State of the Rebel Squadrons

September 2016

I. Foreword
II. Squadron and Academy Updates
III. Awards and Recognition
IV. Mission Briefing
V. Conclusion

I. Foreword

From: The desk of the Fleet Commander

To: Task Force Republic Shield

Hello RS!

First, I would like to draw your attention to is that the Activities page has received some minor updates. You are now able to see the ITOD scores from any session! (Unfortunately, the majority of our older sessions were either recorded off site, or utilize the older ITOD system. If a truly enterprising member of the RS wishes to assist us in recovering this legacy data, contact us!) The base activities page will now ALWAYS display the results of the current session without further updates needing to be made.

In addition, we’ve made some configuration changes that have expanded the activities shown at the bottom of the page, and made the new ‘Modern Team Gaming’ activity and its associated ITOD objective visible. Finally, please note that the objectives that show up on the right-hand nav-bar of the RS website are determined based on your individual profile settings, whereas the Activities page now displays ALL ITOD-active activities, regardless of your settings. Hopefully these changes make the objectives more accessible to you going forward.

Fight on, troops.
For the Republic!

“:)
ADM Cyrel Vandroth
Rebel Squadrons Fleet Commander





II. Squadron and Academy Updates

Academy News: Things have slowed down at the Academy compared to last session. There have been no graduates this time, but we did gain Cadets Persuer and Hulmyyst Rhodok. Welcome! Also, Cadet X-Wing_Phantom has been removed from the Academy due to inactivity.

Squadron News: There have been a couple of changes in command. MGN Nicolai Ginovef has stepped down as Resurrection CO, and LGN Eric Skrevski has been appointed as his replacement. MAJ Yaihi’l Beskar has also resigned as Diamond CO with MGN Mat Bizegar appointed as his replacement. Congratulations to you both, and thanks to Nico and Yaihi’l for their service.

Unfortunately, there are some members who did not report this session without being on LOA. As such, the following members are hereby AWOL in accordance with http://www.rebelsquadrons.org/fc/directives/fcd-2015-01.php”>FC Directive 2015-1:

Diamond: LJG Alec_McCast & LJG coolcolt57

Red Dagger: VA Gavin Cantorph Kravis, LJG BittyMERC, & CMDR Mia Stormchaser
                              
Academy: Cadets Embow, Persuer, Hulmyyst Rhodok, Connor Addart, and FoxtrotF & CMDR Jaran Farlance






III. Awards and Recognition

RS Activity Top Gun for FA Michael Raven


RS ITOD Top Gun for RA Kirghy Lommax


RS Top Squadron


Squadron MVP


RS Crapper Award for MGN Markus Jarnhann


Aug 15th, 2016 - 14 Year Service Medal for FA Michael Raven.

Aug 16th, 2016 - 9 Year Service Medal for BGN Teu Veld.

Aug 21st, 2016 - 10 Year Service Medal for LCL Koah.




IV. Mission Briefing - Hammerfall - Liberation of Lithra: Hearts and Minds
Journal of Eric Skrevski, Reflection on the effort to liberate Lithra to this date.

Where do I begin?

We started strong, everyone working together, hitting targets, and really hitting Titan hard across the board. Hit some bases here, a depot there, even took out a couple of convoys. Or did we protect them? It’s kind of a blur on what all has taken place. Everything went well for the first couple of weeks. Then things began to unravel.

We haven’t stopped, not by any means. But I let the wanting to take back my home override my sense of judgement, sense of honor and even my morals. I ordered an attack that caused people to doubt me (that is my friends) and costs thousands their lives. Was it right? I still don’t know. It will be something that haunts me every day from now on. It cost Titan over one hundred thousand soldiers and countless millions in assets, I still don’t know if it was worth the price.
Each week I ship in supplies to the resistance and for the people of the planet. Each week I feel I am not doing enough. Titan shifts tactics and what I send just doesn’t seem to cut it. I have my own troops on Lithra now, helping strike targets and defend Resistance bases. Been bringing in heavily weapons and even vehicles and air speeders. It never seems like it is enough.

We have taken losses, heavy losses. Had an engagement with Titan’s Elite and lost every fighter I had. It hurts, sending people into battle knowing some of them will never return. I guess that comes with being an “Officer”, a leader. In my darkest moments I sometimes think of just collecting my kids and loading up on a transport and going off into the Unknown Regions and getting away from all of it. A dream I have had more than once..

I won’t do it. I made a promise and by the gods I will keep it. Things are bad, they always are. Just have to remember what I am fighting for, what we are fighting for and keep on the path that I am on. One day Lithra and my people will be free. One day we will be able to rebuild and live, hopefully in peace. One day. That day needs to come soon.

Activities:

The Old Republic (SWTOR)

Briefing: With steady improvement as noted by Command Staff, they have ordered that the training simulations become more complex. These were determined to be satisfactory for this next session. Good luck.

Objective Instructions: SWTOR can be downloaded and played for free from http://www.swtor.com/ . The Rebel Squadrons has a guild on the server Jedi Covenant, Republic Shield.

To report: Run the objectives below and submit screen shots to the activity reporter upon completion. If help is needed please email or ask Teu in game.

1.Heroics on Coruscant, or Taris. Pick one planet and run all heroics 2+. These are aimed at 2+ people but can be soloed. This should roughly be 4-6 missions. Take a screenshot of each objective complete screen. There are consoles in several locations to pick up these heroics, on the planet themselves or on fleet are the big two. Note: For this session pick the planet you did not choose last sesion, ex Courscant would do Taris and Taris would do Courscant.(Earns 1 objective point)

2.Run through 1 flashpoint of your choice. Post a screenshot of the objective complete screen. These can be solo flashpoints, group finder flashpoints or hard mode flashpoints, not the same flashpoint completed last objective. (1 Objective point)

3. Run Space mission ‘Javaal Fleet Action’ and post a screenshot of mission objective. This is a low level space mission run so is doable by everyone. These missions can be found on your ship 'space missions' console. (This is worth 1 objective point)

World of Tanks (TANKS)

Briefing: We got lucky during the battle for Aurora that so few ground forces were able to land on the planet, but we might not be so fortunate next time. Begin extensive drills in preparation for a ground assault! We might even get to do a little invading of our own, soon...

Objective Instructions: Submit a screenshot to this reporter of an instance where you completed a battle in World of Tanks with another RS member. Repeat up to three times for three ITOD points! These screenshots cannot be submitted for general activity credit.

3 points: participate in three separate battles with another RS player.

X-Wing Alliance (XWA)

Briefing: Unfortunately it is as we feared, intelligence has confirmed that there are swaths of mine fields encompassing Lithra. If we're ever going to get near the planet, we're going to have to cut a hole in the net of mines large enough to slip a sizeable force through.

Objective instructions: Mission is available here:
http://www.rebelsquadrons.org/itod/mission.php?id=1172

1 point for flying the mission
1 point for completing the main objective
1 point for completing the bonus objective(s)

Instructions for playing: Download the 1B1M1G.tie file and place inside your Xwing Alliance/MISSIONS folder (backing up the original, of course). From the Combat Simulator, launch Battle 1 Mission 1 and the program will load/launch this mission.

X-Wing vs TIE Fighter (BoP) (XvT)

Briefing: Pilots, I want to make sure the hard work of some of our predecessors is not wasted!

Objective Instructions: 1 point (up to 3) for each of the wonderful historical XvT missions that you fly this session!

Missions can be found here:
http://missions.rebelsquadrons.org/XvT

Empire at War (EaW)

Briefing: Although we succeeded in keeping Aurora from falling into enemy hands, we have reason to believe that there may still be pockets of Titan ground forces that are holding out in the wilderness. Rather than dealing with guerrilla warfare for the indefinite future, we’ve decided it’s best to launch an extermination operation here and now. This will be a search-and-destroy operation intended to root out any and all remaining hostiles on Aurora. Be advised, we suspect that the Titan forces may include armor support, and possibly even some light air support – but we won’t know anything for certain until we find them and engage them. Good hunting.

Objective Instructions: 1 point for completion, 1 point for accomplishing an optional special objective (TBD), and 1 point for mission review/feedback/narrative.

Mission to be released shortly

Star Citizen (SC)

Briefing: Even if your hardware is not quite up to running this game smoothly yet, I at least want to see what everyone has going on in their respective hangers!

Objective Instructions: Log in to the Star Citizen hangar module, and snap some beautiful pics of your Pride(s) and Joy(s) nestled in your hanger! 1 point per screenshot up to 3.

Fiction Writing (WRITING)

Briefing: As the battles for an opening to a Lithra invasion continue, coordinated efforts and battle strategies veer and turn for the worst. Quick thinking, initiative, improvisation, and sheer luck separate those who live to fight another day, and those who rest in a shiny casket with a crisply folded New Republic flag draped over it. As conflict intensifies, the margin for error becomes slim to none.

The Republic Shield houses many of the finest soldiers, pilots, and tacticians across the galaxy, but even they commit errors or underestimate adversaries.

Objective Instructions: Write about a time in which your character participated in a mission (Republic Shield or prior to joining) where the event took a drastic turn for the worst. This needs to be a fictional account, but you may factor in battles from other platforms (for example, an XvT mission with another peer that…did not go as planned). What went wrong? How did you escape? What were the consequences of said event?

Post your submission to the designated area of the Fiction Writing forum: http://www.rebelsquadrons.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=149&t=3666


Point Distribution:

- 1 point for a submission of 500 words that depicts the mission that went awry and the resolution to said conflict.

- 1 point for a submission that exceeds 1,000 words.

- 1 point for a joint submission with another RS member.


V. Conclusion

Overall, this hasn’t been a bad session for the RS. Approximately 85% of all active members participated in the fight against Titan. Thanks to everyone who’s pitched in to make things run as smoothly and effectively as they have. Look for more great stuff to happen in the future. And remember, if you have an idea that you think could help us, feel free to contact us through email, Discord, or IRC.


Regards,

The Command Team

Eric Skrevski
Rebel Squadrons Personnel Officer
Contact the Medals Officer

MGN Markus Jarnhann
Rebel Squadrons Operations Officer
Contact the Operations Officer

FA Michael Raven
Rebel Squadrons Logistics Officer
Contact the Logistics Officer

RA Kirghy Lommax
Rebel Squadrons Executive Officer
Contact the XO

ADM Cyrel Vandroth
Rebel Squadrons Fleet Commander
Contact the FC