to be. Also agreed with the 332nd tryout, we are currently trying to optimize it more. but we have people working on 332nd missions. Other then that loved your suggestions not only for 332nd but the whole battalion. Deserves an interview. 

Edited June 9, 2022 by Corey

[Seabass]

Spoke with him last night. FULLY 1000% support this +1

[Pronto]

+1 Shrimp is a wonderful person. Id like to see this.

[Dirty]

+1 Such a nice guy man hell yeah

[ToasterBath]

+1.

Shrimp is a competent, active, and trustworthy leader. I fully believe he could hold the position of Rex and lead 501st with ease.

[Rohan]

+1, good luck Shrimp!

[xboxtachanka]

This is a big +1 

besides being a great guy, he knows what he wants to do with the battalion and deserves an interview

[Mori]

+1
Great guy and a great officer, you have helped me with a lot of stuff since ive joined back, good luck!

[Abraham]

+1 shrimps awesome, always puts in so much work to whatever task he is given and exceeds expectations. Would make a good rex!

[Maddoxx]

Congratulations, You have been ACCEPTED for a commander interview!

Please contact a Director to organise your interview.

Failure to do so within 7 DAYS of this post will result in the DENIAL of your application.

// LOCKED
// MOVED TO COMMANDER APPLICATIONS - PENDING

[Fyi]

Unfortunately your application has been DENIED.

You will be contacted by a Director or relevant High Command for your denial reason.

You may apply for another commander positions after 30 DAYS from this post.

// LOCKED
// MOVED TO COMMANDER APPLICATIONS - DENIED