Greetings members of the Rebel Squadrons!

It's time once again for one of the two things that happen monthly that I dread -- so I'll just get right to it. February has been a short month, so this will be an accordingly short SotRS.

I. Fleet News --

PSG has begun the XWing and TIE ITODS. Narratives only for the first Mission, but the flying missions will begin shortly and will run so that there will always be "something" to do in the PSG.We have already had a few Veterans return, so, once we start flying I expect both our numbers and our activity to increase.

On the VSG front, things have been going slowly as the 203 missions have yet to be released. However, hope is high that a release will occur by the end of next weekend. In the meantime, the VSG Historical Mission Shoot Out! is now underway as a means to keep pilots active and provide a little incentive to help their chances for Top Gun and Top Squadron medals while exposing them to missions from the old RgF and IBG as well as VSG Tour 1. The winner of the Shoot Out!, in addition to a possible maximum of 10 Historical Mission merit points should they fly 10 or more Historicals, will receive 10 more merit points to add to their 203 merit total.

In multiplayer action, the XWA Week of War is in progress with XvT Week of War and XvT Missions War expected in the coming weeks. If you would like to represent the RS in XWA or XvT, please visit http://vsg.rebelsquadrons.org/wow to find out how.

The ABG meanwhile, is still chock full of activity, with character sims occurring on a daily basis, sometimes twice daily, and GMs running regular campaigns. Michael Raven is still working through the end of the infamous Unholy Alliance campaign, and Rhuryc has started running another campaign set on a previously uncharted world with codes of conduct and societal rules completely foreign to the heroes of the ABG. Cyrel's been working very hard on the Interactive Online Adventure project, unfortunately, I haven't had time to keep up with him writing the script.

The RF didn't turn in a fleet report this month.

II. Executive Office News --

The Internet Office has seen a change of face -- former IO Josh Hawkins resigned in late February, and though we thank him for his years, literally, of dedicated service to the RS, I'm excited to welcome his successor, RA Patrick Blastfire to the position of Internet Officer. Blastfire's a very long time RS member with a wealth of experience and knowledge that will continue to contribute positively to the Rebel Squadrons. We've been discussing the use of ads on the RS site as a way to offset the costs of club maintenance, but will require far more discussion than the cursory overview that's already happened. Rest assured, if that does happen, we will try not to impliment them in a tacky or annoying way as best as possible. In the meantime, always looking for donations: http://www.rebelsquadrons.org/donations

The Recruiting Office is working out a few ideas for, obviously, recruiting new members. Among items discussed is an effort to reach out to reserve or retired RS members to see if anyone is interested in dusting off their joysticks and returning to active duty with the RS.

The Council of Justice has been involved with working through the final touches on a potential rewrite to Section 5 of the RS Bylaws and looking over ideas regarding RS aldermen.

The Historical Office continues its work on the RS Wiki and archiving pieces of RS history. RS Historical Officer (...out of respect, I'm just not going to abbreviate that)...anyway, Super is now being assisted by MGN Daryus Zalyn'cya, another longtime RS member.

On the Logistics front, the TacOps team is still, unfortunately, working on getting RS 203 out. Due to the time involved here (almost 2 months for one mission), we're looking into making some changes to the way the RSTOD works to streamline the process and prevent further snags like this. Kirghy, in the meanwhile, is gathering up the people who've expressed interest in writing the RS narratives and trying to organize work with them. We're always looking for volunteers, so if this is something that interests you, please contact Kirghy.

In the Operations Office, Spokes is continuing to sign the RS up for all XvT & XWA comps that get posted and is approving Members who sign up at BSC. There are plans in the works to get a BFII competition going again. If that happens, it will be posted on the Commando Forum. Heavy is the Admin for XvT Mission Wars at BSC each month and ICTE is still each Saturday. In addition, Max (allegedly) working on both an EaW competition and a non-gaming RS competition.

Finally, last but not least, from BGN Reagan and the training office:

The Training Office has had a slow, but productive month. Currently, we have a guide in the works which will spell out the roles and responsibilities of our Primary Instructors, and hopefully make their jobs a lot easier. A quick announcement, I found a Second Officer some weeks ago, but have been too busy to post that to the RS site. Congratulations to CPT Fiona Starfall for being appointed my new SO. She has had extensive experience in the training department, and with her help the Academy will soon begin a major policy overhaul. We will be undertaking this endeavor in the hopes that things will run more smoothly for current (and future) leadership. Not much else is going on right now; there is a lot to be done, though. Cadets continue to progress through the Beginner’s Path, and discussions will begin on how to retain these members. That’s all for this report.

III. High Command News

RA Cyrel Vandroth has replaced IronMan as an RS Alderman.

High Command has recently called for more discussion on Section 3 of the bylaws, and since I cast a tiebreaking vote to keep that section the way it currently is, the proposal will be rewritten and resubmitted to HC for discussion. Also in this week, expect HC to receive a proposal on Section 5 of the RS bylaws.

IV. Promotions/Awards

I have observed the following people and find them worthy of promotion.

Captain Fiona Starfall -- you are an emerging leader in the ABG, doing thankless work for both the ABG and RS academies and always willing still, to help out with other tasks whenever someone asks. I don't want your academy work to be thankless any longer. Congrats, Major.

BGN Kirghy Lommax -- You've been a member of the RS longer than I have, and though I remember your work in the AF and the old RgF, it is for your work as both VSG CO and RSXO that I'm choosing to promote you. You dive into any task I assign you with zeal and usually complete them in both a timely and efficient manner. To be fair, you probably should have been promoted a couple of months ago. Congratulations, Major General!

RA Licah Fox -- Nobody in the RS, on a more consistent basis, does more for this club than Licah Fox. He's worked for years as an assistant IO, taking on projects and completing assigned tasks quickly. I value Licah's input and attention to detail when working through matters of RS policy and consider him an irreplacable sounding board when I get a crazy idea for an RS project. This is another overdue promotion -- congratulations, Vice Admiral.

VA Tyrell "Spokes" Borran -- if I had to choose a competitor to Licah for an RS members who devotes a lot of time and energy to the simple betterment of the club, that competitor would be Spokes. This guy is all over the proverbial field when it comes to the RS. He's an academy instructor, the RS medals officer, the CO of the PSG. He's on the forums and replying to join forms, constantly welcoming new members and getting them oriented to the RS. I see his love for and devotion to the Rebel Squadrons in almost everything he does. Congratulations, Admiral.

V. Closing/Personal thoughts

I...well, I really don't know what to fill this with here. The end of February really marks my first full month as RSFC, and I'm not going to lie, I really don't enjoy the job. At best, I find it frustrating, at worse, like this afternoon, it causes me to argue with some of my closest personal friends.Most days I just want to abdicate the office and go GM in the ABG and let someone else be in charge.

That aside, there are tremendous things going on within the RS that I'm excited to be a part of -- new projects, restructurings, the possibility of more author interviews and competitions. I've had people step forward to help out with the RSTOD from all divisons of the RS and words of encouragement from current and previous members alike. When I check my e-mail, I'm routinely getting suggestions and questions that range from the utterly mundane (or already implimented, you know who you are) to the completely crazy. Which...y'know, I appreciate, but those who suggested those ideas, also know who you are.

Regardless, I didn't have much...planned to write here, so I'm just going to close this before I write something potentially more stupid than anything I've already written. As usual, we're always looking for people to step up and help out in the executive offices, and my door is always open, even if my blog isn't getting updated as often as I'd like.


-RA Sienn Sconn, RSFC