Message posted on Stardate 99020.9 at 2315 hours
Posted by Mike Bourdaa (STF President).
Edict 32
The USS Training Wheels Proposal
This edict authorizes the Academy to have Training Vessels assigned to its jurisdiction, in its capacity as an education vessel.
Unlike any other STF vessel, a Training Vessel will have the following unique characteristics:
1) The XO outranks the CO, on issues of ship administration. (The CO remains in command, in an RPG sence only)
2) The CO is appointed by the Academy Commandant, consulting with the President. The CO should be an XO from somewhere in the fleet, for the purposes of assisting to train for a CO spot.
3) The XO is appointed by the President.
4) The XO and CO positions on Training Vessels will count fully towards any per-person limit on these positions (currently two total, maximum of one as CO) that is in force.
5) The XO’s duties are to evaluate the CO, keep the missions going smoothly, and to evaluate the cadets for readyness for promotion.
I have thought long and hard about the second “permenant” officer, who was originally proposed to be the Helmsman, later as either OPS or CTO.
However, I feel it is best to get members used to the “average” ship, and to introduce something other than an arbitrary OPS officer, or a CTO on a non-warship, when that’s not the way things are supposed to (at least) be done. Therefore:
6) A second permenant member of the crew, who will fill in for the XO if necessary, and assist the XO and CO as necessary, will also be assigned. This person will be appointed by the Academy Commendant (and it may be any person, including the ACmdt himself), and serve as Counselor. The main duty of this officer, (unless filling in for the XO), is to introduce the IC/OOC difference, encourage character development and patience, and all the other “non-quantifyables” that the academy
exams just can’t measure.
Serving on any training ship is optional. New members may either join as an Ensign on a regular ship, Take the Academy test in their department for a promotion to Lt j.g., or serve on the Training ship for that promotion.
=/\= Ranks on the training ship
1) The CO will hold the rank of Captain. However, this rank will be tied to the Training Ship, and will not count as the person’s official STF rank.
2) The XO will hold rank of Commander on the Training ship, regardless of any other factor.
3) The Counselor (second permenant member) will hold the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
4) Non-permenant, experienced Department Heads (see below) will hold the rank of Lieutenant, senior grade.
5) Cadets who are ready to be a department head on a real STF ship (whether or not they actually hold a DH on the training ship!) will have the rank of Lieutenant
j.g. Promotion to Lt j.g. IS official STF rank (unlike the other ranks on the Traning ship)
6) All other cadets will hold the rank of Ensign
=/\= Department Heads
The ship will be a normal one (Not a Warship!), and thus will have 5 department heads:
CSO, COS, CMO, CE, and Counselor
Each department (including Counseling) will have any number of cadet assistants as are requested by new members.
All Department Head spots (except Counselor) will be filled by either
1) A Lt j.g. “graduated” cadet in that department
2) A Lieutenant-grade non-permenant experienced officer
If there is a Lt j.g. on the ship in that department, that person has priority over the experienced officer.
The Counseling department will never be taken over by a Lt j.g., only because that department’s DH is permenant.
=/\= The Academy And You
Whenever a DH spot on a real ship opens, and the CO of that ship has no qualified officer in that department on his ship to fill the hole on his own, The list of any current Lt j.gs in that department on training ships will be given to that CO, so that he may select his new officer.
Only if there are no qualified DHs available in this manner, may the CO then go to other ships to get a transfer/second character fill-in. This is to ensure that those who are ready for a DH spot (and waiting, let us not forget, on the TS) have an early crack at the position.
=/\= Leaving the Training Ship (graduation)
Once a cadet is, in the opinion of the XO (upon recommendation generally from the CO, DH, or Counselor), ready to be a Department Head in STF, that person will be promoted to the rank of Lieutenant j.g.
Once this occurs, the former-cadet is eligible to become a DH, either on the training ship, or on a “real” ship.
Upon being selected for a real ship, the CO who is selecting them will inform the XO. (The XO will authorize these transfers on a first-come first-served basis from STF COs) The XO will then give the Cadet his/her new orders (report to the new ship as department head), and that cadet will leave the training ship.
If a Cadet on the Training ship also chooses on-the-job training, or passing out of the class by taking an Academy exam (both of which are still available options at any time), resulting in a promotion of that person to Lt j.g., that person must inform the XO that they have been promoted via another means. However, promotion to Lt j.g. on the training ship is still not automatic in this case (although promotions on real ships remains as it was before, valid.)
If a cadet becomes a Department Head on any STF ship via any means (including on-the-job), that cadet’s term of service as a cadet on the Training ship will conclude (no fair re-entering time and again just to hog DH spots!)
=/\= Administratively
1) The Academy Commandant will act as the Fleet Commander of the Training Ship Fleet, including all rights normally afforded to any FComm, unless contradicted by an edict.
2) While there is only one Training Ship, that ship will be assigned to the Command Area “fleet” on the WeBB
3) If a second Training ship is deemed necessary at some time in the future, the President will be required to consider adding a seperate “Academy Fleet” to the WeBB. (For one ship alone, this is not necessary.)
=/\= Credits
To Seamus Hughes, Jim Armstrong, and all others who gave comments and advise on the Training Ship idea. This wasn’t my idea, but you guys convinced me.
=/\= Finally, using Edict 32…
Under the terms of Edict 32, establishing the power to create Training Ships under Academy Jurisdiction, I hereby order the commissioning of the Academy vessel USS Challenger, Columbus Class.
As per the terms of that edict, I am appointing Steve Ashton to serve as XO of the Challenger.
Lastly, I now request that ACmdt Armstrong work with Ashton to select a CO, Counselor, and a first-batch of Department Heads. The ship should go on-line by next Monday.