STARFLEET Communiqué Issue Number 150, Dec. 2008/Jan. 2009

STARFLEET Communiqué
Issue Number 150, Dec. 2008/Jan. 2009
A newsletter publication provided for members of
STARFLEET, The International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc.
table of contents
Majel Barrett Roddenberry (1932-2008) - The Passing of a Star Trek Legend
STARFLEET Remembers Majel
The Many Faces of Majel Barrett Roddenberry [Photo Spread]
Report from the Commander, STARFLEET
Report from the Vice-Commander, STARFLEET
Attention All STARFLEET Writers: Short Story Contest Now Underway
ECAB Report (Filed November 20, 2008)
Communications Report
The New Alumni Outreach Program
Operations Report
Growing the Next Generation of Star Trek Fans
USS Leonidas Gets to Play in the 24th Century
Financial Report
Report from the SFA Commandant
Computer Operations Report
The New Direction of STARFLEET Public Relations
Shakedown Operations Report
Ask “Deep Trek” - #002
Happy Birthday, STARFLEET
STARFLEET Communiqué through the Decades [Cover Spread]
STARFLEET Historical Archives
STARFLEET Is... Commander Peter Green
What STARFLEET Means to Me... Happy Birthday, STARFLEET
USS Challenger Celebrates 20 Years Worth of Adventures
Ask Prigal: A Monthly Questions and Answer Session from the Enlisted Point of View
USS Bonaventure Crew Mix Business and Pleasure at Local Conventions
Region One 2007 Annual Award Winners
My Heart Attack
Attention on Deck!
Report from the Deputy Commandant
Report from the CO INFOCOM
Report from the CO TRACOM
FORCECOM Report
Report from the DCO TRACOM
Calling All Cadets (Ages 5-18)
Report from the Sergeant Major, SFMC
Hidee Ho Neighbor!
10th Anniversary Susan B. Koman Race for the Cure
Hollywood Day at the South Carolina State Museum
Deb Kern - In Loving Memory
STARFLEET International Membership Application
STARFLEET Communiqué Submission Guidelines
Staff of STARFLEET International
Majel Barrett Roddenberry (1932-2008)
“Second star to the right and straight on till morning...”
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STARFLEET Communiqué
Number 150
Publisher: Jonathan Lane
Editor-in-Chief: Prasith Kim-Aun, DMD
Content Editor: Dennis Rayburn
Layout: Prasith Kim-Aun, DMD
Front Cover: Mojo (www.darthmojo.wordpress.com)
Back Cover: Peter Christian
Proof Readers: Mark Anbinder, Alex Rosenzweig
Special Thanks To: Jill Rayburn
Published by:
STARFLEET,
The International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc.
928 South Court Street
Circleville, OH 43113
Send submissions via e-mail to
[email protected]
...or any written papers to the address above.
Postmaster, please send address corrections to:
Bran Stimpson
STARFLEET Member Services
1120 Magnolia Street
Denver CO 80220
Star Trek and All Related Marks and Logos are Trademarks of
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The STARFLEET Communiqué is a publication of the
Communications Department of STARFLEET, The International
Star Trek Fan Association, Inc. It is intended for the private
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trademarks, copyrights, or properties held by CBS Studios, Inc.
nor Paramount Pictures.
The contents of this publication are Copyright © 2009
STARLEET, The International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc.
and/or the original authors. All rights reserved. No portion of
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(USPS 017-671) Entered as periodical matter at the Post Office
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Communiqué is published bi-monthly by STARFLEET, The
International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc.; 928 South Court
Street; Circleville, OH 43113.
The submission deadline for CQ #151 will have passed by
the time this issue gets into members’ hands. The deadline
for submissions for CQ #152 will be March 10.
Majel Barrett Roddenberry (1932-2008)
The Passing of a Star Trek Legend
This issue of the STARFLEET Communiqué is bittersweet for us all. Last night, I was still assembling a newsletter full of celebratory articles, marking 35 Years
of STARFLEET at the same time CQ publishes its 150th issue. There were tributes to our club and personal reflections on what Star Trek and STARFLEET have
meant to many of us. Heck, I even got one of the 3D visual FX artists from three of the Star Trek TV series to do a special 3D cover to mark STARFLEET’s
birthday. Submissions had been closed for a few weeks, and the issue was already on its way to being finished and sent to the printer before New Years.
But then, earlier this morning, Majel Barrett Roddenberry passed away. I found out through a short e-mail sent out by one of the people who works at Roddenberry
Productions. As a part-time contractor to Roddenberry, I’ve had the opportunity to meet Majel on a number of occasions. Most recently (last February), I had
the privilege of seeing her in action, recording dialog for nearly four straight hours. Despite her declining health, Majel was a professional at every moment of
the recording session. With minimal rest breaks, she was nailing Star Trek technobabble in one take that would tongue-tie even the most obsessed Trekkie.
During the few times we did pause, she shared a parade of stories that she knew we fans would love, like how her own “Aunt Dorian” became the inspiration for
the name Gene gave to a race of blue skinned aliens with antennae on Star Trek. She talked candidly of her feelings about Rick Berman taking over Star Trek
after Gene Roddenberry’s death. It was like a mini-convention in a room with just four people. And it is a memory I will always treasure.
The one word I’ve heard over and over again to describe Majel is “classy.” That she was! And she loved the fans. She never saw Trekkies as annoying geeks
or simply an obsessed customer base offering a cash machine for product sales (as some have suggested). Majel made way too many convention appearances
and talked to and signed autographs for endless lines of fans for me to ever believe she was anything other than truly respectful and appreciative of the heartfelt
support the fans showed to her and her husband.
I thought about turning this anniversary issue of CQ instead into a full-issue tribute to Majel--putting her on the cover, in the center spread, all over. But as I
thought about it, I began to realize that she wouldn’t have wanted that. With how much she loved the fans and appreciated the support they showed for Star
Trek for decades, Majel would have wanted us to celebrate our 35th year as a Star Trek fan club. She would want us to keep talking about Star Trek, looking to
the future. Classy lady that she was, Majel would probably have said, “Do a nice little tribute to me somewhere, maybe have a few pictures, but you all go on
enjoying Star Trek. It’s what Gene would have wanted.” And I think it’s what Majel would have wanted, too.
So let’s continue to celebrate Star Trek, everyone. In Majel’s memory, let’s remember why we all came together to join this fan club in the first place. Let
STARFLEET continue to be a legacy to the dream of the Great Bird of the Galaxy, and now also to she who was the wind beneath his wings. Long may they
both soar together through the Final Frontier…
Jonathan Lane, Chief of Communications, STARFLEET
December 18, 2008
Page 3
STARFLEET REMEMBERS MAJEL
Memories of the First Lady of Star Trek
No matter which incarnation of the show, she was always there somehow, either performing as one of the characters, or using her distinct voice to supply the computer’s voice.
Cast members of the scifi show, Babylon 5 tell of the time she appeared in an episode of their program, and was given a reception worthy of royalty, including some out and out
hero worship, as it was related to me by a couple of cast members.
To those of us who have been watching from the beginning, she was Nurse Chapel in the original series whose unrequited love of Mr. Spock became legend to her fans. To those
who became fans or rediscovered Star Trek in the 1980’s, she was Lwaxana Troi, mother of Counselor Deanna Troi, daughter of the Fifth House, Holder of the Sacred Chalice
of Rixx, and Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed. Ever in pursuit of Captain Picard, she and Stewart gave the series some of the best comic relief in intense dramatic episodes
you could ask for. When the computer spoke, it was her voice lent to the machine. If the show was Star Trek, she was always there. Trekkies around the world rejoiced recently
when news of her, once again, voicing the role of the computer in J. J. Abrams’ new reboot of Star Trek when it hits the screens in May of 2009 was announced.
There are more stories about visits with her at conventions and events connected with Star Trek than there are grains of sand on an ocean beach. The fans love for her was only
matched by her love for them. In a statement on the day of her passing, her son, Rod, said, “My mother truly acknowledged and appreciated the fact that Star Trek fans played a
vital role in keeping the Roddenberry dream alive for the past 42 years. It was her love for the fans, and their love in return, that kept her going for so long after my father passed
away.” She was the Queen of the hearts of many a Trekkie, the First Lady of Star Trek, an actress, a businesswoman, and a mom. Many a fan and star alike can relate tales of
meeting her and hearing her stories of the 42-year adventures that is Star Trek. It is no wonder that when NBC told Gene Roddenberry to get rid of her character and “...the guy
with the ears” when he remade his first pilot for Star Trek, that he kept the guy with the ears and married her!
While we had met and chatted with Rod Roddenberry in the course of our writing for their website, we had not yet had the chance to meet Majel when Rod personally introduced
us to her. I felt like I was in the presence of royalty and had to bite shotgun shells to keep from “fanning out”. Despite her failing health, she made the trip to the Las Vegas
Convention to be there for her fans. Spurning the wheelchair that had been used to help her get about, she walked out on stage for her panel, assisted by Rod and Trevor Roth
to the most thunderous applause and cheering this writer has ever heard. I truly believe it surpassed the volume of the crowd the night Barrack Obama was elected president.
We all saw how frail she had become there in Vegas in
2008, but the spirit, passion, and love for the fans was not
diminished one little bit. It showed in her comments at that
panel, and in her visits with fans at the Roddenberry booth
later that day. I believe that when one looks in a dictionary
for the word classy, you should find her picture there for she
was one classy lady!
Even though we all knew she was having some health
problems (what they were was a well kept secret), when we
got the call from the Roddenberry office, informing us of her
passing before it was announced to the public, it hit like a
thunderbolt. She had always been there and while death is,
“....the debt that all men pay” it was so hard to imagine her
being gone from this life. The one happy thought I had at that
moment and told the person that called me was that Gene
and Majel are together again.
We will get to hear her a couple more times. She recently
did a voice in Hamlet A D D, and she will be heard as the
computer in the new Star Trek as she completed the work
before she passed from this life.
The following is read at many a funeral, and it just seems
right to share the word of Mary Frye at this time:
Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I did not die.
Majel’s FINAL public appearance - August, 2008, in Las Vegas. Pictured standing (left to right):
Rod Roddenberry, Dennis Rayburn, Jill RayBurn. Seated in front: Majel Barrett Roddenberry.
Farewell, dear lady. You will truly be missed. Second star to
the right, and straight on till morning.
Dennis Rayburn, Vice-Chief of Communications, STARFLEET
Page 4
STARFLEET REMEMBERS MAJEL
Just like all Star Trek fans, I was stunned at the news of the passing
of Majel Barrett Roddenberry. I had the pleasure of hearing her speak
several times and considered her characters my favorites in the
shows.
One particular memory I have of her: my daughter was in line to get an
autograph. Majel looked at her and said, “You are as cute as a button.”
She then asked if her parents were there and if they had a camera?
Majel then proceeded to have her picture taken with my daughter.
I know I speak for all members of STARFLEET, the International Star
Trek Fan Association, Inc. in saying that Rod and the rest of her family
and friends are in our thoughts and prayers.
FADM Sal Lizard
Commander, STARFLEET
Today we morn the loss of one of the brightest stars in the Star Trek
Universe: the first female Starship XO, the voice many of us hear every
day, and the inspiration for many young women to believe they too could
someday travel to the stars. Though she has joined her beloved Gene,
Majel Barrett Roddenberry will be with our Universe forever, living on
in our thoughts and hearts as an inspiration for thousands of people
throughout our world.
I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Roddenberry twice in my life.
I was so impressed with how wonderful a human being she truly
is. I was also impressed that she remembered me the second
time I met her. The Trek Universe will not be the same. Engage
at warp 9 and say “Hi” to Gene for all Star Trek fans worldwide.
CMDR Eugene Anderson
USS Vre’kasht (Region 6)
ADM Helen Pawlowski
Troubadour Station (Region 12)
I first met Majel at TexTrek ‘93. We were vendors next to each
other, and at that time I got to know her very well. This was
my first real convention, and I had just joined Starfleet and had
launched the Sentinel, the only Fleet ship in Louisiana
She was the best, and as we talked about many things, I learned
a lot about Trek and about her those two days. She even gave
me my first Trek shirts from her stock! She was a really generous
person, and I thank her for the way she treated me, a stranger,
and what effect she had on me at the time.
I hope her family knows what a special lady she was.
FCAPT Beau Thacker
USS Azrael (Region 3)
Majel, we will miss your delightful, courageous presence. Godspeed,
“Number One,” now you can explore the Universe for real.
At several local Star Trek conventions
in the St. Louis area, Majel Barrett
Roddenberry appeared as a dealer and
doubled as a guest. She was gracious, she
was kind, and she always had something
nice to say. I’ll always remember her as
the Tramp of the Galaxy: Lwaxana Troi.
I remember when Gene passed away,
I sent Majel a symapthy card, and she
replied with a personally signed thank
you note, and it was so touching.
I was so saddened to hear the news
today. She will be missed, and I am glad
she will be the voice of the Computer in
ST 11.
LT Lowell Whitaker
USS Richthofen (Region 7)
I first met Gene and Majel in 1975 at a con at the
Commodore Hotel in NYC. Gene was in a wheelchair
at the time; he had had a recent fall. I caught up with
them both in an elevator. I was working security for
the con; my assignment was George Takei. I was
responsible for keeping “Trekkers” away from the
guests. Back then, the convention guests stayed at
the same hotel as the con.
FCPT Cathey R. Fuller
USS Thermopylae (Region 5)
A Few Thoughts on Majel Barrett Roddenberry’s passing...
I’d met Majel a few times over the years. Once, my friend Jon Lane and I
even spent some impromptu time working at a Lincoln Enterprises table!
No matter when I saw her, though, she was always warm, friendly, kind,
and just lovely to interact with.
It was a most pleasant elevator ride...we were on our
way up to the Guest Suite where the guest party was
being held. Although I strayed--I mean stayed for only
a few minutes after delivering George--I got peaks at
William Shatner and Isaac Asimov as well.
Majel’s passing leaves the world just a bit darker tonight. My sympathies
go out to her family and friends, and to the many people whose lives
she
touched.
Many years later, I sent the picture that I took of Gene
and Majel to her for her to autograph, Gene having
since passed away. My original intention was to put
the picture on a plaque and have it sent to the CVN65 Enterprise for one of their rec rooms, but decided
to keep the picture for myself. It will now go into the
special place where I keep pictures and autographs
that I consider to be priceless since they cannot be
gotten again. She joins DeForest Kelley, James
Doohan, and Mark Lenard there.
She will be missed...but never forgotten.
ADM Alex Rosenzweig
USS Avenger (Region 7)
Years ago, I did a newspaper interview, where, unbeknownst to me,
the interviewer revealed that I was living with AIDS. I only learned that
this had happened while working as a greeter here in San Francisco at
a Trek Con. A little old women walked up to me and said, “You’re the
young man in the article.” I asked her what she was referring too. She
pulled the article out of her bag and gave it to me, saying she hoped to
meet me and give it to me. In the article, I discovered I had been outed
with AIDS in a very big, public way, and that of all people, Majel Barrett
Roddenberry had commented in the article about my work with Trek. I
was so touched. I saw Majel some months later at another con and
was able to personally thank her. She remembered the reporter, the
questions about me, and she remembered me in particular. We spoke
and, throughout the day, I was her personal assistant with her having
me go whereever she went. I will never forget her kind words or her
generous spirit.
The passing of Majel Barrett Roddenberry is such sad news. I met her in Atlanta at a convention; she had just
gotten in from California by airplane and some people were being very rude trying to get in the airport bus. Majel
was clearly trying to get off the bus. I said to the people please let her out before you get in since it will be easier
to get in afterwards. They finally let Majel out of the bus. I was told by her as I picked up her bag and carried it for
her into the convention to remind her during autographs to have her sign an extra picture for me for helping her
get the people to let here out and helping her with her bags. She was great as Number One and Nurse Chapel.
Majel was a fun person to watch as Deanna Troi’s mother and with her interest in Odo. I hope she and Gene are
having fun looking down on the organization they helped create with the Star Trek lore.
FCAPT J. Unicorn Escobedo
USS Angeles (Region 4)
MGEN Rebecca Louise Self
USS Spiritwalker (Region 2)
May her journey be free of incident.
MGEN Larry S. Neigut
USS Sovereign (Region 7)
Page 5
STARFLEET REMEMBERS MAJEL
My husband and I saw Majel Barrett Roddenberry at Big E-con in Norfolk, Virginia. She was witty
and charming. I loved Lwaxana Troi!
COMM Glenda Blanks
USS Heimdal (Region 1)
Majel Barrett Roddenberry has passed away today. Not a sit down and cry moment for Trek fans
but a moment to reflect, nonetheless.
I have met and interacted with Majel on a number of occasions over the years. She could be sweet
and charming, and she could be a bitch on wheels. You could, however, always be her best friend
by presenting her with a glass of white wine. She LOVED her white wine.
My first experiences with her were during the heyday of fandom of the mid-to-late 80’s when
Lincoln Enterprises still ruled the roost when it came to collectables. Lincoln was the first mail
order company to offer Star Trek memorabilia. She had started it by selling copies of scripts and
otherwise discarded frames of edited film from the series. To starving fans, this was like manna
from heaven! Slowly, the list of items grew to include patches, stationery, and jewelry. Long before
there were hucksters rooms at conventions teeming with merchandise or even eBay, there was
Lincoln Enterprises.
And Majel was the Queen....and she let you know it. Many a time I would see her sweep through a
huckster room with an assistant in her wake scratching away in a notebook.
“You can’t sell this! You can’t sell that!” She would yell at each offending dealer selling something
they had not “legally” purchased through Lincoln, “That’s copyrighted! That’s a bootleg! That’s
unauthorized. You’ll be getting our lawyer’s letter!”
To many of us fans at the time, she was seen as being a little too protective. For years, fans and
dealers had been able to make their own merchandise and fed a cottage industry in fandom. When
George Lucas came along and shut down any fan based moneymaking off of HIS CREATION, a
light bulb went off at Paramount that they had missed a major money making opportunity for the
previous dozen or so years, and Majel was their avenging angel. Luckily, Paramount, Majel, and
even Lucas all calmed down and have learned how important that cottage industry really was.
It was during the Platinum Anniversary Convention in 1986 in Boston that I learned about Majel and
her white wine. Majel, myself, and a few other members of the convention committee were in one
of the bars at the hotel in between appearances and she was sipping her white wine. When the
third glass got to her was when it got interesting. Apparently, the third glass of wine is the one which
causes Majel’s defenses to crumble and her gossiping gene to kick in. She started telling us all
kinds of dirt surrounding the filming of Star Trek II and III, with some not-so-kind words and stories
about some of the newer cast members.
She leaned in and whispered after a particularly spirited opinion on one actress, “Why do you think
she wasn’t back for the next film!” With a wink and a nod she went back to sipping her wine.
My last encounter with her was in 1989 on one of the Star Trek cruises. (You forgot I was a geek?)
One night, somewhere near 2AM, I was seated at a table with Nichelle Nichols and her husband,
Majel’s secretary, and Majel herself. The boat was staffed with a Panamanian crew, and apparently
the waiter we ended up with had a little problem with English. Majel ordered her usual white wine,
but it did not make it through translation to the young man.
“White....wine” An exasperated Majel then tried describing the drink to him, “You know....WHITE
(pointing at the tablecloth).....DRINK (miming drinking)! WHITE (pointing into her mime glass).....
DRINK (miming again)!”
The young man nodded finally and sped off to get our order. He returned a few moments later and
passed out each order just by chance leaving Majel’s for last.
“WHAT IS THIS?!” she bellowed as she stood with the horrified look of a vampire being given a
plate of garlic and Holy water. “Who put THIS in front of ME?!!!!!” To which she pointed down at a
frothy, cold glass of MILK!!!!!!!!
It’s those kinds of memories I will always treasure. It amazes me sometimes that 40 years ago I sat
in front of my TV and watched some of these people on TV, and now I have broken bread with them
and call some of them friends. My life has been far from perfect...but, DAMN, it’s been fun.
During the Freekon, the Thanksgiving 2008 fallback convention for Starfleet Command
at Starbase Indy in Indianapolis, we got to see into the Roddenberry home. Rod
Roddenberry, who’d negotiated with the promoter Kim Huff to sponsor the event,
had sent an 18-minute video, shot by himself. He was very forthright in his praise
of Kim and Command (Starfleet Command), in their stick-to-it-iveness in throwing a
relaxacon after Vulkon unceremoniously backed out at the last minute. Rod took the
attendees on a virtual tour of his dad Gene’s office, rarely seen by fans. Rod also
spoke to the convention-goers from the “Thinking Spot”, a scenic landscaped hillside
retreat above the Roddenberry estate. Rod spoke eloquently about IDIC, how we as
fans have been at the forefront of promoting that fun, group involvement, and joy in
hoping for the future of the “Human Adventure.”
One little scene at the beginning of the video caught my attention early on. As Rod
opened the video tour, he spoke at 6am on Thanksgiving morning, in the Roddenberry
estate’s kitchen in the main house. While he introduced the purpose of the video,
you could see in the background, a short brunette head puttering around the kitchen,
buzzing behind Rod as he spoke. Rod peeked off to the side as the person puttered,
and seemed to be carefully not showing that person’s identity...
But from the mystery person’s voice faintly in the background, and the smile on
Rod’s face as he spoke face-close to the camera--Majel made her last convention
appearance on Thanksgiving. She gave us fans one more reason to be thankful: Rod
Roddenberry inadvertently gave us a final glimpse of the Mom, the caring spirit, and
the Trek legend, with the unique ability to put on her son’s face the grin we all share in
the memory of seeing Majel Barret Roddenberry, one last time.
Thanks for reading the thoughts of a fan who misses a good person, a true friend in
Trek.Goodbye, Majel.
May the Great Bird of the Galaxy and now his Mate, bless you in the New Year.
CPO JM Olson
USS Riverside (Region 6)
It was a chilly February day in Des Moines, IA, about 24 years ago. The local Science
Center was opening a new planetarium exhibit that had the voicing talents of Leonard
Nimoy, William Shatner, James Doohan, and Majel Barrett (at that time she wasn’t
being billed with the Roddenberry monicker) telling us all about our known galaxy, and
sharing a history and guided tour of the heavens.
There were two individuals there to help open the structure and give a guest lecture of
the exhibit: William Shatner and Majel Barrett. My dad was lucky enough to get a pair
of tickets through his workplace, and rather than he and my mother attend (both Trek
fans, themselves) I was allowed to go with Dad.
I don’t think I ever felt more calm and at ease around a pair of celebrities. Bill (he
wanted all of us to call him “Bill”) was jovial and hammed things up to lighten the
mood. Mrs. Barrett was distinguished and quite a bit more succinct in her poise and
speech, but whenever she would see any one of the parents with a child there (like I
was, with my father) she would approach us, bend down to our level, and speak with
warmth that lit her entire face, wanting to know us and what made us want to be there
as much as our parents.
I remember that she hugged me, as on the way in I’d fallen on the ice and had a
scrape across one cheek from the pavement. It was a feeling like here was someone
as comforting as my mother or grandmother, sharing a special moment of sympathy,
understanding, and a desire to help me feel like nothing else mattered (not pain,
embarrassment, or any form of discomfort) but that she was there for me in a moment
of need.
I don’t recall much else of that day long ago, but I will never forget that special moment
that I am still able to hold onto, and stretch out in my mind and heart, to feel that I was
one of Majel’s special children, carrying forward her understanding, compassion and
unconditional love into the future with me.
Thanks for those memories, Majel.
That is what I will always remember of such a remarkable woman, more importantly
than her screen presence, work, or charity contributions. To me, she is the mother of
all of us who share in the legacy of Star Trek.
COMM Jack “Towaway” Eaton
USS Trident (Region 2)
CMDR Brian Pickett
USS Aurora (Region 5)
Page 6
STARFLEET REMEMBERS MAJEL
In 1989, I went on Sea Trek with the cast of the
Original Star Trek as well as the cast of Next
Generation, along with both Gene and Majel
Roddenberry--a fan event I have never matched
and never topped.
ADM David E. Ryan (seated in center of photo)
USS Marathon (Region 2)
I am sending you my full sized drawings of
Christine Chapel and Lwaxana Troi. I have
actually updated my Lwaxana’s face so she
looks a bit more like herself. I was so sorry
to hear about Majel as I am a very big fan
of hers.
Gary Anderson (currently unassigned)
Belfast, Northern Ireland (Region 20)
Page 7
The MANY FACES OF MAJEL BARRETT RODDENBERRY
Page 8
0109-02-724
Name: Sal Lizard
Rank: Fleet Admiral
Position: COMMANDER, STARFLEET
Ship: USS ASGARD nCC-72402
Region: 1, OHIO (USA)
Commander, STARFLEET
Report from the Commander, STARFLEET
Greetings to all on this historic issue of the
Communiqué, kicking off the year-long celebration
of STARFLEET’s 35th anniversary. This year will be
dedicated to looking back at our past and creating a
new future for the oldest continuously-operating Star
Trek fan association.
Diversity has long been an important characteristic
of this organization and it’s one of our most
important strengths. I would like for everyone to
stop for a few moments and think back at what
brought you to this organization and remember
why you remain a part of this great group…whether
you have been a member for 30+ years or if you’re
just living through your first year aboard.
As you know by now, the month of October was
spent working on the issue of hiring a VCS to
fill the rest of this administration’s term, due
to Gary Halverson
having to step down
due to a major
and
unexpected
promotion in his
real-life
career.
After some serious
consideration, I was very pleased to select Dave
Blaser to present to the AB for confirmation, and I’d
like to thank the AB for its swift movement through
the process. I’d like to take one more opportunity to
thank Gary for his service, and to also thank Dave
for stepping up to the plate and agree to serve on
“this side of the aisle.”
The STARFLEET Alumni Outreach Program has
finally gotten off the ground after a stagnant start at
the beginning of the year. Annie Wheeler and her
team have been reaching out to former members in
an attempt to find out why they, individually, didn’t
renew their memberships in STARFLEET. To date,
over 800 email contacts have been sent out. Results
are already starting to roll in, along with a number of
renewals. More detailed stats will be forthcoming
once they are fully compiled.
The Inspector General has been working on six RC
elections. Most, if not all, should be near completion
by the time this CQ hits your mailboxes. After taking
possession of the IG records from his predecessor,
Wade Hoover has echoed a request that Robert
Westfall put in his report, which was submitted at
the ECAB meeting in Ithaca, NY and would like a
ruling on whether or not the office can be allowed
to keep its record archives in a scanned, electronic
form, rather than continuing to keep extremely bulky
physical records. Straight from Wade’s last report:
“I would like permission to start scanning the IG files
for archival purposes. I would also like permission
the advancement of STARFLEET. This office was
also to be the “one-stop shop” for job postings and
for collecting generic resumes for all departments.
Additionally, one of their projects was to work with
all departments across the board and help each and
every position write a complete job description.
I selected someone for this position who
understood what I wanted to get accomplished
with this position. However, it seems that
something has happened along the way. This
individual hasn’t returned emails or phone calls
in quite some time, so I’ve decided to treat this
as an open position again and will be making a call
for applications for the position shortly, if not already
by the time you receive this report.
35 Years
of
to destroy the ballots for the 2000 and 2002
STARFLEET elections. I realize that the IG manual
states that these are to be retained for 10 years, but
this is a large amount to material to simply store.
I would be happy to add them to my soft archival
procedures, if that is what you would like to have
done.”
The announced deadline for applications for
Inspector General was November 1st. I’ll be going
through the applications and present my choice
to the AB. Additionally, the deadline for applicants
for Judge Advocate General was also November
1st. I’ve heard of one applicant and will be asking
all members of the AB to begin presentation of any
applicants they have for the position shortly, as
well.
At the start of the year, we opened the Personnel
Office to have a central location to coordinate
members who wanted to let it be known that they
would like to volunteer their time and abilities for
Page 9
Additionally, changes are on the horizon in
the Member Recognition Department. Linda
Kloempken is on the lookout for folks to
step up and
help out both
with
Awards
and Promotions.
Just as I hear
and understand
explanations, I
felt that what I heard from the Klufas’s in regards
to some concerns brought up where Promotions
is concerned was that real life has needed to take
priority over STARFLEET’s Promotions’ affairs. I
never want to hear that STARFLEET business is
causing conflict with real-life jobs, and as such, I
decided that a change is necessary to better serve
the membership. Until further notice, should you
need to submit your promotion requests, please send
them to STARFLEET’s official PO Box in Lubbock,
Texas, and they will get routed appropriately.
(Editorial note: After this article was submitted but
before this issue went to press, a new Promotions
Officer, Linda Kloempken, was appointed, and a
downloadable flag officer promotion form was posted
to the documents section on the STARFLEET web
site: www.sfi.org. The online form has submission
instructions.)
In closing, I’d just like to say that it’s been an exciting
and bumpy ride during the first third of my time at the
helm of this great organization. It’s taken 35 years
for STARFLEET to get to where it is today. Where
can we go in the next 35 years?
Sal
1310-01-13
Name: Dave Blaser
Rank: Vice Admiral
Position: Vice-Commander, STARFLEET
Ship: Bounty Station SFR-1301
Region: 13, Ontario(Canada)
Achievements: FORMER Region 13 Coordinator
Vice-commander, STARFLEET
Report from the Vice-Commander, STARFLEET
Hello, STARFLEET! (Yes, “Good Morning, Vietnam” was
on television last night.)
Whoever it was that said that writing an introductory article
would be easy hasn’t ever done it. I’ve been wracking my
head over what I want to say and how I want to introduce
myself to everyone in STARFLEET, and I still haven’t
figured out exactly what to say about myself that hasn’t
already been said.
All right, now that I’ve said this much, for those who don’t
know me, allow me a moment to introduce myself. I’m
Dave Blaser, your new Vice Commander, STARFLEET.
I’m sure that more than a few of you are now saying, “Oh
yeah, I know him.” Some are undoubtedly saying, “Oh no,
not him.” And others yet are saying, “Isn’t he that guy from
Canada?” Everyone else is probably saying, “Who is he,
and what’s he done?”
That last one is a very good question. I usually like to talk
about myself in the same way that Gag Halfrunt talks about
Zaphod Beeblebrox: “Vell, Dave’s jist zis guy, you know?”
but I know that most of you will really want to know who I
am, so.....
For those who don’t already know me, I’ve been a member
of STARFLEET now for a little over 10 years, having done
a number of different things at various times throughout
the years from being part of STARFLEET Academy as a
course Director years and years ago, through to being a
CO a couple of times, part of the FRC programme back
when it was the FDC, served as the VRC Communications
in Region 13, to most recently having the pleasure to be
the Regional Coordinator of Region 13 and serving on the
Admiralty Board.
I’ve also done some unofficial duties as well that kind of
circulate around STARFLEET, having once been the List
Admin for the Unofficial STARFLEET-L List.
So, as everyone can see, I’ve been around STARFLEET
and seen my share of things from various different
aspects, so being on the EC was probably the next natural
progression for me.
and for handing me over the keys to the office in a timely
and efficient manner, bringing me up to speed on the
various aspects of things that were going on and some
of the initial challenges that I was going to face when I
was chosen to succeed him. From one Canuckle Head to
another, thanks bud, and thanks for leaving me the hockey
helmet. I’m going to need that for all the pucks that are
going to be flying my way. *grin*
Outside of STARFLEET, because there is life after
STARFLEET, is my career and the fun things that I do. In
terms of my career, I work for a pretty large Information
Technology outsourcing and managed services company. Whenever I tell people that, they always give me this funny
look like I’ve said something that went about three feet over
their head, so I give them the “plain English” translation of
what IT outsourcing and managed services are: “We come
in, take over your company’s IT department, and find a way
to save them money through different techniques.”
In my spare time, when there isn’t something work or
STARFLEET related going on, I’m working towards getting
my pilot’s license, which has been one of the most liberating
and fun things that I’ve ever done. Trust me, if ever you
have the chance, go to your local small plane airport and
ask them to take you on a Discovery Flight. It is, by far, one
of the most fun things that you can do that gives you the
ultimate sense of freedom, and for those younger members
who may be reading this with a desire to get into space,
learning how to fly is a step in the right direction.
Now that I’ve given my Grammy acceptance speech, I’ll
move on to the big show and start talking about STARFLEET
and things that are happening.
I’d love to be able to tell you that we’ve had an amazing
month here in the VCS Department and that we’re ahead
of the curve on all of our targets, plans, and reporting, and
that everything is going just swimmingly. The reality of
the situation here is that I’ve been spending the month of
November (that’s when I’m writing this article) becoming
familiarized with my department, my specific duties, and
the things that have to get done on a regular basis and on
what schedule they have to be completed by.
Speaking of which, I’d like to take a moment now to say
thanks to Sal for the chance to serve STARFLEET as his
VCS, to the AB for confirming me, and to the rest of the EC
for being so welcoming and patient with me as I’ve been
especially passionate about some topics and expounded
on them on the EC list and our conference calls.
In addition to that, I’ve been becoming familiarized with
how STARFLEET works at the EC level, various aspects
of how STARFLEET operates on a corporate level, and
my particular place in it all. At the same time, the other
members of the EC are getting used to how I do things,
which I admit may be very different than what they were
used to with Gary.
I’d like to say a special word to Gary Halverson for serving
as STARFLEET’s VCS during the first 10 months of 2008
The VCS Department has a lot to it and I’m working my way
through an evaluation of the department-- things that are
Page 10
happening, things that aren’t, how the department works,
and how I’d like to see things change. My hope is that we
can see some things happen and move forward and have
a progressive VCS Department that turns out a lot of things
for STARFLEET that will help us.
I’m sure that members of my team will be talking more
about the things that they’re specifically doing and what’s
happening in their corners of the department, but here’s a
short synopsis of things that are happening:
The Annual Campaign - Marlene and I are talking about
a couple of fun and interesting things that will hopefully
engage the members and see some direct participation
from many of you. This was one of the very first things
that came to me as I came as the new VCS--a desire to
see more participation from the members. With that, we’re
working on a couple of fun things:
- Taking a page right out of Emmett Plant’s book during
the election, having a semi-regular trivia night for
members to participate in, more to come on that in the
not-too-distant future. We’re working on a way to do
this not only on-line but also via the Communiqué for
those folks who aren’t connected to the ‘Net and who
want to be able to participate too.
- After talking a bit with Alex Rosenzweig and hearing
a very small amount about the Avenger Fiction, we’re
looking at coordinating a Short Story Contest made up
of submissions from you, the members, the budding
authors, everyone who has a vivid imagination and
love of Star Trek. This is still very much in the planning
stages but my hope is to secure the participation of
a professional Star Trek author to judge the top five
entries.
The SFMC - The Marines are a pretty self-sufficient group
and are busily working away on a number of different
things. Please do take a few moments and read up on
what they’re doing in the ATTENTION ON DECK section
of the newsletter, but I’m very happy to say that the SFMC
General Staff have been welcoming of the new VCS
Department Head and been very nice to this little Navy
boy, even accepting my participation in fundraising for the
GS portion of the SFMC Scholarship Challenge that the
General Staff had put forth to the Marines.
The Fleet Resource Program - the FRC continues to
move forward and are working to provide full services. We
are in need of a couple of FRC Directors, specifically for the
Engineering Corps and the “Echoes from Space” Troupe. If you’d like more details on what these FRC programs are,
or to see how you can help in any part of the FRC, please
get in touch with the FRC Director, Jeff Schnoor.
PetFleet - another newsletter has been made available on
the PetFleet Yahoo Group and is still working on getting
things up-to-speed to provide information and services
for all of our members in STARFLEET who have those
special companions in our lives.
International Charities - we’re looking right now at the
International Charities corner of the VCS Department
and are determining the best course of actions for us
to address its functions and the things that we’d like to
accomplish in both the short and long-term of the team.
of the world, specifically in Cuba. In addition, we have
some concerns insofar as to what we can potentially do
to make things a little more feasible for people in areas
of the world who live in more economically challenged
countries to allow them to become members without
having to spend the equivalent of a few months of their
salary. In order to achieve this, we are going to look at a
number of potential amendments to both the Membership
Handbook and STARFLEET’s Constitution which may
allow us to correct these concerns.
Constitutional Reform - this is the one really big
thing that hit the news last year insofar as what the
VCS Department was going to be doing in regards to
STARFLEET’s Constitution and what kind of reform we
were going to bring to the organization. After a number
of issues over the course of 2008 with this, we’re going
to start fresh and take a clean look at what needs to be
addressed for both short-term and long-term issues.
In terms of “long-term” issues, we have a number of
things that we’d like to look at for potential areas of
improvement overall in STARFLEET, but particularly in
qualifying and quantifying some areas of our governing
documents in order to solidify and better clarify the roles
and responsibilities of all aspects of STARFLEET from
the individual members, to the chapters, the Regions, the
Admiralty Board, right up to the Executive Committee and
their staff.
In terms of “short-term” issues, we presently have an
issue in regards to having members from certain areas
The second of these two is obviously going to take a lot
longer to achieve, but the general timeline that I’m hoping
for is that we’ll have some amendments to present to
the EC and the AB for review and to determine if we can
put to a special ballot to the members for the short-term
issues, and potentially a somewhat re-worked but better
clarified membership handbook and Constitution for vote
in the 2010 election to address the long-term issues.
This is not an exhaustive list of the things that are happening
or expected to be happening in the VCS department,
mostly because I’m still learning the department and
doing a review of each of its deliverables, teams, and
the services that we provide to you, the members of
STARFLEET.
On a somewhat different note, 2009 is a special year for
STARFLEET, it marks our 35th birthday! I hope that you’ll
join me, the EC, the AB, and every region, chapter and
other STARFLEET member by celebrating in 2009 our
35 years of fun, fellowship, and fandom, and join me in
wishing for many, many more!
Talk to you in 60 days!
Vice-chief of communications, STARFLEET
0111-05-0
Attention All STARFLEET Writers:
Short Story Contest Now Underway
By MGN Dennis Rayburn
Vice-Chief of Communications
The STARFLEET Annual Campaign office has
announced a contest for aspiring writers in
STARFLEET. This contest will be in the form
of a Star Trek themed short story competition
that will run during 2009. To enter, you need
to write a short story using the characters from
any incarnation of Star Trek. The story must be
less than 7,500 words, and be an original story
that has not been published in any electronic or
printed media prior to our judging. The author
must be a current member of STARFLEET, the
International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc., and
must supply their real name and SCC number.
Pseudonyms are allowed, but the author’s real
name must be submitted with the entry. There
is a limit of one entry per person. The story will
remain the property of the writer, but by submitting
it to this contest, the author grants STARFLEET
license to print it in a future CQ, and use portions
for future advertising and promotional purposes.
The writer, by submitting a story, further agrees to
submit a headshot photo of himself or herself for
publication in the CQ.
An important item to take note of: the story must
be a story that would get a no more adult than
a “PG” rating, as it will be printed in media that
children can access and read. While violence
can be part of the story, excessively gory violence
will lessen the chances of the story moving on
in the contest. (A good guide would be to keep
the subject matter and content appropriate that
it could run in the 8pm time slot on U.S. network
television—just like Star Trek itself.)
All stories must be submitted by either regular mail
or by email, and must be received by midnight
Eastern Time, June 1, 2009. Entries may be sent
by ground mail to:
Marlene Miller
461 Harmony Lane
Campbell, Ohio 44405-1212
or by e-mail to:
[email protected]
Any entries received after the deadline will not
be considered. If you are sending the story by
ground mail, be sure and keep a copy, as your
story will not be returned.
After June 1, 2009, all entries will be reviewed by
the Annual Campaign Short Story Contest Panel,
who will be charged with selecting the top five
stories. Those five finalists will be judged and
ranked by noted author Keith R. A. DeCandido,
the author of numerous books, including the Star
Trek novel “A Singular Destiny”. The decisions of
the panel and Mr. DeCandido are final.
We have a lot of aspiring writers in STARFLEET,
and thanks to this contest, you now have a
chance of getting a piece of your work reviewed
and ranked by a well known published author.
So, get your fingers running and flying over your
keyboards, and let’s see what kind of stories the
Page 11
members of STARFLEET can come up with.
Next month, we will be publishing an interview
with Mr. DeCandido, so be sure to check out
CQ #151 for more information on this exciting
contest.
1312-01-13
Name: Dave Blaser
Rank: Vice Admiral
Position: Vice-Commander, STARFLEET
Ship: Bounty Station SFR-1301
Region: 13, Ontario (Canada)
Achievements: FORMER Region 13 Coordinator
Vice-Commander, STARFLEET
ECAB Report
Filed November 20, 2008 by Dave Blaser
Both the Executive Committee and the Admiralty
Board have been keeping busy addressing
various aspects of running things in STARFLEET. As always, questions and concerns about these
or any number of other things happening in
STARFLEET should be brought up with your
Regional Coordinator first.
AB Discussions and Votes
There have been a few topics of discussion which
have been brought up before the AB over the
last couple of months. Here’s a brief summary
of those topics:
STARFLEET’s Internal Auditor
STARFLEET’s Constitution allows for the
AB to appoint an Internal Auditor to internally
review STARFLEET’s financial books as a
way to make sure that we’re doing things
above board and that our finances are being
documented appropriately.
A motion has been made to name Liz Woolf
as STARFLEET’s Internal Auditor. However,
because Liz was STARFLEET’s Chief
Financial Officer during the last 8 months
of the previous administration, there’s a
question as to whether her appointment in
this capacity would be appropriate--some of
what Liz could initially be reviewing would
be some of her own work in documenting
STARFLEET’s finances.
A suggestion was put forward that Liz would
not be in a conflict in the Internal Auditor’s
position if the annual external review were
to be done prior to Liz taking the post. The
concern is still a valid one, and an attempt is
being made to find out if there would be any
potential laws broken if Liz were to become
the Internal Auditor given her previous post
as the CFO.
Definition of “Cyberbully”
As a result of a discussion that took place
on the Official STARFLEET List, the AB was
asked to define what a “cyberbully” was in
STARFLEET terms.
Result: Passed: Aye: 15, Nay: 0, Abstain: 1
EC Discussions
A number of definitions were discussed,
however the AB has not decided upon a
final definition of what STARFLEET would
use to define the term, so no definition has
been adopted as yet.
The EC has been working away on a
number of operational matters, much of
which is detailed in the reports of the various
departments that you can read in this edition
of the Communique.
In an effort to speed up communication
between the EC departments, the EC has
been holding conference calls to discuss
issues that are taking place, ask questions
of each other, and try to work through
various things that need to be addressed for
STARFLEET.
Motions Voted Upon
The full text and record of all votes can be
found on the STARFLEET Historian’s AB
Resolutions web page at:
http://historian.sfi.org/AB/
AB08-06: Revised SFA Policies and
Procedures
Conference calls have been held weekly
until November 23rd, 2008, however were
re-scheduled to bi-weekly at that point in
order to allow for additional time to address
various issues as well as time with our
families on Sunday evenings.
As was noted in a previous ECAB
report by Gary Halverson, the AB was
discussing and deliberating a revision to
the Academy policies regarding cheating or
the inappropriate sharing of answers to an
Academy course or exam.
The revised text of STARFLEET Academy
policy number 2 can be found on the
STARFLEET Academy web site at:
http://academy.sfi.org/about/policies.shtml
Result: Passed: Aye: 13, Nay: 3, Abstain: 0
AB08-07: Confirmation of Dave Blaser as
Vice Commander, STARFLEET
As a result of Gary Halverson’s increased
work schedule due to a change in his career,
Gary determined it would be best to resign
as Vice Commander, STARFLEET. After
reviewing and interviewing candidates, Sal
nominated myself, Dave Blaser, to the AB to
be Gary’s successor and be named as Vice
Commander, STARFLEET.
Page 12
Some of the topics on the conference calls
have included (but have not been limited
to):
Member promotions;
Addressing various concerns regarding the
Communique;
• Flag rank promotion guidelines;
• Shakedown
chapter
commissioning
concerns and issues; and
• EC department staffing issues.
•
•
I won’t get into the specifics of what was
discussed regarding these topics, I’m sure
that many of them will be addressed by the
various departments in their own reports
and articles.
Talk to you again in 60 days!
0412-40-718
Name: Jonathan Lane
Rank: Commodore
Position: Chief of Communications, STARFLEET
Ship: USS Angeles NCC-71840; Region: 4, California (USA)
Achievements: Former XO, USS Avenger NCC-1860; Former Special Projects Coordinator, Region 7;
Designer of the award-Winning USSANGELES.com website; Co-Chairman of the 2005 Region 4 Conference
Chief of communications, STARFLEET
Communications Report
Three cheers for hi-brite paper!
After the smudgy mess that was CQ #148 (my first issue as
Comm Chief), I talked to our printing company in Oklahoma
about options for increasing the print quality of our newsletter.
Having already requested and received bids from nearly a dozen
other print vendors from New Hampshire to Montana to southern
California and even China (yes, I looked into outsourcing the
CQ!), I rapidly discovered that we would not be able to afford
a transition to a magazine-quality format, even if we cut our
page count or sizing dimensions. The cheapest price I found
for magazine-quality printing was over twice what we’re paying
for newsprint.
So the solution to our smudging problem had to come from
our current printers. Fortunately, a number of stars aligned in
our favor. First, we were offered a deal that would allow us to
upgrade to a higher quality of newsprint (called hi-brite) for a
price nearly the same as what we are paying currently for a
lower quality of newsprint. The only catch is that Starfleet
needs to sign a one-year commitment with our printers to lock
in the lower cost (so they can pre-order our paper in bulk at
a discount). However, since we’ve been using these printers
for over a decade, signing a one-year agreement is hardly an
issue.
The other star to align for us is that our printing company has
recently invested in upgrading their printing press. I won’t bore
you with details, but there’s new gadgets and doohickeys on the
thing that keep the printing plates from sliding out of alignment.
This means that our color pages will look sharper.
And there are some other improvements coming to our printers
in the upcoming months, and hopefully those will likewise be
reflected in the Communiqué. In the meantime, we’ll keep doing
our best to fill this here newsletter up with great stuff. And when
I say “we”, that mean you. If you’re reading this and you’re a
member of STARFLEET, then it’s your job to help supply the
Communiqué with articles, photos, drawings…all the good stuff
that your fellow members like to see. Look at the submission
guidelines at the end of this issue and send in your special piece
of the STARFLEET Communiqué today.
New Vice-Chief of Communications
Please help me welcome the new STARFLEET Vice-Chief of
Communications: Major General Dennis Rayburn.
Late last year, Vice-Chief of Communications and CQ Content
Editor Rob Kitson resigned his positions on the Comm Team for
reasons he shared with me privately. I appreciated the time he
was able to contribute, but this left me, once again, needing to
fill the Vice-Chief of Comm position. I had already spoken with
some members of STARFLEET and, after Rob’s resignation,
spoke privately with a few others before deciding on Dennis.
My criteria for filling the position were many and often varied
depending on the combination of skills and experience of the
person I was considering. I needed someone with a proven
track record in STARFLEET for getting things accomplished,
being reliable, proactive, and energetic. While there might be
a rookie member of STARFLEET who joined last summer who
might be perfect, I needed a longer resume to make certain the
person had a consistency of reliability. But simply finding a good
STARFLEET veteran was not enough.
I also needed someone familiar with the publishing industry.
Deadlines for a bi-monthly newsletter are deceptive. If an issue
is scheduled to come out in late January, all submissions need
to be in by mid-November, and you have to start soliciting for
submissions as early as September or October at the latest.
The Communiqué can’t be a last-minute endeavor. If you get
too comfortable, issues will be late...sometimes very late. (I was
already planning content for CQ #150 before we ever started
laying out CQ #149. Even now as I write this article for #150,
I’ve already started getting things ready for #151.)
Finally, I wanted someone with whom I, my Editor-in-Chief
Prasith Kim-Aun, and the entire Executive Committee could
get along. I wasn’t simply looking for a Sal Lizard cheerleader,
but I will admit to not being interested in bringing on anyone
who communicates with rudeness or anger on any of the
STARFLEET lists. In my opinion, a Comm Chief and his/her
Vice-Chief must set the highest standard of polite and respectful
communication in STARFLEET, in the hopes that others will
follow our example.
No one was perfect in all of these categories (not even me!).
Prasith did not want the position, preferring to concentrate
on doing an excellent job laying out the CQ. Other potential
candidates were also not interested (this is a high pressure EC
job, and folks will let you know quite loudly when they aren’t
happy with the CQ!).
Dennis Rayburn, however, fulfilled nearly all of my criteria and
was eager to take on the challenge. Dennis joined Starfleet
back in 1993. Since then, he’s built quite an impressive club
resume:
Regional Vice Chief of Chaplains/Counselors, R1
Director of the Existing Fan Club Program
Vice Chief of Operations - East (back then there was more than
one vice)
DOIC, 1st BDE, SFMC
OIC, 1st BDE, SFMC
Chaplain of the Corps, SFMC
Chief of Staff to the Commander, STARFLEET (under Mandi
Livingston)
Most recently, Dennis served as Director of Chaplains in the
FRC program, and he still operates as Director of the College
of Bond, James Bond in STARFLEET Academy. He is also the
current CO of the Kentucky/Tennessee-based STARFLEET
chapter, Space Station Nikola Tesla.
Page 13
In real life, Dennis is a journalist, having worked in print and radio
media was well as writing for the Internet. He understands the
unique requirements and hidden traps of publishing schedules.
Yeah, he speaks his mind, sometimes loudly, usually with a
southern drawl and lots of good ol’ boy metaphors, but that’s just
fine with me. Dennis understands the requirements of the ViceChief position and the possibility that he might have to step into
my shoes at some point before the end of Sal’s current term in
office. He knows how to communicate politely and respectfully in
open forums, and he is ready to participate in EC discussions.
Already Dennis has taken on a few projects for me, including
writing some content for this very issue. He has been
participating in our bi-weekly EC conference calls and on our
EC online chat list. He is ready to help me nag people for CQ
submissions, help to proofread articles, and also to take the lead
in compiling a Communications manual that we can pass along
to future Comm Chiefs.
EXTRA! EXTRA! Get Yer Extra CQs!
You wanna hear something funny? Up until recently, we’ve
been printing up about 2,200 copies of each issue of CQ. That’s
enough to send out about 2,000 issues to our members (we’ve
got 3,500 members of STARFLEET, but may are families where
multiple people receive one CQ).
So we’ve been printing up 2,200 copies, but our printer has a
3,000-copy minimum. This sort of thing is pretty standard in
the industry, as the machine prints so fast that running less than
3,000 copies leaves barely enough time for the machine to warm
up and get up to speed.
So what’s been happening to those other 800 copies of each
issue that we’ve been paying for but not picking up? Hasta la
vista, baby… They were going straight into the recycling bin.
Now, don’t come down to hard on STARFLEET for letting those
issues simply go unclaimed. The fact is that 800 copies of CQ
weighs about 250 pounds and costs over $200 to ship. PJ
Trotter, who picks up the issues, puts labels on them (with her
team), and mails them (everyone say: “Thank you, PJ!”). Well,
she doesn’t have the space to store that many issues…certainly
not with six CQs coming out per year! So walking away from 800
copies of our newsletter that we were paying for was actually a
practical, cost-saving decision.
But I didn’t like it.
At a time when STARFLEET needs so desperately to keep
our membership numbers up, letting those CQs just disappear
seemed like such a waste. After all, so many chapters already
ask me about ordering extra CQs to use for recruiting and
marketing.
The only catch was that there was still a cost for these CQs, and
we still needed to ship them somewhere they could be stored
and where people could order them. Fortunately, STARFLEET
has just such a place: our Quartermaster “warehouse” in
Alabama, run by Pete Mohney. Pete offered to take possession
of the surplus CQs and store them, allowing members to order
them for chapter recruiting, to give to friends, or for whatever
reason they wanted. That just left us with one task: figuring out
what to charge. We have to cover the printing cost of the CQs,
packing the surplus, shipping them from Oklahoma to Alabama,
and then the cost to mail them to the members (including yet
another shipping package so they don’t get ruined in the mail).
We finally came up with three options. Each rounds up to the
nearest dollar, allowing STARFLEET a little cushion if postage
rates go up:
1 issue of CQ - $3
5-pack of CQs - $8
25-pack of CQs - $25
Some have asked why we don’t just give away the surplus CQs
to chapters who want/need them (since we’d be paying for them
no matter what)? After all, these surplus CQs will likely be used
for recruiting, which benefits STARFLEET. Is STARFLEET
trying to make a profit off its members? This question was
recently answered in a well-written e-mail sent by GEN Mark H.
Anbinder to the SFI-L list:
Try looking at it not as STARFLEET “making a profit” when
sending out Communiqués for chapters to use, but as “cost
recovery.”
Yes, the money’s already spent, if we have to buy 3,000 copies
of each issue. However, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t make
sense to try to recover the cost of the extra copies when they’re
going to be put to use. From an accounting standpoint, it just
makes sense to reflect the fact that some of the issues are
going to fulfill individual members’ subscriptions, and some of
them are going for recruiting or promotional purposes.
quantity of refreshments we’ll purchase. Charging a nominal
amount for the Communiqués seems to me as though it would
have the same effect; people will take them seriously and not
consider them to be garbage.
Note that it’s not PROFIT unless we more than recover the cost
of the entire print run, and I think there’s little danger of that. We
could refer to it as margin, and even in a situation where you’re
not trying to make money, per se, it only makes sense to have
a margin above the individual unit cost. That helps to cover the
production expense even if the entire batch doesn’t get sold,
and you can never assume that the entire batch will get sold.
Well said, Mark.
That’s why when we pay $10 each for twenty t-shirts, we sell
them for at least $12-15 even if we’re not trying to turn a profit.
We want to make sure we don’t LOSE money if there are a
couple of shirts left over.
The STARFLEET Quartermaster is never going to make millions
of dollars for STARFLEET, but it does make sense to see it as
at least a cost-recovery service. Having the Quartermaster send
out items at a price that’s below STARFLEET’s cost just doesn’t
make sense to me. We’re not talking about an amount that will
bankrupt anyone, but a fair price that reflects the cost of the
materials being sent.
Look at it this way. I’m involved in another organization that has
found that if we have a FREE EVENT, people will often sign up
for it and not show up, because something that’s free feels like
something that’s unimportant and more easily wasted. When
we charge even a nominal fee, people take the event more
seriously, and will let us know if they can’t come rather than
just not showing up. That lets us give their spot to someone on
a waiting list, or adjust the number of chairs we put out, or the
The fact is that this program is brand new, and we don’t yet
know if it will work, be popular, need tweaking, or fail miserably.
Likely (hopefully), it’ll just need some tweaking. For example,
maybe we’ll need to create a 10-pack or a 15-pack instead.
Also, we’re considering using some of the revenue generated
from the program to subsidize a price break for under-strength
chapters to utilize the surplus CQs for recruiting. But we need
some operating revenue first, so think about ordering some
surplus CQs for your chapter’s recruiting efforts to help us seed
the funds.
Surplus back issues of CQ will typically be available a few
weeks after an issue is mailed to members, starting with CQ
#149. Availability will continue while supplies last. And later
this year, we’ll start assembling random packs in which different
issues are grouped together.
We’re also looking at another program where chapters can preorder extra CQs before they are printed for an even lower cost
per issue. But that program’s details are only just starting to be
discussed and worked out…and I’ll tell ya, my head is already
spinning!
So with that, let me leave you all to enjoy our 150th issue of the
STARFLEET Communiqué. May the club, the newsletter, and
all of us still be around in another 150 issues (only 25 short
years away)!
Director, Alumni Outreach Program
0714-43-635
Name: Annie Wheeler
Rank: Captain
Position: Director, Alumni Outreach Program
Other Positions: Commanding Officer; Dean of Institute of Science Fiction Studies
Ship: USS DeBraak NCC-63543
Region: 7, Delaware (USA)
Achievements: Zirconium level of the Boothby Awards (400 courses); Regional Recruitment Award in 2007
The New Alumni Outreach Program
It all started as a discussion on the SFI list. A dialog was going
on about people leaving STARFLEET and why they were
leaving. A lot of reasons were tossed around, but we had no
data; no one was out there trying to come up with facts rather
than opinions.
them know that their membership had expired and offering help
to renew if needed…and asking them if they weren’t renewing:
why? Two COs requested we not e-mail their expired members
as they preferred to contact their former members themselves
and to report to us their results.
be returning to STARFLEET at a later date when their financial
situation improves. Some of them are remaining active in their
chapters, as not all chapters require their members to also
be members of SFI. Some are planning on coming back into
STARFLEET and some aren’t.
I stepped up, along with a few other people, and asked why we
didn’t pursue the reasons by asking the question to those that
were actually not renewing their membership.
Then I was approached to see if I would be interested in
heading up the effort. I agreed. With the help of Jon Lane and
Robert Kitson, we acquired from Matt Ingles the names of all
expired memberships from January through September of 2008.
The program was named the STARFLEET Alumni Outreach
Program. Robert created an initial contact letter that he, Jon,
and I tweaked to the one we ended up using.
On the positive side, we managed to solve about a half dozen
membership renewal issues with the help of Bran Stimpson of
Member Services, as well as finding a number of members that
hadn’t realized that their membership had expired. By the time
we start contacting the next batch (individuals that have expired
in the fourth quarter of 2008) we should already have about
50 people that renewed with our assistance, because of our
contact, or were going to but hadn’t gotten around to it until we
contacted them. We are in the process of following up to verify
the number that actually did renew (at 32 so far) for our report to
the ECAB.
Robert took most of the even numbered Regions and I took the
odd ones plus Region 2. Within a few weeks, we had sent out
emails to all those members with listed email addresses letting
We found an overwhelming number of the people that
responded to be very cordial in their replies, even when they
weren’t planning on renewing. We also found that some will
There were a number of reasons we found that people weren’t
renewing The overwhelming “big three” reasons boiled down
to 1) personal financial situation, 2) loss of interest, and 3)
politics. The loss of interest came from a number of reasons:
from personal loss of interest in Star Trek in general to loss of
interest in the activities of their particular chapter. The politics
broke down to wishing there was a lot less of it in STARFLEET
(including chapter politics) on the one hand and particular
politics of the current administration on the other. However, the
vast majority of reasons were economic. Responses out of the
Rust Belt states were overwhelmingly economically based. The
few from overseas that responded were either related to real
life issues taking a toll, either on their time or their funds. Still,
a number, perhaps a dozen or so, still plan to renew when they
can make it work within their budget constraints.
Page 14
In the interest of fair disclosure...many people never
responded. A number had bad email or no email addresses.
One of our recommendations will be for the Administration
to reach out to the RCs and ask them to reach out to all their
COs to check the database and have their members update
their email addresses.
Another recommendation is to make a priority that the
database send out renewal notices prior to a membership
expiring. It would also be helpful if COs were either
personally aware of the renewal dates of their members
or had a Retention Officer that could keep track. This is
especially important on smaller chapters who need to make
certain they meet the minimum member requirement.
I can’t say enough about the fantastic cooperation we’ve
had from Membership Processing and from Bran Stimpson
and Matt Ingles in particular. Without their assistance, we
could not have done so much in so short of a timeframe.
As a sidebar, we haven’t finished completely with the first
0815-14-742
lists we’ve gotten. The emails that bounced are being
checked for their last chapter of record, and emails will be
going out to the COs of those chapters asking for them to
contact the members in question. This is a much slower
process, as each member’s record has to be pulled up,
chapter noted, and then when the Region is fully checked,
all the members from each chapter must be compiled
together. At that point, the contact information for the CO
of that chapter has to be obtained and then we can send
them an email. After that, we can only hope that the COs
will contact those members and provide us feedback. I don’t
anticipate this part to be completely finished until the end of
the year.
That said, a lot has been accomplished in the last two
months. We have some answers, though I don’t know how
much statistical weight should be put on any one answer
as many expired members chose to not reply. We also
haven’t heard from those that didn’t have current contact
information. However, we do have input--not conjecture or
supposition--but real input from our members that hadn’t
renewed. We need to at least listen to that input and
consider it as we move forward.
Things can be accomplished in STARFLEET and the Alumni
Outreach Program proves it. We didn’t get bogged down in
who does what or why. We had a clear vision of our mission
and got to work on moving forward toward our goals.
As with any program we’ve taken a few hits, dodged a few
rocks being tossed in our direction, but for the most part,
we’ve met with nothing but support from those we’ve asked
help from and appreciation from those that chose to reply to
us...both those members staying and those choosing not to
renew.
Since there is every reason to believe that the Alumni
Outreach Program will continue, we’ve even found a
member who’s offered their graphic talents in designing us a
logo. It’s not finished yet, but I want to thank Kathy Mullins,
XO of the USS Nelson in Region 15 (Massachusetts); OIC
980th MSG; and OIC 3rd BN for donating her time.
Name: Kimberly Donohoe
Rank: vice admiral
Position: Chief of operations
Other positions: Executive officer
Ship: USS Dauntless NCC-74214
Region: 8, Florida (USA)
Chief of Operations, STARFLEET
Operations Report
Who would have thought writing a simple
newsletter article would be so difficult? Three
rewrites and several cups of tea later, here I am
still staring at the screen. This article is to inform
the membership of what’s been going on in Ops,
current projects, and future plans, all without hurting
anyone’s feelings, shifting blame, stepping on toes,
etc. So without any intentional misdirection or
malice…here is where we stand.
Password changes without notification and glitches
for my vice chief, COMM Michael Vermoesen, and
me during the transition resulted in failure to access
email for several weeks, and subsequently the loss
of many emails. A lengthy delay in transferring
of documents, sub-departments being dissolved
and/or revamped, manuals being developed from
scratch, all have contributed to the situation at
hand.
Recently, several regions have had held elections
for regional coordinator. During this time, it came to
light that several chapters were on Standby Status.
I was as shocked as much as anyone, considering
I hadn’t placed any there. After quite some time of
trying to get to the bottom of the situation, through
the help of VADM Dave Blaser, we were able to find
out they had been placed there over two years ago
by a predecessor. These chapters have since been
restored to Active Status, all wiped clear. By the
time you read this article, all chapters that are at
risk of being placed on Standby have been notified,
as well as their respective RCs, that they have
until December 31st to get squared away. A more
efficient process is in the works which will benefit all
sides and have fewer margins for error.
Recruiting has been moved to its proper place
under Command. This leaves Retention with
Operations, and a manual is currently under
development, headed by VADM Vermoesen.
Operations will be looking for someone to head this
sub-department who will be working in cooperation
each RC and their appointed contact in each region
to provide support for their respective chapters.
A few chapters have asked to be decommissioned,
and these requests have been put on hold. The
way the database is set up currently, if a chapter is
decommissioned, all information on said chapter
is lost forever. This came to light after several
were decommissioned by my predecessor, two
of which shouldn’t have been, and we’ve been
trying to rebuild the history. In order to prevent this
from happening again, the plan is to implement a
different process.
There are still some chapters who will not use
the database to enter their MSRs, preferring to
email directly or use snail mail. While this is still
acceptable, a problem has arisen. Now these
MSRs are entered into the system by our MSR
Page 15
Officer, CAPT Arthur Vaccarino, who is doing a
great job and is quite tenacious. But during my
leave of absence, and before Arthur was appointed,
several of these MSR’s weren’t entered. In trying
to catch these up, because of the gaps, some were
entered in the wrong month, and we have yet to
have this corrected.
With the appointment of a new Computer
Operations Chief, I have every confidence that the
relevant issues will be quickly resolved. I have
nothing but respect for COMM Moyer, he’s a good
man, love him like a son, and wish him the best in
the future. One of our staff, LT Dennis Bilyk, will be
moving to Comp Ops, and our loss is their gain.
Last, I don’t mind getting a phone call. In fact, I
love it because it is so much more personal than
an email and I enjoy talking with others. I can be
reached at 904-269-7720, so please don’t hesitate
to call with a questions or concerns. Just make
sure I’m awake if it’s late.
VADM Kimberly Donohoe
Chief of Operations
Editorial Note: In mid-december, Kim Donohoe stepped
down from the position of Chief of Operations. Her
new replacement is Vice Admiral Jerry Tien.
USS Leonidas NCC-71801
Name: Jonathan Krieger
Rank: Commander
Position: Commanding Officer
Ship: USS Leonidas NCC-71801
Region: 4, Arizona (USA)
0416-01-718
Growing the Next Generation of Star Trek Fans
An amazing thing is happening on my chapter…
This realization hit me--quite literally--the week before
the Christmas holiday while I was sitting at my desk in
my classroom. I am a high school German and Science
teacher, and it was a busy week. During a class change,
I was focused on typing something into my computer.
There were several students in the room with me, but I
was not paying attention to them.
Suddenly, I felt something hit me…then another
something…then a flood of somethings. Before I could
grasp what was happening, I was buried in tribbles. They
lay all over me, around
me, and under me. A sea
of tribbles covered my
desk in various sizes from
as big as a grapefruit to as
small as a golf ball.
of the Enterprise-D, met Star Trek Scenic Art Director
Michael Okuda, and, along with her mother, made 65
tribbles so she could dump them on her eccentric German
teacher (who is also her commanding officer aboard the
USS Leonidas).
This is not an isolated incident of Star Trek mania at my
school. I see it happening more and more. I have students
that are “friends” on MySpace.com and TrekSpace.org
that have changed their online names to “The Romulan
Commander” and “The Emotional Vulcan.” It is also
common to have Star Trek-related anime cartoons drawn
on my white boards in class. As a matter of fact, during
I looked up in shock and
was met with the biggest
smile and an even bigger
pair of smiling green eyes
of one of my German
students, who was also
a Starfleet Officer aboard
the USS Leonidas. Her
name was Zoe, and
she squealed, “MERRY
CHRISTMAS!!!!”
What is noteworthy about
this story is not that I was
now sitting at my desk
covered in tribbles. If you
saw my classroom, with
its System 47 screen
saver always projected on
a screen behind my desk,
my collection of tricorders,
and a laser pointer that
looks like a phaser (I stun students who are talking during
class); if you saw the cardboard standees of Picard, Riker,
Worf, LaForge, and Data standing around the room, you
would conclude that Mr. Krieger being covered in tribbles
is not that out of place.
What IS noteworthy is Zoe, the attractive and playful 16
year-old-girl with huge green eyes, had NEVER seen an
episode of Star Trek before a few months ago when she
joined a school Star Trek club run by her eccentric high
school German teacher.
Since then, Zoe has Joined STARFLEET, sat on the Bridge
many years ago. But there are benefits to STARFLEET
as well.
The kids see me in my uniform and then want to wear one,
too. When I explain, “Well, these uniforms are only for
STARFLEET officers…” I quickly get the question, “How
do you become a STARFLEET officer?” Consequently the
crew roster of the USS Leonidas has grown to 40 as of the
writing of this article with another 40+ cadets participating
with the Academy. My guess is that most of them will join
STARFLEET eventually.
We recently had a Spirit Assembly at the school and
the Student Council asked
“STARFLEET” if we would
help them, as the theme of
the assembly was futuristic.
Of course I said “yes,” and
so at that assembly, I had
17 uniformed officers and
20 Cadets acting as ushers.
My Security Chief even
put up a cordon to protect
the projection screen from
passing students, and I
laughed as they danced to
the Time Warp. I may have
even given a little jump to
the left myself.
After that assembly, I had
seven more students come
up to me and ask if they could
join the Starfleet Science
and Tactical Academy. I
smiled as I realized the
infection was spreading.
exams last week, an anime Spock watched over the
classroom from the white board with a greeting of “Live
Long and Prosper on your Finals.”
All of this enthusiasm for a genre of science fiction that, up
until this year, had been just something most of them had
“heard of” is the result of the formation of a High School
club called the Starfleet Science and Tactical Academy.
The Academy has one goal, and that is for the kids to
have fun. But in obtaining that goal, some wonderful side
effects occur. The kids are introduced to Star Trek and
their imaginations start to run wild…just as ours did so
Page 16
Now I regularly have 10
or 15 students in my room
during lunch because they
know I will be showing an
episode of Star Trek on the “View Screen.”
We attend school plays and concerts in uniform. At one
such event, as I arrived to meet my officers in the foyer,
I heard a voice from the other side of the room say,
“Starfleet is here!”
We also put on our uniforms and go to local ethnic
restaurants in what has been named “Cultural First
Contact Missions.” To explain this, I showed the kids the
TNG episode “A Matter of Honor” where, before going to
the Klingon ship in an exchange program, Riker goes to
Ten Forward to learn about Klingons by eating their food.
0817-14-742
Left Photo - Zoe Cockrill and Blake Johnson review department logs on the
bridge set at the Arizona Science Center in Phoenix.
Top photo - RC G arcia and Karissa Glenn monitor the warp engines.
Both photos by Leo Di Fraia.
The kids were very enthusiastic.
this thing that we all love.
25 kids have signed up to volunteer
at the upcoming Phoenix Comicon
because they want to meet Wesley
Crusher, Deanna Troi, and Data.
The point I am trying to make with
all of this is to assure my fellow
STARFLEET members that the
magic of Star Trek, that spark of
imagination that drew all of us to
this incredible story, still works.
All it will take to get the “Next
Generation” of Trekkers as fired
up as we are, or in some cases
were, is simply to introduce them
to it. The wonder of Star Trek will
do the rest.
My Anime/Manga group is working
furiously to develop a Star Trek-based
comic book called “The Adventures
of Captain Krieger”. I have detailed
some of the “characters” that currently
are members of the real world
“STARFLEET” and the kids plan to
work them all in, even if its just so we
can blast them with phasers.
And if you feel as though the
power in your fandom dilithium
crystals has drained, there is
a solution. Get close to these
kids as they get energized by
Star Trek, and as Riker said in
episode one of TNG, “Inertia will
take care of the rest.”
Because the Junior ROTC on campus
has a day of the week when they
wear their uniforms, my STARFLEET
officers want to do the same thing.
There is a new Star Trek themed
Multi Online Player computer game
coming out soon, and my kids can’t
wait to jump into that.
But most importantly, ALL of my
Cadets and Officers keep talking
about the upcoming Star Trek movie.
They have seen trailers for it in my
classroom. (I play them on the view
screen during the passing period),
and much to the chagrin of many who
will read this, this “Next Generation”
of Trekkers thinks the new Enterprise
looks “VERY COOL!!!”
This new movie will be THEIR Star
Trek, and I am sure it will light their
imaginations just our Star Trek’s did
ours. And it will breathe new life into
Krieger’s Krew - The USS Leonidas traveled to the Arizona Science Center for the opening
of Star trek: The Exhibition in november. Pictured left-to-right: (back Row) Ryan Reagor,
Nathaniel Gingrich, Jonathan Krieger, RC Garcia, Dustin Heine; (middle row) Blake Johnson,
Robert Van Horn, Lauren Smith, Monique Bowler, Amanda Hashagen, Caitlin Kessler; (front
row) Kaylea Payne, Zoe Cockrill, Abigail Potersnak, Karissa Glenn, and Sarah White.
Photo by Jon Lane.
Page 17
I will close this with another
short story. As one of my classes
was ending, RC Garcia, a new
Ensign aboard the Leonidas who
had watched her first episode
of Star Trek just three months
ago, walked up to my desk and
said, “Mene Sekket Ur Sevah.”
Since this was a German class,
I looked at her puzzled. “Wie
bitte?” (What did you say?) She
smiled and said, “That’s Vulcan
for ‘Live Long and Prosper.’”
We will, RC, with kids like you
joining us in the Trek Universe…
we will.
0818-14-742
USS Leonidas Gets to Play in the 24th Century
In November, Star TRek: The Exhibition, which is traveling to museums in different cities around the country, came to the Arizona Science Center in Phoenix.
Commander Jonathan Krieger volunteered his crew to appear for the entire day for the opening of the exhibit, posing for photos with museum patrons and lending
a little 24th century atmosphere to the exhibit of sets, costumes, and props from the many iterations of Star Trek. In exchange for their enthusiastic services,
the crew of the USS Leonidas was allowed to hang out and take photos and video on the sets after the museum closed to the public. All photos by Leo Di Fraia.
Page 18
0719-58-5
Name: MICHAEL STEIN
Rank: COMMODORE
Position: CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, STARFLEET
Other Positions: EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Ship: USS JUSTICE NCC-558
Region: 7, NEW JERSEY (USA)
Chief Financial Officer, STARFLEET
Financial Report
Greetings. Along with this report is the current
Statement of Activities and the Statement of
Financial Position for the period ending October
31, 2008. I’m pleased to report that we’ve ended
October with a Net Income of $2,531 and year-todate total of $6,985.
Just to let everyone know, we’ve filed an extension
for our Federal Form 990, which was due Monday,
November 17, 2008. At this point, it’s still being
reviewed by an outside CPA, and we expect
to receive it back shortly to have it signed and
submitted.
The largest expenses for year-to-date have been
Communiqué expenses, Quartermaster supplies,
followed by Scholarship Awards.
Joe Horton, our Fundraising Officer, is continuing to
work on a program with Global Re-Source to benefit
STARFLEET finances. This company provides a
great recycling program that pays STARFLEET
for used ink jet cartridges, laser toner cartridges,
cell phones, iPods, and more. Please contact
Joe directly at [email protected] for further
information about this exciting program and to get a
mailing label sent to you.
As previously mentioned, more detailed financial
statements are available online for all members to
view at the sfi.org website. Please sign in using your
SCC# and password to access the members-only
section.
Page 19
Once again, I’ve been asked to mention that we’re
still looking for someone to fill the position of Tax
Compliance Officer. If you would like to work on
an EC level and have some Accounting or Finance
background (with some sales tax experience
preferably), then please apply for this position.
Please send your real life resume and STARFLEET
resume, along with a cover letter explaining why you
would like this position, to my attention at cfo@sfi.
org.
Should anyone have any questions, concerns, or
comments, please feel free to send them to my
attention at [email protected]. Either I or one of my staff
will be happy to respond to your request as soon as
possible.
1520-01-15
Name: Pellerin, Peg
Rank: Admiral
Position: Commandant, Starfleet Academy
Other Positions: Executive Officer
Ship: SS Ian Fleming SFR 1501; Region: 15, Massachusetts (USA)
Achievements: Former CO of USS Equinox, Former OTS Director, Former Dean of the Institute of Leadership
Commandant, STARFLEET Academy
Report from the SFA Commandant
Greetings from the Great Halls of Learning, STARFLEET
Academy.
I would like to begin this report with the news that as of November
1, 2008, ADM Carol Thompson stepped down from the Vice
‘Dant position to a newly-created position of Coordinator of
Academic Services. She isn’t doing anything different except
spending all of her time solely on the academic portion of the
Academy and is no longer involved in the political aspects of
the Vice position. Stepping into the position of Vice ‘Dant is
ADM Marlene Miller. She should be no stranger for those of
you who have been with STARFLEET for some years. ADM
Marlene Miller has agreed to step back into the administrative
position. Marlene was the SFA Commandant from March, 1999
through 2003. I am so fortunate to have both of these ladies by
my side. They have so much experience, and both will keep me
going in the right direction.
On November 17, 2008, another change was made. VADM
Wayne Killough, Jr. regretfully resigned from his position of
Coordinator of Support Services for SFA due to a couple of new
occupations, which he felt took a lot of his real life time and not
allowed him enough time to give his full attention to his duties
at the Academy. ADM Greg Staylor, who is not a stranger to the
this position, will be taking it over.. He will continue with the
Chief of Electronic Services as well. Thank you, Wayne, for all
your assistance, especially to the rookie in the ‘Dant seat.
CONGRATULATIONS on your promotions:
Wayne Smith to Colonel – 10/13/08
Debbie French to Commodore – 11/12/08
Scott Anderson to Brigadier – 11/16/08
We are continuously experiencing growing pains. Ah, but such
wonderful pains they are. New colleges are opening; new courses
are being added on to existing colleges. When STARFLEET
Academy began in 1975, its goal was to give members of this
newfound STAR TREK fan club a better understanding of Star
Trek and its concepts by the public, and enabling the public to
see how Star Trek relates to the present. It was best described
as an academic course on the subject of Star Trek. There was
but one school; a cadet training of sorts.
Thirty-three years later, the Academy has grown to include 10
Institutes which are the homes to 62 colleges containing 900
exams. WHEW! (Probably by the time you read this, the
number went up considerably.)
With the aid of technology, all courses are free. All courses may
be conducted by email and some may be conducted online via
the Fully Automated Course System (FAC). Courses are being
added to this program as time permits. With that said, gaze at
the new and re-opened Colleges:
Andorian Orientation College - reopened under new
management
Klingon Warrior Academy - totally rewritten and under new
management
Cardassian Orientation College - major revisions
College of Mathematics - a challenging new College for both
adults and cadets
College of Fantasy - reopened under new management
College of the Macabre - reopened under new management
College of Star Wars - reopened under new management
College of Parallel Studies - reopened under new management
College of History - reopened and offering an expanded
curriculum
STARFLEET Officers’ Radio School - reopened and offering an
expanded curriculum under the Fully Automatic Course system
(FAC)
College of Security - offering new courses under the Fully
Automatic Course system (FAC)
As Marlene put it back in 2000, “Working together as a team,
we have offerings of courses from A to Z…something for
everyone.”
If you’re more interested in the history of SFA, go to our website
http://academy.sfi.org/
Click About SFA and then SFA History. What is on the website
has been in past CQ issues (some not too long ago). I will
attempt to place the history from where it left off in the CQ’s and
on the website, starting with 2003, in future issues of the CQ.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Academy Update from ADM Carol Thompson, Coordinator of
Academic Services,
We have a number of Colleges closed due to real-life situations
or for rewrite. We also have a good number of colleges in the
works, for IOMS, IOSFS, IOTA, and IOST.
Colleges that were vacated are being picked up by assistant
directors or students who have taken all the classes in those
Colleges. One was advertised and subsequently filled.
Watch for new courses in Flag Officer’s School, College of SciFi in Cinema, and College of Intelligence Operations.
New to the Academy is a College of Mathematics with a subset
for the cadets and a totally rewritten Klingon Warrior Academy
that will challenge even the most avid Klingon fan.
Members who are interested in joining the faculty should have
completed OTS, OCC, and FOS 101. Applicants should have
some Academy courses on their records and should continue to
take classes after submitting an application in order to prepare
for an eventual opening.
Academy is also looking for a pool of beta-testers for new
courses and substitute directors, should a director need an
extended leave of absence. Beta-testing is a great way to build
up one’s academy record.
Send a real life and STARFLEET resume to Commandant Peg
Page 20
Pellerin at [email protected] with a CC to Carol Thompson,
Coordinator of Academic Services at betazoid@mosquitonet.
com . Let us know how you are willing to serve Academy.
Applications will be kept on file and evaluated as openings
occur.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Support Update from Vice Adm. Wayne Killough, Jr., Coordinator
of Support Services
We are finally coming out of the “black out” on the website problems. Greg and JT are working on some enhancements on the website.
With the passing of Truman Temple, Scott Anderson is now the
STARFLEET Academy Awards Director. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
CADETS…COME ONE….COME ALL!!!!
You may not be aware, but there are some Academy courses
that are created just for you. The Cadet Studies Courses
are courses specifically designed for the young members of
STARFLEET, or those adult members who have limitations that
make it difficult for them to complete the standard course.
Cadet College of Borg Technology
Cadet Cardassian Orientation College
Cadet College of Law
Cadet College of Mathematics
Cadet Romulan Orientation College
Cadet College of Security
Cadet Vulcan Academy of Science
Cadet Vulcan Orientation College
Cadet College of Xeno Studies
So, don’t let just the adult members of STARFLEET have all the
fun….join in.
NOTE: If you’re an adult or cadet graduate of STARFLEET
Academy, then how about taking another course? You’ll be glad
you did. Spread the word to other fellow members.
As always, my door is open. If you have any issues regarding
the academy, please be sure to pass them my way. However,
if it is an issue with the course(s) you are taking, please follow
the chain. It is as follows: Director -> Dean -> Coordinator of
Academic Services -> Vice’ Dant -> Commandant. All your
problems will most likely be taken care of with the first step of
the chain, your director.
“Few things are harder to put up with than a good example.” Mark Twain (1835-1910)
ADM Peg Pellerin
SFA Commandant
Name: John Halliday
Rank: Commodore
Position: Chief of Computer Operations
Other Alias: Commodore Sorak
Ship: USS Ark Angel NCC-1886
Region: 3, Texas (USA)
0321-86-18
Chief of Computer operations
Computer Operations Report
Computer Tie-In, M5?
•
As a Vulcan, I was drawn to the recent offer to head up
the Computer Operations department. First, I knew it
would be a challenge because of the detailed nature
of the job, and secondly, I have all the necessary
qualifications: I’m married. What do I mean by this?
I’ll explain. You see, when you’re married you have
to have patience, love, understanding, patience,
communication, patience and--most of all--forgiveness.
These are all qualities that my wife has in abundance,
and I have come to admire them greatly. Such
admiration for another has imbued in me a sense of
respect for those who have better skills than myself.
This quality, of course, is the most important ingredient
of successful management.
I’d like to share some of the congratulatory notes that
were sent to me subsequent to the announcement of
my appointment:
•
Congratulations and condolences on the new job.
I hope you’re ready for it.
•
•
•
•
•
Congratulations on your new appointment. I look
forward to seeing what updates you do on the SFI
website. May the force be wi... er, I mean, Live
long and prosper \V/_
Well, I ran into a problem on the region list. The link
for Region 14 is bad. It goes to some search site
or whatever it is. Noting like a problem reported on
the first day of your new job, huh? :)
Welcome to the EC!
Welcome to the EC nuthouse! ;-)
Congratulations on your appointment! May the
Maker of All Things have mercy on your soul! LOL
Congratulations and welcome to the nuthouse.
I think the “LOL” was the one that got me the most.
Were they laughing AT me or WITH me? I prefer to
think it was the latter. lol
Thank you all who welcomed me in your own manner.
Infinite diversity in infinite combinations--the idea
underlying the Vulcan drive to know the universe-reminds me that everyone has their own way of
ushering in ‘the new guy.’
Now on to the work ahead.
I am currently aware of several important issues facing
the Computer Operations department. Several people
have reported lists that are out of date, links that are
broken, and e-mail addresses that are old or are no
longer active. There are also a number of deadlines
approaching for our department that staff are working
furiously to meet, including the new member packet
materials in Member Processing and an updated Vessel
Registry. I want to assure everyone that all known
issues are being identified and resources are being
assigned to deal with these them as circumstances
permit.
As this is my second day on the job (1.25 days to be
exact), I must apologize for not being able to report a bit
more progress at this point. However, I do promise to
have a much more detailed description of the ongoing
projects and their status in the next CQ. Thanks to Jon
Lane for allowing me to get this article to him a bit later
than was normally allowed.
Name: Brandt Heatherington
Rank: Admiral
Position: Director, STARFLEET Office of Public Relations
Ship: USS Matrix NCC-72296
Region: 7, Maryland (USA)
Achievements: Former Interim Commander, Starfleet
0721-96-722
The New Direction of STARFLEET Public Relations
It is with a combination of pride and enthusiasm that I rejoin the
ranks of STARFLEET Command as Director of Public Relations.
I have been a member of STARFLEET since 1977 and past
positions have included CAPT USS Lexington (based in the metro
Washington, DC region in the early days of STARFLEET); COMM
and Commander of Starbase 4; VADM Chief of Personnel; and
a brief assignment as ADM, Interim Commander, STARFLEET
between the resignation of ADM Adeline Longshaw and the
appointment of ADM John Wetsch. In civilian life, I am the director
of marketing and public relations for the government intelligence
division of a global data company based here in Washington
DC. I have a degree from George Mason University in Fairfax,
Virginia and post-graduate work in marketing communications at
George Washington University in Washington, DC.
accomplishments of STARFLEET and its members for public
awareness; and to leverage public relations to aid in increasing
STARFLEET membership. To this end, I will soon be sending
out a survey to unit commanders to find out what you may have
done in this area and how STARFLEET HQ can help you. We
will shortly be providing you with more resources to help you with
internal and external communications, such as sample press
releases, a press kit, and a guide to communications including
dealing with the media and getting press coverage. I want to
preface my term by saying that this is a genuinely cooperative
effort--none of STARFLEET’s accomplishments would have
happened without individual member efforts, and the Public
Relations office will be counting on you to help tell the story of
STARFLEET.
My immediate goal is to develop strategies utilizing the
One of our more immediate initiatives will be to roll out a campaign
Page 21
tied to the release of the new Star Trek movie. STARFLEET will
be working to partner with Paramount and other organizations,
and I will be asking unit commanders to assist in this effort.
I look forward to serving you, the members of STARFLEET, to
the best of my capabilities, and to let you all know that I have
an “open door” attitude regarding new ideas and suggestions
concerning public relations. I will leave you by asking you to think
of an accomplishment or initiative you or your fellow crew have
been involved in that you were particularly proud of, and send it
to me at [email protected] as I begin to gather the success stories of
STARFLEET. I wish you all a prosperous and happy new year.
ADM Brandt Heatherington
Director, Office of Public Relations
[email protected]
Name: WARREN PRICE
Rank: REAR ADMIRAL
Position: CHIEF OF SHAKEDOWN OPERATIONS, STARFLEET
Other Positions: COMMANDING OFFICER
Ship: USS PROVIDENCE NCC-71796
Region: 1, TENNESSEE (USA)
0122-96-717
Chief of Shakedown Operations
Shakedown Operations Report
Greetings, STARFLEET.
Let me start off this report with wishing STARFLEET, The
International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc. a happy 35th
birthday. May you Live Long and Prosper.
I am happy to announce the following launched Chaptersin-Training:
Welcome the USS Ganymede to STARFLEET. This is
a correspondence chapter and is currently based in
Lynchburg, VA. For info on joining this ship, please contact
Commander George Flanik at [email protected]
Welcome the USS Commomwealth to STARFLEET. This
is a correspondence chapter and is currently based in
Richmond, KY. For info on joining this ship, please contact
James Cecil at [email protected]
Welcome the USS Qual’at to STARFLEET. This is a
meeting chapter and is currently based in Colorado
Springs, CO. For info on joining this ship, please contact
Joe Hinson at [email protected]
Welcome the USS Exeter to STARFLEET. This is a
meeting chapter and is currently based in Jacksonville,
FL. For info on joining this ship, please contact John R.
Sims at [email protected]
Welcome the USS Wolf 359 to STARFLEET. This is a
meeting chapter and is currently based in Portland, OR.
For info on joining this ship, please contact Jordan Bouray
at [email protected]
Welcome the USS Endeavor to STARFLEET. This is a
meeting chapter and is currently based in Williamsburg,
VA. For info on joining this ship, please contact Eric
VanArsdale at [email protected]
These launchings sure made up for not having launched
chapters to report in CQ 149!
Department of Technical Services
Four new vessel reservations were received, all using
established classes. A chapter that was in STARFLEET
a number of years ago contacted DTS about possibly
coming back and proposing a new ship design. They have
been introduced to ASDB for further discussions.
Work on the DTS site is ongoing. Mike Dugas reports that
the design is 80% complete and coding is in progress at
this time.
Advanced Starship Design Bureau
Joost Ueffing reports that the main activity at ASDB has
been monitoring the conversations between DTS Admin
and a representative of an old STARFLEET chapter,
the Hakuna Matata, regarding returning to ‘FLEET and
developing a new class of ship.
Now some one-on-one from me. With this issue of the
CQ, it is getting closer to spring and baseball. Oh, but
wait, not the major leagues. I mean Double-A baseball. I
do not care about the majors. We have our own Double-A
team right here in Jackson, Tennessee. They are called
The West Tenn Diamond Jaxx, and they are an affiliate
of the Seattle Mariners. The team has been here for ten
tears, and I have been a season ticket holder for that
long. When Double-A baseball came to Jackson, they
were affiliated with the Chicago Cubs. They stayed here
for eight years before they left for east Tennessee, and we
got the Mariners. Last year we made the playoffs but got
beat in the first round. We did win the Southern League
Championship in 2000.
Feel free to contact me, my door...er, e-mail is always
open.
Rear Admiral Warren Price
Chief of Shakedown Operations
E-Mail:
[email protected]
Mailing Address:
315 Highway 220
Cedar Grove, TN 38321
USS Ganymede NCC-80107
Name: George Scott Flanik
Rank: Commander
Position: Commanding Officer
Ship: USS Ganymede NCC-80107
Region: 1, Virginia (USA)
Achievements: OTS with honors; 2007 distinguished Service Commendation from USS Heimdal
0122-07-801
ASK “DEEP TREK” - #002
The CO of the USS Ganymede reports monthly on the
recollections of a deep background source who worked as
a set construction master on the original Star Trek television
series. He has given this source the name “Deep Trek”,
whose true identity is known only to him and the CO of their
support ship.
Please submit your questions for Deep Trek to CMDR
George Flanik, USS Ganymede, at [email protected].
This month’s question comes from COMM Jonathan Lane:
“What were the actors like on the set?”
squabble to squabble.
Reply:
“This is probably not something that you wanted to hear.
Frankly (and fortunately), half of my time working on that
show didn’t include being around the actors.
“My time with Desilu was almost exclusively on Star Trek. I
loved it. The things that were always going on amongst the
actors would make a grade school seem adult.
“[William] Shatner was nice enough but quite aloof. [Leonard]
Nimoy was a spoiled child in an adult’s body. The tantrums
were weekly and sometimes daily.
“‘Scotty’ [James Doohan] was a gentleman, but ‘McCoy’
[DeForest Kelly] was one of the most profane men I have ever
been around, and this comes from a man that had served
three tours in Vietnam. He almost doubled my vocabulary
during those times that I was around him on the set.”
“There were petty squabbles going on the whole time, and
the funny part of it was that the players changed sides from
Visit this column next month for another TOS question
answered in “Ask Deep Trek”.
Page 22
USS Heimdal NCC-1793
Name: Linda Smith
Rank: Admiral
Position: Commanding Officer
Ship: USS Heimdal NCC-1793
Region: 1, Virginia (USA)
Achievements: Former Region One Coordinator
0123-93-17
Happy Birthday, STARFLEET
Way back in 1982 when I bought my first Starlog Magazine at a
local pharmacy, I had no idea how much it would change my life.
That’s where I found an ad for STARFLEET, and I couldn’t send
in my money fast enough to Eric Stillwell for my membership! I’d
spent that summer going to see Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
over and over and grieving the loss of Mr. Spock, a character I’d
come to love on a science fiction show my family thought was
weird…way back when I was a teenager.
To begin with, the man stocking the magazine rack that day
helped me find the Starlogs, and in the process, told me about
a convention in Roanoke, Virginia: RoVaCon. It was the first
awards, and still having fun. We also have many members of
long standing… 10 to 20 years or longer as members who have
become more “family” than just friends or members of a club.
In the mid-80s, I accepted the Vice Regional Coordinator position
under Susan Bolick, the R1 RC at that time. R1 had 18 chapters
then, and Susan taught me so much about organization and
fairness and handling crisis situations. When she stepped down
in 1987 to have a baby, I thought I was taking over temporarily
as RC, but Susan found her new job as “Mom” something she
didn’t want to miss a moment of and retired from the position. I
became the R1 RC.
and make a teenage dream a reality. I’ve worked with a fantastic
convention committee (RoVaCon) and in its heyday became its
Vice President. I’ve learned organizational skills that not only
helped me with my position as R1 RC, but also helped me in my
job as a nurse manager. You’ve helped me hone my mediation
skills and taught me that there are more ways to resolve a conflict
than just what seems obvious…that there is more than one way
to skin a cat (or a gerbil or a groundhog!!!). But, STARFLEET,
the most important thing that you’ve given me is friends and
friendships so solid that they can weather any storm and will be
with me for the rest of my life. The members of the Heimdal are
the first people I turn to in a crisis and the first people who will
That was Then - The crew of
the USS Heimdal back in 1984.
Photo supplied by
Linda Neighbors.
This is now - The Crew of the
Uss Heimdal in November, 2008.
Photo supplied by
Linda Neighbors.
convention I’d go to and the first time I’d see George Takei.
Years later, after becoming part of RoVaCon because of my
STARFLEET involvement, I ended up being Vice President
of the convention committee. Over the years, I not only saw
George again, but I was his host for a weekend. After becoming
STARFLEET’s Region One Regional Coordinator several years
later, working with RoVaCon, I eventually had the opportunity
to meet most of the the Original Series cast, hosting many of
them for a weekend. Additionally, RoVaCon became the first R1
Conference site.
After joining STARFLEET in early 1983, I signed on with the USS
Jamestown by correspondence, content just to be a part of the
organization and to communicate with people who shared my
love for Star Trek. Steve Thomas, then-CO of the Jamestown,
suggested I start a Jamestown shuttle in my area of Virginia. So,
without a pattern, I made a “monster maroon” uniform, put it on,
baked a plate of brownies, and invited three people to my house
to talk about forming a local STARFLEET shuttle. We launched
the shuttle Asgard in April, 1984, and went to starship status as
the USS Heimdal in April, 1985.
Almost 25 years later, the Heimdal is still going strong, still winning
I was already a nurse manager in the OR and had learned a lot
about working with people. I was able to combine that experience
with what I’d learned from Susan and launched myself into ten
and a half years as R1 RC, stepping down finally when my Mom
became ill in 1998 and needed my full attention. It was the best
ten years of my life.
During my ten plus years as R1 RC, R1 grew from 18 chapters
to 66 chapters and a constantly-fluctuating number of shuttles.
Because I’ve always been a “people person,” I found myself not
just reading monthly chapter reports but really getting to know
the chapter COs and members of their chapters as well. During
those ten years, I was able to recognize R1 faces AND names…
and I started considering those folks not only my friends, but also
my “family” in the truest sense of the word. After several years
as RC, I got to know many, many people at the STARFLEET
level from all around STARFLEET’s geographical areas. Most
of those people who are still in STARFLEET remain my friends
today.
So Happy Birthday, Starfleet! You’ve become as much a part
of my life as breathing and chocolate!!!!! Because of you, I’ve
had an opportunity to meet almost the entire cast of ST:TOS
Page 23
be there to see me through it…as I am for them. Surprisingly,
I still have STARFLEET friends as far away as California who
continue to be a welcome and positive presence in my life.
STARFLEET, on your birthday, I am thankful for everything you
have given to me that has enriched my life…even through bad
times in the organization, mismanagement and negativism,
it’s the friendships that are sustaining, the laughter and hugs
that come at Fleet and Regional events that bring warmth and
sunshine into my life. When I look back at my 26 years with
you, I see faces and smiles, and hear laughter and remember
good times. I think that is what this is all about--this time we
have here on Earth--finding special people and holding them
closely. STARFLEET, you have made that possible in my life,
and it all comes down to what my husband, Willy, says all the
time (quoting something he heard FADM Jeanette Maddox say
a long time ago), “All of our friends have SCC numbers!”
And he’s right, you know. I wouldn’t have missed this ride for
anything.
Happy Birthday, STARFLEET!
Starfleet Communique’ Through the decades
Special thanks to former STARFLEET Historian Scott Akers and current STARFLEET Academy Commandant Peg Pellerin for supplying most of these Communique covers stretching back to the early 1980s. Not
every issue’s cover is displayed--mostly due to space limitations (displaying all 150 covers would require you to use a microscope to see them clearly). However, the most interesting covers are presented on this
page and the next in chronologically-ascending order. The different sizes reflect the changes in the Communique format over the years, including the smallest “digest” sized 5-1/2” x 8-1/2”, the standard 8-1/2” x 11”
letter-size, and our current oversized newspaper format. It’s been quite a journey (or should I say “trek”) over these last 35 years. Enjoy the trip down memory lane. (Covers compiled by me, COMM Jon Lane.)
Page 24
Starfleet Communique’ Through the decades
Page 25
Starfleet HISTORICAL ARCHIVES
The History of STARFLEET (part zero)
A note from Commodore Jon: Part ZERO??? Let me explain. Nearly ten years ago, a rather extensive history of STARFLEET covering its founding in 1974 up through 2004 was written by STARFLEET
Deputy Historian Vice-Admiral Jeffery “Hawk” Higdon and Admiral Chris Wallace. However, nearly twenty years prior to that, Admiral Christopher L. Smith wrote a history of STARFLEET covering our first 12
years, and this article appeared in issue #17 of the STARFLEET Communiqué (October/November, 1985) and, to my knowledge, has never been reprinted...until now.
Chris Smith’s version of STARFLEET history was thoroughly researched and provides many long-forgotten details of STARFLEET’s earliest activities, controversies, and achievements during the 1970’s.
Jeff Higdon and Chris Wallace’s version of our history is equally fascinating, but we don’t have space to fit both histories in this crowded issue of CQ. So in this issue, we’re reprinting Chris Smith’s original
article covering our first 12 years. Then, in the following issues of CQ this year, we’ll be presenting Jeff Higdon and Chris Wallace’s history in its entirely, divided into segments starting with part one next
issue. Since Jeff Higdon and Chris Wallace’s version also starts at the very beginning in 1974, we’re calling Chris Smith’s version “part zero.”
By Admiral Christopher L. Smith
(former Vice-Commander, STARFLEET)
The following is a brief history of our organization, STARFLEET,
the international Star Trek fan association. The facts have been
derived from interviews with past commanding admirals and
volumes of information such as newsletters and manuals put out
by the fleet, as well as individual communication. There may be
some items that will not be completely without error, however,
the facts that have been used to compile this article are official
documentation.
In 1974, a small group of Texas Star Trek fans formed a group
that called itself the USS ENTERPRISE. Under the leadership of
an amiable fellow named John Bradbury, the group did much the
same as most current STARFLEET chapters. There were fund
raisers, parties, and most importantly, an ambition to grow!
And grow they did! The group became so popular that members
began to spread out across the state, and a need for organizational
change became imminent. The command staff of the ENTERPRISE
met to discuss what the future held for the organization. It was
soon decided that other vessels served as the solution to the
problem of wide spread expansion of members. On May 23rd, it
was announced in the first issue of the organization’s newsletter
(then called STARFLEET Communications) that “The USS
ENTERPRISE has been reorganized, effective stardate 2538.0.
It will henceforth be known as STARFLEET, due to directives
determined during reorganization.”
This also began the process of setting up the paramilitary structure
of the organization. And though that system has been altered
during the past 12 years, it has indeed proven to be an effective
and fun way to make things work. To start things off, the first chapter
was commissioned under the command of Capt. Jay Wallace in
Lufkin, taking the name USS ENTERPRISE, also the location of
STARFLEET HQ.
As the organization began to grow in leaps and bounds,
STARFLEET soon reached the end of their first year of operations.
John Bradbury (holding the rank of Commodore) continued to
command the organization and, at the end of the first year, proudly
stated that STARFLEET was doing so well that Fleet Command
had never had to dip into their own pocket books to cover operation
costs, and the treasury was well into the black. STARFLEET was
very alive and healthy!
Soon, two more vessels would be commissioned by Fleet
Command. The USS CONSTELLATION in Memphis, TN, and
the USS CONSTITUTION in Coppel, TX. This added even more
members and potential for recruiting. By the second anniversary,
the fleet had grown to 14 chapters across the country including the
USS EAGLE in California, which is still in operation in that state.
And although command has been passed along several times,
the EAGLE remains the longest continually running chapter in
STARFLEET. Congratulations and happy 10th anniversary EAGLE!
(Editorial note: the USS Eagle is still operational in California in
2009, now in continuous operation for 33 years!)
Not to be forgotten, STARFLEET Communications continued to
improve in volume and quality. The newsletter gave up-to-date
information on the latest Star Trek happenings such as the new
proposed television series (which later became Star Trek: The
Motion Picture). There was also information on the happenings of
the other chapters and the organization as a whole. Information
on SF books and films also appeared periodically, including the
announcement of a little movie called “Star Wars”. There was some
information on rank structure and vessel positions, a concern that
continues today. And traditionally, there were convention listings!
trouble coping with STARFLEET operations – not due to disinterest
or laziness, but because of serious hospitalizing illnesses in her
family. He promised that things would soon be back on track.
However, FADM Longshaw was understandably more concerned
with family, and instead of trying to deal with her personal crisis
and operate what was quickly becoming a fandom monolith, Brant
Heatherington became STARFLEET’s first interim Commanding
Admiral. And in only a few short months (here’s that name I told
you to remember), Admiral John Wetsch would become the 3rd full
Fleet Admiral of STARFLEET.
During the latter part of 1977 is where STARFLEET’s history begins
to get clouded and not much is recorded from that period. However,
a new commanding admiral was now running the STARFLEET
show. Fleet Admiral Adeline Longshaw took the top office when
retiring FADM Bradbury entered college life in the fall of 1977.
Wetsch’s administration improved even more on the organizational
structure of the fleet. The STARFLEET Officer’s Handbook
(membership handbook) was greatly improved upon. The problem
of the delayed membership packets were being investigated and,
supposedly, taken care of. One of Wetsch’s key officers in helping
get the organization back on its feet, and who would later become
a thorn in the Commanding Admiral’s side, was a y young Vice
Chief of Personnel named Eric Stillwell.
It was during her administration that STARFLEET’s organizational
structure began to solidify even more. There were a large number
of STARFLEET divisions to help operate the club, such as Chief of
Fleet Recruiting, Chief of Logistics, and the Alien Relations Board,
just to name a few. A very important part of keeping things “tight” was
a division run by an officer named Admiral Brandt Heatherington
who served, for a time, as the Command Assistance Coordinator.
Adm. Heatherington was to later serve as STARFLEET’s Chief of
Personnel and then go on to serve as an interim Commanding
Admiral.
Heatherington put out a monthly publication called CAC (Command
Assistance Coordinator) Bulletin. This later developed into General
Orders as a news bulletin for command level officers. Even more
complete than the current GO, the Bulletin contained info on
current active chapters, changes in command, and even where
to obtain authentic STARFLEET uniforms for you and your crew.
The CAC also put out a complete, informative manual filled with
guidelines on how to operate a successful chapter and even went
into more detail on STARFLEET regulations that concern command
personnel (an updated version of this manual will be published by
STARFLEET early next year).
During the Longshaw Administration, STARFLEET operated with
16 active starships and 35 planetary outposts (predecessor to
the Shuttlecraft Program). Recruiting continued at a fast rate. In
October of 1979, STARFLEET stood at 700 members. Not bad for
an organization that hadn’t even begun to saturate.
Another name that would become important to STARFLEET was
John Wetsch. Then Commodore Wetsch, he was instrumental
in opening STARFLEET Academy, a very popular program that
continues to be a source of enjoyment and fulfillment for all
members. Wetsch also went on to become Chief of Operations.
However, keep this name in mind.
Sometime in February of 1979, STARFLEET began to see its first
problems in the administration.
Delays in the usual communications and distribution of materials
began to occur in STARFLEET HQ. In March of that year, ADM
Heatherington reported that FADM Longshaw had been having
Page 26
Wetsch had indeed taken a bull by the horns. When his
administration took office, STARFLEET was putting out very few
newsletters (certainly not as many as promised), and membership
packets were backed up for months and months. He and his staff
struggled with the problems in hopes that it could be corrected
before the membership began to drop. FADM Wetsch was very
determined to make things work.
From the very beginning of Wetsch’s administration, VADM
Eric Stillwell took a personal crusade in getting STARFLEET
reorganized under the title “Mandate For Change”. In the early
portion of this “Mandate,” Stillwell praised ADM Wetsch: “FADM
Wetsch brought with him to the Chief of Staff position the long
desired leadership that could bring new directive to STARFLEET.
His first task was to seek out new, trustworthy personnel to fill the
important positions of command, but the task was difficult and
the burden of mass responsibility fell heavy upon his shoulders.
Change was inevitable, but slow.” Apparently much too slow for
Stillwell, as the “Mandate For Change” soon became a political
power struggle between VADM Stillwell (and his views on what
direction the organization should take and what steps must be
taken to correct the ever-growing problems), and FADM Wetsch,
the Commanding Admiral. The organization became split on the
issues, but all agreed that, if STARFLEET were to survive, drastic
measures MUST be taken.
Another important element in this power struggle was the
STARFLEET Communiqué. In 1981, it had been nearly a year
and a half since STARFLEET had published an international
newsletter. This Stillwell called “a gross violation of obligation” and
that “members who pay to join STARFLEET were being ripped off if
they never get what they were promised.” In answer to this, Stillwell
published a supplemental newsletter which later became the regular
STARFLEET newsletter. This is where VADM Stillwell published his
“Mandate For Change”. In addition to this, Stillwell, though serving
as the Vice Chief of Personnel, was also believed to be serving as
the Chief of Communications under the name of VADM T. Wxyn.
Adding to the facts, these two names shared the same address.
VADM Stillwell definitely had control of the STARFLEET media,
Starfleet HISTORICAL ARCHIVES
and his “Mandate” continually called for members to “start doing,
asking and requesting” and mainly to get involved! Eric Stillwell was
quickly making STARFLEET a “members” organization, which won
him great popularity throughout the Fleet. His fight was against the
“bureaucracy which has devoured efficiency and effectiveness.”
During all of this, FADM Wetsch and his staff, many of whom had
resigned under the pressure of the situation, were still trying to
process memberships and combat the growing displeasure of the
members with the Fleet Command, and the growing popularity of
Eric Stillwell and his plans for decisive action.
Late in 1981, the power struggle ended in Stillwell’s favor. He
and his backers had wrestled the organization away from John
Wetsch and Eric Stillwell became the next Commanding Admiral
of STARFLEET.
Above all, the most interesting part of this period in STARFLEET
history is that for the first and only time, the organization was being
run by what seemed to be two administrations. FADM Stillwell
and his staff now had the entire fleet of ships and members
completely behind their self-appointed administration, and
FADM Wetsch, whose administration was still officially
(under STARFLEET regulation) running the show. But
without a fleet, many of Wetsch’s staff filled positions under
Stillwell, and John Wetsch was out of power.
the copyrights and patents held by Paramount by selling items not
licensed through them, and for also using the calligraphic font in
the name title of the organization. The situation dragged out into
the winter, and many upper level Headquarters personnel began
to fear that, should Paramount take legal action, many of them
would be held responsible. However, the situation was finally
resolved after the legal department of Paramount had discovered
that STARFLEET was indeed a fan club and offered no unfair
competition to Paramount and/or any of its licensees. Paramount’s
solution to their legal dilemma of being required by law to defend
their copyrights was simply to ignore a group that was giving them
hundreds of thousands of dollars of free publicity. They had no need
to protect a copyright from a group they pretended didn’t exist. This
was a very wise move on their behalf, since Paramount is now
trying to work with fandom through their official fan club and have
chosen STARFLEET to enlist for help. (Editorial note: remember
this article was written back in 1986. Paramount no longer has
an official fan club, and there is currently no direct relationship
between Paramount/CBS/Viacom and STARFLEET.)
Organizational structure and policy alterations not
withstanding, legally and officially, STARFLEET is indeed
the 12-year-old international Star Trek fan association.
FADM Stillwell did indeed take power of the exact same
organization (chapters, still-valid members and all) that
FADM John Wetsch had tried so hard to get back on its
feet.
Another important factor of the Stillwell Administration was the
large amount of publicity and attention STARFLEET received
from the media. Paid advertisement and a small article in Starlog
magazine, along with attention from powerful Trek people such as
Susan Sackett and Bjo Trimble, helped STARFLEET in the greatest
growth it has ever seen to this day. Within a few short months, the
organization had grown to over 3000 members across the world
and close to 200 chapters in more than half a dozen countries.
STARFLEET was alive and well and living on the planet Earth!!
Once again, Stillwell tightened the organizational belt and
streamlined the processes of operations. However, the continual
cost of the top professional-quality of STARFLEET materials
remained a dark cloud at Headquarters. Then, another problem
arose in the summer of 1982...one that is not very widely known to
STARFLEET members.
At one time, STARFLEET had its own product distribution office.
Several items of Star Trek nature were for sale to members
in order to raise extra funds for the quickly-draining treasury.
STARFLEET HQ was contacted by Paramount Pictures (and its
parent company, Gulf and Western) concerning the violation of
Another problem that raised its head was a group called TREK
INTERNATIONAL. This organization, barely days old, rode on
the coat tails of the ill STARFLEET. More interestingly, TREK
INTERNATIONAL was being set up and run by several members of
Stillwell’s own Executive Committee. Their approach at getting their
group started was to undermine STARFEET and recruit members
and chapters from our ranks. However, it should be stated that
those individuals are not the same as those who currently operate
TREK INTERNATIONAL.
Finally, the inevitable happened. On January 2, 1984, FADM
Eric A. Stillwell officially resigned as the Commanding Admiral
of STARFLEET. What he left behind was more or less a great
big mess. However, Stillwell did have the forethought to leave
some of his staff to administrate an election for a new president.
A vote would be taken of whomever was left to vote.
In the meantime, the strongest chapters are actually the ones
to be commended for holding things together. By keeping
in constant communication, the Fleet had some sort of
stabilization. Though it certainly didn’t have a distribution of
membership packages and/or the international newsletter.
Members held onto their chapters as if dangling by a thread.
It is also at this time that legal ramifications come into play.
The question stands that – if Eric Stillwell set up his own
administration against the official administration in order to
solve the problems with STARFLEET, is our STARFLEET
today the exact organization as started in 1974?
The beginning of the Stillwell Administration began,
and it continued up into 1983, much like the end of the
depression, “Happy Days Are Here Again”! The STARFLEET
Communiqué was now coming out on a regular quarterly
basis, and its quality was extremely professional. The
same was true of the membership packets that were now being
distributed on a regular basis. There were also a great deal of
packets distributed to members who had waited over a year.
through so much hard work, was dropping in numbers of hundreds
every week. In addition to that, entire chapters were going under
or pulling out of the fleet to start their own organizations or to join
one of the STARFLEET copies. Soon, STARFLEET was taking so
many steps backward, it seemed as if we would regress back to
the womb and the organization would die. It would become one
of the many “horror stories” of fandom that circulate around the
convention circuit.
After a month of a total communications black out, the election
process was underway. Two prime candidates emerged. But
it was Capt. Fran Booth, the Commanding Officer of a Texas
chapter (the USS ANTARES) who would prove to come out
the winner. However, controversy surrounded even the first
hope of getting STARFLEET back on its warp engines. There
were factions of the Fleet that believed that the election had
been fixed, and that Fran Booth was put into office under the
guise of an election so that, once in office, Stillwell would be
off the legal hook after a pardon from Booth (a la Gerry Ford).
However, this theory was never proven true, and on March
27th, 1984, Fran Booth took command of a very sick fleet.
One crisis averted, and a new “old” one to begin. That dark
cloud of high costs combined with the continual turnover of key
STARFLEET personnel once again began to affect the efficiency of
STARFLEET in the category of membership package distribution
and the publishing of the Communiqué. Long-time members began
to see a familiar pattern emerge. The success that STARFLEET
had been enjoying was quickly becoming a never-ending battle to
find out what was going to go wrong next.
The lack of communications coming from Fleet HQ was the most
frustrating part for Regional COs and chapter commanders whose
members became upset by the feeling that this organization, which
had been so exciting to them, was nothing more than a scam. The
COs had no answers. All of the things FADM Stillwell preached
against during his “Mandate For Change” were now haunting his
very own administration. Things were degenerating quickly.
The high quality membership packages and Communiqués were
chewing up more of the club funds than expected, along with several
bad financial decisions. And, as always, the problem of distributing
(as well as producing) the items that members had paid good
money for began to re-emerge like the over-powering monster it
had been in the past. One other continuing problem was the quick
turnover of staff members at HQ (as well as other obligations such
as school and work), which was not helping but rather escalating
the problem. The impressive, vast membership that had grown
Page 27
Sick would later seem to be an understatement for the organization
after FADM Booth and her new staff began the process of putting
Humpty Dumpty together again. What made things worse, the
former Stillwell Administration had forwarded no organizational
funds, claiming that all monies had been spent in order to pay off
outstanding debts that STARFLEET owed. The curious part of the
story, as stated by FADM Booth, is that there were no financial
records included with all the other files that had been transferred to
the new HQ in Texas. This proved to be the most frustrating to Booth
and her staff as members were now sending her inquiries about
the status of their membership packages and Communiqué.
The most unsettling part of the whole situation for the Booth
Administration, and one that many members to this day did not
realize, is that STARFLEET not only had more outstanding bills
and membership obligations, they also had NO TREASURY! It
was like starting from scratch.
STARFLEET was in a situation that should have destroyed her
right then and there. But as always, somehow we pulled through.
Members began sending in their renewals, though most of them
had never received anything in more than a year! There was
also an influx of new members who had caught the rumor that
STARFLEET was back on the intergalactic trail. The treasury
began to once again build, but it would be several months before
it would be more than fragile. The Booth Administration began to
Starfleet HISTORICAL ARCHIVES
produce inexpensive membership materials in hopes that they
could make up some of the overdue memberships. However, there
could be no way to make up past issues of the Communiqué. The
call went out for help.
two years, the knees of the group began to tremble. Bad rumors
began to fly. Was STARFLEET going to take the plunge again?
In fear of another period of never-ending confusion, many groups
pulled out anticipating the worst.
And an answer came. Enter Capt. Steven Smith, CO of the
USS EXTER in Newton, Iowa. FADM Booth appointed Smith
to the Executive Committee as the organization’s new Chief of
Communications. ADM Smith had the skill and knowledge to put
together an informative-yet-uncostly newsletter. Within a month,
STARFLEET communications were back on line!
In the meantime, ADM Steve Smith continued to produce the
Communiqué. It became the only source of information members
received. Many never did, as records at Fleet HQ became jumbled
when passed around from staff member to staff member. This also
made renewal notices irregular to receive. Memberships began to
drop. Still, we were treading water.
Another breath of fresh air that FADM Booth brought back into
the organization (after the Stillwell Administration had closed it
down) was STARFLEET Academy under the command of ADM
Brian Ackerman. His vision and organizational proficiency has
made the Academy what it is today. It is truly the most fun program
STARFLEET has to offer for all members. This solved some
problems, however, there were more to consider. In the past two
years, STARFLEET had dropped from close to 200 chapters to
under 30. Membership as a whole had dropped from nearly 4000
to 1000.
STARFLEET continued to keep an even, slow pace, neither
sinking or swimming. The organization was at a standstill. Fran
Booth intended to do no more and no less. At the end of her twoyear term, FADM Booth announced that she did not intend to run
for another term. There were problems in the Booth family, and the
terrible weight of the organization left by the Stillwell Administration
had affected the health of the Commanding Admiral as well as
her personal life. FADM Booth wanted out as soon as possible.
STARFLEET had become a greater burden than she imagined...
greater than anyone had imagined. I know from personal
conversation with the former Fleet Admiral that there were those of
us that, through our support, helped her through the tough times,
however, there were some who never let her rest and continued to
act as an annoyance.
To kill two birds with one stone, the STARFLEET Shuttlecraft
Program was developed. It combined the interest in starting new
chapters and encouraging recruiting, along with an important
involvement with the new Academy. The program paid off! New
STARFLEET chapters began popping up everywhere as the
membership slowly began to grow again. In addition, the new
commanders were more prepared through the new program to
handle the job. STARFLEET had finally begun to tread water. This,
above all, was FADM Booth’s goal.
The organization had gone through a terrible turmoil and was
finally being able to move and breathe. But, like many of us after a
bad sleep, the Fleet was “grouchy” and conflicts broke out between
vessels, members, and command-level officers. Fleet Command
was still taking much of the heat. The high pressure on FADM Booth
and her staff began to take its toll. Not only were memberships
backing up, again, several key staff members began slacking off
in their duties and several replacements were to come. Within only
At the end of her two-year term, STARFLEET again faced an
uneasy time. A new election must take place. Would there be a new
leader, a better leader to take the helm? Would STARFLEET again
be in the hands of an uncertain direction? There was much debate
as to who would choose to run. And the answer came through
loud and clear! ADM Steve Smith, STARFLEET’s Communiqué
wonder boy, made a definite statement that he intended to take the
STARFLEET ball and run with it. No fumbles. Also announced for
the running was the then Vice Commanding Admiral Mary Helm,
who had helped FADM Booth through the last few extremely tough
months of her administration. However, ADM Helm had made the
decision (to run) in light of the fact that STARFLEET should have
some sort of choice in whom they wanted as president. Now, it
came down to only two nominees.
The election process seemed to carry on for more than a month.
The election ballots had yet to be passed out, but it seemed to be
clear, through the nomination process, who it was that STARFLEET
favored. Nearly 100% of the nominations received from Admiralty
Board members, Regional Coordinators, and starship commanders
made the same statement. STARFLEET should be in the hands of
Steven L. Smith!
Shortly after, ADM Mary Helm put her support with Smith and, by
concession and popular demand of the members, FADM Smith
took the Commanding Admiral’s post on the 28th of December,
1985, and became operational by the end of January.
Here we are now, the present day. It is more than safe to say that
STARFLEET is back and better than ever. Not only is the Academy
growing and offering more than ever, many new programs have
been started, such as the Armed Service Program, the Disabled
Consultants Program, and many old programs have been redefined
to work better and more efficiently. STARFLEET has made sure
that all chapters are given the freedom to express their own
methods, as well as keeping a very tight grip on the international
rules and regulations without eliminating room for change. Most
importantly, STARFLEET Headquarters and members have a
renewed enthusiasm in the organization that has sent Trek fandom
and even Paramount Pictures reeling. We even look “NEW” and
“IMPROVED”!
After writing this article, I feel as if I have painted quite a history of
gloom and doom for all our members (don’t be depressed – grab
a pizza and some beer or cola...get happy!), however, for me, the
most frightening part of the whole story is that STARFLEET is doing
so well today...just like it has before. But there is one difference. As
the old saying goes, those who don’t remember their history are
doomed to repeat it. For those of us who have learned the whole
story, who have studied it, we understand that history. And now, I
hope that many of you know a little about it too. And knowing this
history, all of us can take the proper steps to avoid having the past
repeat itself.
NEXT ISSUE: We go back to the beginning with another
retelling of STARFLEET History, and then move beyond 1986.
USS Accord NCC-1842
STARFLEET Is…Commander Peter Green
0728-42-18
By GEN Mark H. Anbinder
best event was the convention at the Ramada
where I was made Commander and Robin signed
her picture and took a picture with me.
Peter Green, a longtime member of USS Accord
and STARFLEET, has been coming to Accord
meetings for about thirteen years. Peter, who
was promoted to the rank of Commander at this
summer’s International Conference in Ithaca,
lives in a home with nine other people, and always
enjoys outings when someone can take him to an
Accord meeting or sporting event. He loves band
music with horns and drums, so football game
halftime music is a special treat.
CQ: If you could be a guest star in any of the Star
Trek TV series, which would it be and why?
Peter was kind enough to speak to Communiqué
contributor Mark H. Anbinder about his STARFLEET
experiences and more.
PG: If I could be in a Star Trek movie, I would
like to be Jean Luc Picard. He is a good-looking,
powerful character.
CQ: What was the best ever STARFLEET or
Accord event you went to?
“STARFLEET Is…” takes a look at the real
individuals that make up STARFLEET when we
look beyond the politics and personality clashes.
Would you like to be interviewed? Contact Mark
at [email protected].
PG: Friends mean a lot to me and I enjoy being
part of USS Accord. I feel welcome there. The
CQ: What other science fiction do you like, whether
it’s TV shows or books or movies?
PG: I really like the Harry Potter books and movies.
When I’m not watching science fiction or the
Cartoon Network, I watch football and baseball.
Page 28
PETER GREEN POSES For a photo op with special Trek guest
star Robin “Saavik” Curtis at IC 2008 in Ithaca, NY.
Photo by Mark Anbinder.
What Starfleet Means to me...
Happy Birthday, STARFLEET
In honor of Starfleet’s 35th birthday, the
Communications Department asked members
to answer the following question:
What does Starfleet mean to me?
They were also invited to share their thoughts,
feelings, and insights about our organization.
Here’s what they had to say.
I had just viewed the second Star Trek movie: The Wrath of Khan
and picked up a flyer that was placed in the lobby of our local
theatre. It was from a Star Trek club based in Bangor, the Canus
Major, (turned USS Kasimar a year later). I picked one up and
started reading it while waiting for the movie to start. I showed it
to my husband and told him I thought it would be fun. He said,
“Go for it, and give yourself an early birthday gift.” I had had my
second child the month before, and I was about to turn 30.
“What the heck. I’ll do it.” The following day, I wrote to the club and
received more information about STARFLEET. I joined, thinking
I’d probably get a flyer or newsletter once in a while. I never
dreamed, however, that I would be joining a club that would turn
out to be so huge, and I certainly never dreamed how involved I
would eventually become.
Do I regret it? At times I do, but when I think back at all the friends
I have made (some I’veyet to meet in person) and the close
bonds I’ve made with several of them, I wouldn’t change it for
the universe. The best part of STARFLEET, for me, began when
I received a phone call back in 1991 from Rob Lerman, the ‘Dant
of SFA, asking if I’d be interested in taking over Officer’s Training
School (OTS). I don’t think he realized, nor did I at that time, what
a special gift it was, that what I really needed was to feel involved.
I became part of the STARFLEET Academy family.
I don’t regret commanding a chapter for 10+ years (the USS
Equinox). I have made friends, some of whom we still keep in
close touch, and a few have become much like part of the family.
But becoming part of a bigger picture has made me feel more
globally in touch with STARFLEET members.
When I left OTS after 13 ½ years, I started feeling detached. I
started feeling more like a number and less like a member. I almost
left STARFLEET, until I received a call inviting me to become SFA
Commandant if a certain team were to be voted in. I wasn’t sure I
had what it took to do the job. It was suggested that I speak with
a couple of people, and in the process, I was invited to take over
the Vulcan Orientation College as its director. Whether or not the
team won, I was back home: STARFLEET Academy.
So…to answer the question asked earlier: what does STARFLEET
mean to me? I feel alive and once more a member, again
because of my involvement with SFA. After 26 years of active
membership in STARFLEET, my suggestion to other members
is, no matter if is just in your chapter, become involved in some
way. It takes many parts of something to make a wonderful whole
of something. Become one or more of those parts to make an
awesome organization, and you’ll know you had something to do
with it.
Admiral Peg Pellerin, STARFLEET Academy Commandant
Now, I have to put my input in and, mind you, this comes from
a person who has been on the independent scene for years.
I have been a member of STARFLEET for over 8 years now,
and it saddens me to see folks are leaving for political b.s.
What I am reminded of, through my work as a Chief Engineer
and then as a CO of a chapter, is what STARFLEET is really
about. I think that the members of Fleet have forgotten about
the real reason why they joined. I will admit that I have created
problems with others here in fleet, and that I have on several
occasions nearly left fleet.
The reason why I stay is for the same reason that I joined…
and that is to have “FUN.” I see that you get out of fleet
what you put in to it. Mind you, I have not done much on the
national or international level, but I enjoy having fun with the
members of my chapter and those whom I know in the region.
I have met a few online and look forward to meeting those
folks in the future. What I have put into the chapters that I
have been involved with is simple. I have spent many hours
creating and crafting wooden plaques that the people who
receive them can enjoy. I have enjoyed the woodwork that I
have been involved with, but to me, the best thing that I have
seen is the reactions on the faces of those who received my
plaques.
Another reason why I stay involved with fleet, even though it’s
more on the chapter level than anything else, is the people that
being a member of fleet brings me into contact with. I have
“FUN” attending the meetings that my chapter has, combined
activities with other chapters, and the regional activities that
I have been able to attend. I enjoy being around the people
of my chapter and those whom I met from Region 17, and I
will continue to do so until I feel it’s the right time to leave…
if that ever happens. Where else can a lawyer, a nurse, a
paralegal, a truck driver, an electrician, and a diesel mechanic
get together and have fun? It is through SFI that I have met
and become such close friends that I have been asked to
serve as a groomsman and a best man at their weddings. It
is also though SFI that I been able to meet with others who
have a wide range of interests that I get to learn about and
share my own interests with. I will admit that I am not the
easiest person to get along with, and there are a lot of times
that my darker side comes out. I do, from time to time, take
a break away from the activities, but after a bit of time I still
come back. The end result remains the same and I still have
“FUN.”
Screw the damn politics and let’s get back to having fun.
That’s what I joined STARFLEET for.
Brigadier David R. Reustle, Chief Engineer, USS Anasazi
Page 29
What does STARFLEET mean to me? Excellent question! In no
particular order....
1. The Communiqué -- whether it is in digital or print format,
seeing what everyone is doing fleetwide is great. I use it as a
recruiting tool, keeping my copy on the recruiting table at cons, it
is quite popular.
2. STARFLEET Academy -- The courses are flat out fun! Several
of our folks are getting various Boothby’s, our newest chapters
and our own new chapter members tell me all the time how much
enjoyment they are getting.
3. Participating in something “bigger” -- We encourage community
service, and reward it accordingly. It is really nice to hear from the
Humane Society, food banks, and the OCP about how much they
value our contributions. It is also something that appeals to a
lot of people. Now, do you need to belong to STARFLEET to do
these sorts of things? Absolutely not... however, it is nice to have
a venue.
4. TREK -- Not a lot of venues for us “trekkies”, “trekkers” and
“trek-a-holics” out there. It is great to be able to associate with
like-minded people.
5. Friends -- I have friends all over the US and Iceland because
of STARFLEET. People that I have met in person at ICs and
people that I chat with online. I have new friends in the region
and gained new friends in our chapter. To me, this is by far the
most important... Does it have to be STARFLEET? Nope, I have
friends through my Civil War Reenacting unit, my Masonic Lodge,
and various other clubs and activities. My friends in STARFLEET
share my interest in things “trekish”, so it’s great.
When I joined STARFLEET a couple of years ago, I was dubious.
The Philadelphia IC was our first. My wife, Cathey (RC R5) and I
had no clue such an organization existed until the February before
that IC. She was so gung ho! She still is. I remained dubious
until I found out about the SFMC, then it was full steam ahead. It
just appeals to me.
We are SO busy with chapter and regional activities that we just
can’t see not doing it! It has become a large part, but not the
ONLY part of our lives. I still attend Lodge, I still like to shoot
Yankees when I can (they largely need it... hee, hee) and I love to
fly fish (hard hooking the little buggers!).
I guess it is the strength of the chapters and regions that makes
the STARFLEET experience positive for a lot of people. Do we
NEED the parent organization? Probably, if only to keep the
conduits of communication open and allow a group with common
interests to bond and hopefully grow from that contact.
Colonel Joe Fuller, Vice-Regional Coordinator, Region 5
What Starfleet Means to me...
Happy Birthday, STARFLEET
If you can interpret fairy tales to be a form of science fantasy, then I’ve
been a SciFi fan all my life.
The special kiddie shows on Saturday afternoon at the movies were
incredibly corny but they were the only SciFi game in town--even though
the wires holding up the space ships were obvious.
Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Johnny Jupiter, Captain Video, Rocky Jones
– they all kept the dream of real SciFi to come--dangling a carrot--then the
universe did a 180 degree turn and we had Star Trek.
Looking at reruns, I can see where money-saving measures were firmly in
place, but what I saw on my black & white TV every Thursday night was
so close to my interpretation of the future that my mind filled in what the
writers and the studio were forced to leave out.
Magic time!
It didn’t stop there. I discovered STARFLEET and I had found the Mother
Ship! Here were people who were so wrapped up in one man’s dream that
they had formed a club where they could step in and out of Roddenberry’s
world with ease--where they could find today’s problems being addressed
in a logical manner with the world of tomorrow giving solutions.
I found more: I found an extended family--some of whom lived across an
ocean--and once a year I was reunited with some of that family, either at
a Regional Summit or an International Conference.
My new “family” cheered me through heart surgery, gave me support when
I lost my remaining brother at age 93, welcomed me into their homes-even in another country--and became pen pals I cherish to this day.
Happy Birthday, Starfleet!
Happy Birthday, Starfleet
Yikes! Starfleet is 35 years old! Whew! I can remember back when I
joined ‘Fleet around 1977. I say “around” because even though I got a
piece of paper saying I was an “Official Member”, there was no date on
the document. STARFLEET’s newsletter was one sheet of typing paper
listing names and addresses of those who were running the organization.
My memory’s not sharp enough to remember who did what, but everything
back then was accomplished via surface or “snail” mail as we liked to
call it. We thought nothing of writing a letter and waiting two weeks (or
sometimes more) for a response. None of this instant gratification we’re
used to now. Our letter-writing skills were honed on keeping in touch
with friends we’d never met, and probably never will meet. Long distance
phone calls were so doggone expensive, only the most wealthy among
we STARFLEET people could afford such a luxury.
May I send out new tendrils
my whole life through
(some years remaining yet),
Richly entangled,
a wild and woody vine,
Still to light reaching
as year winds into year,
More richly textured ever-turning, by design,
from skilled, selective shaping.
Admiral Sherry Anne Newell
(77 years young), CO, USS Morning Star
A lot has changed since the advent of the affordable computer, the
Internet, and cell phones.
I’ve seen STARFLEET grow from having one Region (Region 01 <grin>)
to such a widely-based set of Regions that it’s difficult for me to remember
what Region is where. STARFLEET has gone from being a local Star
Trek club to being the International Association we have today. So many
countries are represented that it’s safe to say we can easily have ‘Fleet
Friends from countries we previously only knew about via our geography
books.
And what’s nice is that STARFLEET continues to grow!
I still hold the dream that STARFLEET can eliminate the gap in politics
of our individual countries… we’re not Americans, or Canadians, or
Icelanders, or English, etc… we’re STARFLEET.
When Star Trek the original series first appeared
on television, I was a young man. As long as I
can remember before that, science fiction on film
or TV was always treated as a sort of B-project.
The movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was one of
the first serious Sci-Fi films made, and Star Wars
the first Sci-Fi blockbuster. It was television that
Star Trek made its impact on, and I was hooked
from the beginning. Finally, a serious attempt at
a quality Sci-Fi series!
Happy Birthday Starfleet!
HAPPY 35th BIRTHDAY, Starfleet! Here’s to 35 more!!
The decades have passed, and I still love the
franchise for its underlying social commentary. I
love it for its mostly optimistic view of the future,
and I love it for its eternal five-year mission. It
means to me that mankind’s future is bigger than
this earth can provide.
Admiral Helen M. Pawlowski, CO, Troubadour Station
Admiral Marlene J. Miller, STARFLEET Academy Vice Commandant
Lt. Commander Tom King, USS Antares
There isn’t anything I’m prouder of than my right to call myself a “Trekker”!
I’m grateful for the chance to be able to call everybody in STARFLEET
“friend”.
Through Fun, Friendship, and Fellowship in ‘Fleet, we are Family…we
just happen to reside in a wide variety of places.
I just want to start off by saying how glad I am to be part of STARFLEET. I’ve been a Star Trek fan for many years since my childhood
and have enjoyed the saga in its many incarnations--the different series, the movies, the books, comics, etc. But what I’ve found most
interesting about STARFLEET is the respect and care towards everyone regardless of background, age, gender…you name it.
When I had returned to Mississippi earlier this year to look for work to support my family in Alabama, I felt so lost inside. Lucy Ferron, the
captain of the Region 2 ship USS Haise, and my former supervisor, had remained a good friend to me over the years throughout the most
important changes in my life. To borrow from Admiral Kirk in “Star Trek II”, she and I had literally been through death and life together.
Lucy invited me to a USS Haise meeting, where I got to meet other Star Trek fans who were just regular people from many different walks
of life. That first meeting I attended gave me something that I hadn’t felt in the months before my return: hope. I felt completely accepted,
without any fear of rejection or recrimination. How other assemblies in our society could learn from STARFLEET’s example!
Today I’m awaiting my official commissioning as an ensign aboard the USS Haise and looking forward to my first assignment. With a solid
educational career as my foundation once again, and good friends in a positive support system to encourage me, I am looking forward
to being part of this great organization. All I can say is thank you, STARFLEET, and a very special thank you to Lucy. You’ll never know
how much it means that you were there for me at a critical time in my life. I only hope I can be just as worthy of returning that favor to
those around me in need.
Ensign Bill Williams, USS Haise
When I moved to Utah in 1985, I was blessed to meet the man that would become my husband. Shortly after meeting his children, I introduced them to Star Trek. His oldest daughter really took it to hart,
“Bones” McCoy becoming her favorite. She called me one day saying that she had seen a flyer for a Star Trek club which included a photo of the members. She told me, “they even look normal!”
We attended our first meeting of the USS Alioth and joined that night. We also had an auto accident during a scavenger hunt, but hey, things happen.
Although my husband’s daughter only stayed a member for one year, I found a group of people that I believe are the most honest, trustworthy group of people that I have ever met. I would trust them with a
key to my home, and some of them DO have a key to my home. I’ve been a member since 1988 and have loved every minute of it. There have been many things over the years that have disappointed me,
but they haven’t been from within our ship.
I truly don’t know what I would do without the crew of the USS Alioth. They have helped me through so many difficult times. They are not the only STARFLEET members that I feel lucky to have met. By
attending the International Conferences, I’ve met quite a few people, some of which I’ve stayed in touch with, some of which have become close friends.
STARFLEET has become a great part of my life. I’m grateful for all the years I’ve been with STARFLEET and all the friends I’ve met. Long live STARFLEET.
Vice Admiral Keira Russell-Strong, CO, USS Alioth
Page 30
USS Challenger NCC-1676-D
Name: Bob Vosseller
Rank: Admiral
Position: Commanding Officer
Ship: USS Challenger NCC-1676-D
Region: 7, New Jersey (USA)
Achievements: 2007 Region 7 CO of the Year, 2004/2007 Region 7 Staff Member of the Year
0731-76-16
USS Challenger Celebrates 20 Years Worth of Adventures
“It’s been a long time, getting from there to here...’’
so goes the opening words from the lyrics of Star
Trek: Enterprise, which I borrowed somewhat for
a speech during the October 11 celebration of
the USS Challenger’s 20th anniversary party held
our chapter headquarters of the Seaside Heights
Community Center in Seaside Heights, N.J.
We were joined by friends from the USS Avenger,
our mothership, the USS Sovereign, our sister ship
and the USS Britannic, our region’s flagship, for
a gathering of good food, remembering old times,
and looking over photos put to the screen and in
a number of our most memorable photo albums.
Other paraphernalia included one of our polar bear
plungers from the Maryland polar bear plunges
we did, plaques from our past as R7 Chapter of
the Year, and SF Support Chapter of the Year and
my own award as R7 CO and Staff Member of the
Year.
It was the people, however, that made the
occasion great. Among the 30 people present
were my XO, Fleet Captain Jeff Victor; his wife,
our Communications Chief Laura Victor, and our
Financial Officer, Julia Victor, who each put in a lot
of time and effort to make the event happen.
Our Ops Chief set up some additional photos plus his
Star Trek train that got a lot of admiring
looks from those present. Many longtime members were present. Several
others would have liked to have made
it but were unable to.
Looking back to the beginning and
sharing old stores with another SF
dinosaur like Admiral Alex Rosenzweig
was fun. At functions like this, we
find ourselves being asked questions
like the old grandfathers and uncles
at family reunions of what it was like
during the early days of SF and R7
“B.I.” (Before the Internet).
USS Challenger member Jennifer Battershill and her son enjoy a
moment during the Challenger’s 20th anniversary party in October.
Photo supplied Jennifer Battershill.
Regional Coordinator Fleet Captain
Wayne Augustson gave greetings and
shared the news that he had recently
spoken with our Fleet Admiral Sal Lizard, who
wished us well on our big event and regretted that
he was working and thus unable to attend.
I mentioned during the cutting of the cake that,
while we have all gotten older and now face
challenges like health issues, our parents’ health,
job changes, job loss, having children, getting a
mortgage, and other real-life issues that we didn’t
feel quite so much in the more carefree days of
our early SF adventures, that if we keep focused
on our friendships, planning and enjoying the fun
times ahead, and remembering what led us to all
become one very large unique SF family in the
first place, we just might be around for another
milestone anniversary.
Members come and go from any chapter.
Sometimes the friendships endure even beyond
that, sometimes they don’t. We all have to
appreciate the time we have and our
many away team adventures.
Even after the party wound down and
the good-byes were being said, several
people lingered as the Challenger
bridge crew popped the remaining
balloons, put out the trash, and took
down the remaining decorations…
to say nothing of dividing up a few
remaining containers of food. We
even had a few left-over Hershey
bars which a member made up with
a USS Challenger 20th anniversary
commemorative label.
Members of the USS Challenger command staff (L to r): Ops Chief Captain Ken Diehl, Security Chief Ken Dohn, Communications
Chief Commodore Laura Victor, First Officer Captain Jeff Victor, Lt. j.g. Kevin Victor, Financial Officer Captain Julia Victor and
Counselor Emily Vosseller enjoy a private 20th anniversary luncheon at the Sheraton Inn, Eatontown. Photo by Bob Vosseller.
Page 31
Laura made up a special Cafe Press
store filled with ship 20th anniversary
items for us to buy. We originally
celebrated our birthday in January,
which is the month when the ship first
parties, regional picnics, holiday parties, Halloween
parties, town community days etc. we’ve done in
20 years time. Suffice it to say, it was a whole lot.
SF and my chapter has enriched my life and even
led me to meet my wife, who like myself, began her
time in SF onboard our mothership, the Avenger.
Challenger is the second oldest chapter in Region
7, and I believe I’m one of
the longest-commanding
chapter COs in all of
STARFLEET. My crew
has forbidden me to
retire from the big chair!
USS Challenger’s Anniversary cake.
Photo by Jennifer Battershill.
began to function as a full group back in 1988. We
were commissioned on July 12, 1988, so we had
our usual BBQ celebration with a birthday cake
and then another celebration at Shore Leave a
week later. Our more formal party was held on
October 11, but then again, Challenger likes to
party. That has been a constant since day one.
I can’t even begin to list the number of conventions,
ren faires, photon/laser tag, paintball, benefit
walks, polar bear plunges, charity car washes,
parades, ICs, regional conferences, other ship
No one knows how long
a chapter will last or
who will be in command
or be able to serve in a
support capacity. All
we can do is enjoy the
present and do what
we can to provide an
enjoyable atmosphere
and a strong foundation
so that members want
to stick around for as
long as their personal lives allow.
The Challenger has seen many changes over
the years, experienced times of lunacy, tears
and drama, but for the most part, we’ve had
fun. And we’re looking forward to at least 5 or
perhaps even 10 more years of activity and
insanity.
The Challenger’s 20th anniversary dinner drew members from the USS Britannic,
USS Avenger and USS Sovereign on October 11 in Seaside Heights, N.J.
Photo by Jennifer Battershill.
USS Thermopylae NCC-74703
Ask Prigal: A Monthly Questions and Answer Session from the Enlisted Point of View
Dear Prigal,
0532-03-747
We know that optimists see the
flagon of whiskey half full, and that
pessimists see the flagon half empty.
How do you see the flagon?
Signed,
Half and Half
Dear Half,
That depends on whether I’m drinking
it, or planning on selling it to someone.
Even if I’m drinking it, it can be a
matter of the quality of the contents.
Half a bottle of some officer’s fine
imported Scotch would be half full,
as I’d be savoring it all the way. Half
a bottle of cheap Ferengi imitation
bourbon would be half empty, as I’d
be concentrating on getting rid of it.
Prigal
--------------Dear Prigal,
I know that it must be tough getting to
sleep out there at Edgar Station during
the winter months when neither of
the suns shine for more than an hour
per day. What do you count to get to
sleep?
Counting on your answer
advice for the new year?
Gratefully,
Prigued
Dear Prigued,
Dear Counting,
I’m going to assume you’re Fleet,
and not a Marine, since any veteran
Marine has mastered the trick of
grabbing a quick nap whenever they
can, regardless of circumstances.
I even slept through my sixth court
martial. About the only place I haven’t
slept is on duty.
However, if I was to count something,
I’d count the days until Gunny finally
takes a short leave from here.
I think the best advice I can give you
is summed up by Prigal’s Law Rule
Number 11: Never underestimate the
power of dumb luck.
Sometimes, no matter how carefully
you plan, something will go wrong.
Sometimes, no matter how bad things
seem, you’ll get a break.
Prigal
Vulcans don’t believe in luck. Humans
do. The current state of the Federation
makes the case that maybe humans
are on to something, And playing
poker with a Vulcan is deadly dull.
---------------
Prigal
Dear Prigal,
---------------
I have been following your column for
several months now. Your practical
advice has saved me many an hour
of extra duty and perhaps a courts
martial or two. I just wanted to say
thank you and ask if you have any
Dear Prigal:
Page 32
Who do you see as the next big threat
to the Federation?
Student of History
Dear Historian,
Whoever it turns out to be, odds
are it’ll come as a surprise to Fleet
Intelligence. Their record doesn’t
inspire a lot of confidence. Remember
back when the Ferengi were seen as a
military threat? Remember how much
of a shock it was when the Cardassians
allied with the Dominion?
Federation history teaches us that
the next big threat out there will be
something nobody saw coming.
Now, if I had to guess, I’d bet on the
Romulans starting something again.
Sneakiness seems to be part of their
blood. It’s something I admire about
them.
Prigal
Got a question only Prigal can
answer? Send it to
[email protected]
Note that neither this newsletter
nor his superiors will be held
responsible for any consequences
from following PVT Prigal’s advice.
It’s all on your head. (Gunny made
me put that last bit in.)
USS Bonaventure NCC-102-A
Name: Charles Rizzo
Rank: Captain
Position: Executive Officer
Ship: USS Bonaventure NCC-102-A
Region: 1, North Carolina (USA)
0133-02-1
USS Bonaventure Crew Mix Business and Pleasure at Local Conventions
October of 2008 was a busy month for the USS
Bonaventure, the Triad Chapter of STARFLEET.
During that month, the crew of the Bonny-V rolled out in
full force to represent STARFLEET at not one, but two
North Carolina-based conventions. The crew manned
recruitment tables at Monster Con, which was held in
Concord during the weekend of October 4-5, and Paper
Heroes Con, which was held in Burlington during the
weekend of October 17-19. The crew was able to sign
up a couple of new recruits, but it wasn’t all work and
no play. The crew was able to get their con groove
on as they mingled with guests, assisted with panel
discussions, and helped to stimulate the economy by
snapping up goodies in the dealers rooms.
Monster Con, which was put on by the Comic Monstore
of Salisbury, welcomed a number of guests from the
world of horror. Headlining this convention were Brian
Krause, who played Leo on Charmed; Ken Kirzinger,
Paper Heroes Con, which was put on by Hero’s Haven of
Burlington, had more of a superhero theme. Headlining
guests at this convention included Lou Ferrigno, who
played the Hulk on The Incredible Hulk and Jackson
Bostwick, who played the original Captain Marvel on
Shazam!
The Bonaventure crew was delighted to get the chance
to meet and know two guests who appeared at both
conventions, local actors Robert Harris and William
Jones. Harris and Jones are perhaps best known for
their roles in Eli Roth’s modern gore classic, Cabin
Fever (Harris played Old Man Cadwell and Jones
played the truck driver seen at the end of the film). Both
also appear in the upcoming horror film, Bone Creek.
While moderating a panel at Monster Con about Cabin
Fever, the Bonaventure’s Chief of Communications,
Dan Johnson, got the opportunity to talk with Harris
and
Jones
about
working with Star
Trek:
Enterprise’s
Scott Bakula. The
two men met the
actor when he came
to North Carolina to
film the made-forcable movie, Above
Suspicion.
Among the stories
that Harris and Jones
shared with Johnson,
one of the most
exciting was that
Bakula learned he
had won the role of
Captain Jonathan
Archer while on
location in the
Tarheel
state.
Starfleet’s finest represent at Paper Heroes Con.
Both men also
Back row (left to right): Bill Lasley, Chris Johnson, William Jones and Eric Bowman.
attested
that
Front row (left to right): Scott Gibson and Chuck Rizzo.
Bakula is one of
the nicest actors
Photo submitted by Charles Rizzo.
they have ever
worked with. “One
who played Jason in Freddy vs. Jason; Brad Loree, day Scott asked where he could get Starbuck’s
who played Michael Myers in Halloween: Resurrection, coffee in town,” says Jones. “[At the time], I didn’t
and writer/director/actor Chuck Williams. Two other know he was going to get coffee for 300 people.
Monster Con guests who were of special interest to Scott treated the entire cast and crew out of his own
Star Trek fans were make-up artists Dean Jones, who pocket!”
won an Emmy for his work on Star Trek: Deep Space
Nine and who was also the personal make-up artist for
“I will never forget how wonderful Scott was to
actor Rene Auberjonois on that series, and Starr Jones, me,” added Harris. “[In Above Suspicion], I was
who has worked on several of the Star Trek films.
in a graveyard scene, and I was behind Scott. I
Page 33
The original Captain Marvel, Jackson Bostwick,
signs autographs at Paper Heroes Con.
Photo submitted by Charles Rizzo.
had been standing in this one position, and my leg just
gave out, and I went down. Scott jumped up and came
running back to where I was and asked, ‘Are you hurt?’
I told him the only thing hurt were my feelings. Scott
helped me up and he asked for the crew to bring a
folding chair for me to sit in while they were setting up
the camera. When I was being helped up, I told Scott,
‘I am never going to do this again!’ Scott said, ‘What?’ I
think he thought I meant I was going to quit the movies,
but I told him I meant I wasn’t going to drink vodka this
early in the afternoon. He laughed at that, so he had a
sense of humor, too.”
Are you in North Carolina and interested in attending
future Monster Cons or Paper Heroes Cons? Check out
the conventions official websites for announcements
about upcoming shows at http://www.comicmonstore.
com/ and http://www.heroshaven.com/ .
Cabin Fever’s Robert Harris and William Jones.
Photo submitted by Charles Rizzo.
Region 1
Name: Pamela Michaud
Rank: Fleet Captain
Position: Region 1 Awards Director
Other Positions: Commanding Officer
Ship: USS Ronald E Mcnair NCC-61809
Region: 1, South Carolina (USA)
0134-09-618
Region One 2007 Annual Award Winners
The following Chapters and members
of SFI Region One were awarded
the following at the 2008 Region One
Summit held May 2-4, 2008 at Pigeon
Forge, Tennessee. Information about
the Region One Awards program, the
various awards, as well as past and
present winners can be found at http://
sites.beyondweb.com/r1-awards/
Chapter of the Year: USS Jurassic
Chapter of Excellence: USS Heimdal
Dept of the Year: Communications,
USS Heimdal
Enlisted Member of the Year: PO3
Kathy Beck, USS Heimdal
Officer of the Year: Lt. Chitiaka Henry,
USS Ronald E. McNair
Flag Officer of the Year: Commodore
Matt Moyer, USS Liberator
Cadet of the Year: PO3 Carol Hall, USS
Jurassic
Edith Keeler: Margaret Grunwell, USS
Appomattox
RDC of Excellence: Janice Graham,
Alien Ambassador Corps
Good Conduct
Decoration 5 + Years
Abernathy, Sharon
Bigelow, Lauren
Blackwell, Lori
Brooks, Kimberly
Brooks, Matt
Brown, Kevin
Bryant, Pamela
Butcher, Deborah
Butcher, Kayla
Cameron, Gary
Cammarota, Ed
Campbell, Lem
Carlon, Kathryn
Cecil, James
Chandler, Charles
Chisty, Sam
Crum, Richard
Curry, Kyle
Dowing, Betty
Davis, Elaine
Davis, Ric J.
Davis, Jeffrey A.
Davis, Jasen
Davis, Jonathan
Davis, Lance E.
Davis, Logan
Davis, Rodney
Class of Excellence (CO of the Year):
Pam Michaud, USS Ronald E. McNair
Staff member of the Year: Darlene
Harper
Best Chapter website: USS Reprisal
Best Fanzine: USS Ronald E. McNair
Overall Best Newsletter:
USS Jurassic
Best Monthly Newsletter:
USS Jurassic
Best Bi-Monthly Newsletter:
USS Ronald E. McNair
Best Quarterly Newsletter:
USS Jamestown
Best Handbook:
USS Jurassic
Unit Distinguished Service Award
USS Appomattox
USS Ronald E. McNair
USS Ohio
Enterprise “E” Award
USS Reprisal, winner of R1 2008
summit tug of war
Davis, Tina
Delano, Karen
Delatonas, James “Jamie”
Donner, Leigh
Dudley, Kelley W.
Edic, Timothy
Eynon, Scott
Farr, Shelli
Fenelon, Elizabeth
Gibson, Scott
Gooch, Darryl T.
Graham, James
Harris, Susan
Harshaw, Joseph P.
Hiler, Austin
Hiler, Craig
Hiler, Lisa
Hollifield, Donna
Hollifield, Gary
Hollifield, Gary Jr.
Hucks, Cecilia
Hudson, Robin
Jack, Alan
Jones, Christopher
Joyner, Lori Ann
Kane, John ‘Kiwi’
Keller, Christopher
Keller, Jason
Kelley, William
Kennedy, David
Kirby, Morgan
Knese, Kathleen
Knight, Anne B.
Knight, Rita Gray
Leahy, Michael
Lindsay, Jay
Lynn, Cheryl
Mahaffey, Alinda
Mahaffey, Alex
Mahaffy, Joe
Maurer, John
Michaud, Pamela
Miller, Mary
Miller, Mary Rose
Mort, James
Mort, Tara
Moss, Lawrence M.
Novak, Ron
Oliver, Clay
Pagel, Kira
Pesac, David
Peters, Carolyn
Pharis, Troy
Phelps, David
Poole, Jessica
Potter, Roy
Ragsdale, Karyn A.
Relyea, Dennis
Unit Commendation
USS Alaric
USS Renegade
Distinguished Service Award
Willy Smith
Barbara Buffington
Carolyn Donner
John Hoppa
Linda Smith
John Sprouse
Brian Chapelle
Star Cross
Virginia Williams - USS Heimdal
Purple Heart
Jeanne Wilson - USS Heimdal
Sol III Award
USS Alaric
Final Frontier Award
Eric W. Larkin - USS Reprisal
Romero, Michael A.
Romero, Ronald A.
Rosado, Nestor
Rothemund, Debra
Rothemund, Rudolf
Saul, Derek
Schreck, Jason
Schweikert, Janice
Shaddrix, Lynn
Slater, Barbara
Smith, Carolyn
Smith, Jesse
Snyder, Donald
Thane, Becky
Thane, John Mark
Thompson, Chris
Thorne, Andrew
Turner, Vicky Lynn
Van Arsdale,Eric
Van Wagner, Debbie
Walker, Jennifer
Weber, Cheryl
Wilcox, Blair
Williams, Kelly
Wolff, Denise
Wood, Cheryl
Wood, Robert
Woods, Christine
Page 34
Meritorious Unit Commendation
USS Appomattox - $277,933.50 OCP
total for 2007
USS Jamestown - $73,576.00 OCP total
for 2007
USS Ronald E. McNair - $3,267.35 OCP
donation for 2007
USS Liberator - $18,370.00 OCP
donation for 2007
USS Columbus - $6,073.76 OCP total
for 2007
R1 Commendation
Carl Davis - USS Heimdal
Glenda Blanks - USS Heimdal
Jeanne Wilson - USS Heimdal
Each Chapter was also presented with
the new Five Year Mission Award for
their years in service to STARFLEET
Region One as well as a certificate of
appreciation.
Pam Michaud
FCapt, SFI
R1 Awards Director
Good Conduct
Decoration 10 + years
Anderson, Dale
Andreani, Holly
Balough, Michael
Baril, Kris
Barnett, Charles L.
Bates, Ricky
Berenberg, Sanford
‘Sandy’
Berkenbilt, E. Jay
Blanks, Daniel
Blanks, Glenda
Bloyd, Ronald Lee
Bock, David A.
Boles, Rene
Bolick, Samuel
Brigham, Ralph
Brooks, Kimberly
Bruckman, Joan E.
Buffington, Barbara
Burdette, Michael
Chandler, Charles
Cook, Robert
Cook, Kathlene Harper
Crane, Barbara A.
Crum, Richard
Donner, Gary
Donner, Hollie
Eberly, Dean
Elmore, Gene A.
Eubanks, James Garnell
Eubanks, Peggy C.
Ewing, Walter Vernon
Farmer, George Douglas
Fields, Shawn D.
Fisher, J.R.
Flippin, Laura
Foulk, Doug
Franklin, Greg
Furman, Matthew C.
Goldbach, Stephanie
Graham, Janice
Grosswiller, Marcy E.
Grahling, Bill
Hamm, Debbie
Hampton, Sue
Hanak, Scott W.
Hanna, Diane
Hanna, Kevin
Harper, Darlene
Heim, Richard
Heim, Shirley
Hewitt, Christopher
Hoppa, John
Hucks, Robert
Hucks, Roberta
Hucks, Thom
Continued from
previous page...
Hunt, James David
Jensen, Scott N.
Kane, John ‘Kiwi’
Keller-Williams, Kristin
Klosowski, Ted J.
Kincaid, Melinda
Kraft, Callie
Krell, Cindy
Kurdylo,Christine
Lamantia, Joseph A.
Lambert, Elizabeth
Lariscy, Barbara
Lariscy, Christopher
Larkin, Eric Wade
Larkin, Haley A.
Larkin, Kylie B.
Larkin, Melissa D.
Lawson, Jeffrey
Lee, Marchelle
Leonardy, Linda
Leopard, Duglas A.
Lerman, Timothy
Lewis, Carl R.
Lewis, Michael
Lizard, Linda
Logan, Aileen
Logan, Caitlin
Logan, Michael
Logan, Michael Jr
Lowder, Marian
Mahaffey, Susan
Maurer, Suzanne Guehrig
Malotte, Michael
Mann, Michael
Martin, Debra C.
Martin, Jerry T.
Maurer, Suzanne Guehring
McCabe, David
McCord, Mac
Monaghan, Donna
Moore, Andrew S.
Moore. Brian P.
Moore. Kim R.
Moxley, David A.
Norris, Randy
Nottingham,Charles W.
Oakley, Dominique
Oakley, Jonathan
Olive, Clive
Olson, Linda
Parker, Donna Smith
Peters, Carolyn D.
Padgett, Edith Lawaine
Paradis, Lisa
Parker, Donna
Parsons, Fred C.
Patterson, Sean
Payne, Paul
Peters, Carolyn D.
Phelps, David
Powers, D.J.
Price, Warren
Pyles, Michael
Rayburn, Aaron
Rayburn, Jill
Redding, Ben
Redding, Sharon
Richards, James
Richards, Pamela
Rogers, Donna
Romero, Marilyn
Romero, Michael
Romero, Ron
Rose, David J.
Rose, Paula W.
Roston, Donna
Russell, Sharon Rose
Sandarg, Jana
Schulman,Bruce R.
Schwendemann, Dennis
Sesler, Roy
Sheen, Ruth
Sheets, Gregory
Shelton, Chad
Sliney, Robert
Smith, Ashley
Sprouse, John
Sprouse, Laura
Staylor, Cameron S.
Staylor, Gregory S.
Steelman, Linda
Stephens, Gerald
Stott, Stephen
Stovall, Erik J.
Swope, Joe
Tanski, Julianne
Taulman, Gerry
Telescan, Gary
Timperly, Jessica
Timson, Lawrence
Tong, Lynn Lowder
Underwood, Chris B.
Van Arsdale, Eric
Van Bibble Jane
Vitasek, Lee
Walker, Robin
Wallace, Mona
Walter, Andrew R.
Walter, Cynthia R.
Walters, Michael F. Jr
Walters, Michael F. Sr.
Ward, Jerry Dean
Whately, Kathy
Whately, Larry
White, Tammy
Willcox, Tammy
Williams, Kenneth
Williams, Kerry
Wilson, Bobbi C.
Wilson, Christi L.
Wilson, Cora A.
Wilson, David A.
Wilson, Jeanne
Wilson, Mike
Wingo, Beth
Winsley, John
Winsley, Mary Ann
Wojtowicz, Karolyn
Wood, Craig L.
Yankowski, Paul
USS Stormbringer NCC-74213
0435-13-742
Name: Dave Pitts
Rank: Rear Admiral
Position: Region 4 ShOC Officer
Ship: USS Stormbringer NCC-74213
Region: 4, California (USA)
Achievements: Starfleet Academy Red Squad Member Award; Starfleet Region 4 Member 2001;
Meritorious Service Medal from the USS STORMBRINGER in 2002
My Heart Attack
Greetings, Fleeters.
I had a heart attack April 21st, and it took me quite by
surprise. Now, before some of you laugh out loud at
that statement and comment (“Yeah, heart attacks are
generally surprising by their nature, Dave!”), let explain
why I was surprised. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I ride
a bicycle most everywhere, I love to walk, and I was
watching my weight. I thought I was doing all the right
things to avoid such an occurrence.
Still, on that evening, I had a mild heart attack. It started
feeling like acid reflux at first. Then, my arms started
hurting like somebody was grabbing the pressure
point from beneath my triceps. The cold sweats and
nausea kicked in, so I decided right then and there to
call 911 before I possibly lost consciousness.
Fortunately, the paramedics were not too far away
responding to another call. They were at the house in
a few moments, but let me tell ya, it was the longest
few moments of my life!
This started about 10pm that night. I was taken to a
nearby hospital where three stents were installed early
the next morning. The procedure is called coronary
angioplasty, and despite the fact that many physicians
say you can be awake for the procedure, I assure you,
I was out like a light. A catheter is inserted in the
femoral artery from the groin, and it is from there the
physician guides it to the heart.
Afterwards, I spent 4 days in the hospital before
I was released. Now, my life has changed…and
for the better I hope. I’m eating less now, and that
means portion control. For example, a typical 20
oz soda is not one serving, it is actually THREE!
One serving of mashed potatoes is actually about
the size of half a baseball. A 3-oz piece of steak is
about the size of a deck of cards. A piece of bread
is considered one daily grain serving. Get the idea?
Here are a few links to help you get started.
http://weightloss.about.com/cs/moretips/a/aa062700a.htm
http://weightloss.about.com/od/eatsmart/tp/aa030405a.
htm
http://www.aarp.org/health/staying_healthy/eating/size_
does_matter.html
Now, lets talk about sodium, shall we? Folks,
sodium is everywhere, and if you begin to read
labels, you’ll see what I mean. Those tasty and
easy-to-eat packs of ramen noodles are loaded
with the stuff! Sodium makes you retain water,
which leads to weight gain and increased blood
pressure.
Page 35
Yummy treats and munchies are okay if taken in
small portions in the morning. That way, you have
the whole day to burn the calories off.
In conclusion, I’m undergoing cardio rehab
Tuesdays and Thursdays. While there, I am put on
several pieces of medically-monitored equipment
designed to increase my heart endurance. On
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I am going
to a nearby gym and essentially doing the same
thing minus the medical monitoring. I weighed 215
pounds the night of the attack, and now I weigh
197. My size 42 Dickie Workpants that were tight
are now quite loose. In fact, I’m wearing a pair of
38’s now that I haven’t had on for some time.
The doctors have told me I’m doing all the right
things now, and that includes reducing stress.
Ladies and gentlemen, stress can kill you as easy
as any bullet. I’m saying “No” more often, and my
family and friends understand. Things that used to
bother me before, I am learning to ignore.
The only thing I can’t combat is heredity and age.
The Grim Reaper will get us all eventually, but you
know, there is no reason why we can’t make him
work for it, right?
Take care of yourselves, folks.
Commandant, SFMC
Name: John Roberts
Rank: Major General
Position: Commandant, SFMC
Other Positions: Commanding Officer
Ship: USS Anasazi NCC-62001
Region: 17, New Mexico (USA)
1736-01-620
Attention on Deck!
STATE of the SFMC
Greetings, Marines!
Bank Account Information
We started the month of September with a balance
of $1,047.36. We had no deposits, and withdrawals
of $497.00 (QM Inventory) during September, leaving
the account balance at $550.36.
We started the month of October with a balance
of $550.36. We had deposits of $493.94 and no
withdrawals during October, leaving the account
balance at $1,044.30.
SFMC 25th Anniversary Coins
At IC the new SFMC Challenge/Collector Coins were
unveiled. We have a standard full color design that was
struck in three different metals: Black Nickel, Gold and
Silver. The Black Nickel is the coin for General Staff
members, the Gold is given to Honor Award Winners,
and the Silver is for sale to everyone in honor of the
25th Anniversary of the SFMC. We sold out of our
initial run of 110 coins. Due to the high demand for
the Anniversary coin (and the quick sales), the GS
decided to order 90 more in the silver.
Those coins have arrived and are posted for sale in
the SFMC QM Store. Cost is $10 each; get them now
while you can. After this order of 90 additional Silver
is sold out, we will be re-ordering in Shiny Brass. They
are very nice-looking coins. Get yours while you can
so we can re-order them in the “standard” bronze.
New QM Item
The SFMC Quartermaster now has a limited supply of
SFMC-branded 4 GB flash drives. These drives have
a red LED light and look really nice, with the letters
“SFMC” emblazoned on their front side. They will be
sold at the low, low price of just $25 each. Get them
now, and we can order a new QM item sooner rather
than later.
SFMC Scholarship Program
As previously posted to the list, the GS has created and
implemented a Scholarship Program and Fundraising
Challenge for the SFMC membership. The SFMC
now has a scholarship savings account and the funds
raised are in the process of being transferred from
the PayPal account (it takes a while due to limits on
PayPal transfers each month.
We still have only raised $1,140 for the Scholarship
fund. If you would like to donate, please contact me
and I can tell you how to go about doing so. Let’s get
busy with donations and see if we can $2,000 in the
account by the end of the year!
SFMC ROLL OF HONOR
Description: No ribbon awarded.
Issuing Authority: SFMC General Staff
Frequency: Once per STARFLEET Member
Requirements and criteria:
Members, in good
standing, of STARFLEET, the International Star Trek
Fan Association, Inc. who pass away during preceding
year will be eligible for inclusion on the SFMC Roll of
Honor.
Any Member is eligible, but a recommendation must
be submitted to the GS, detailing their involvement
and accomplishments within the SFMC. Any number
of this award may be made each year as needed.
Special exception to the “preceding year” criteria
may be made in the first year of this award. The
General Staff may also add names to the wall on
their own nomination if they feel it is appropriate.
Special: At the annual SFMC Muster/STARFLEET
International Conference, the names of the
additions to the Roll of Honor will be read, followed
by a moment of silence, then a final salute from
their fellow Members to honor “absent friends.”
This award may not ever be named for any specific
Member, as the intent is to honor all members of
STARFLEET who have passed away. The Roll of
Honor will be maintained on the SFMC website and
will be composed of a background of black marble,
and the names will be in white and list name, rank,
branch of service, and year of passing.
Submission of Names: Names of members who pass
away during the preceding year (except the first year
of this award) will be submitted to the Commanding
Officer, Information Command for action in accordance
with the policies of the SFMC General Staff for
considering names to be included in the Roll of Honor.
Deadline for submission will be April 1 of any year
for announcement at the STARFLEET International
Conference/SFMC International Muster being held
that year.
Wearing of National Colors on SFMC Uniforms
The Stars and Stripes ribbon was authorized by
Page 36
Commandant Wade Olson several years ago for
members of the SFMC who are citizens of the United
States. Members of the SFMC who are citizens of
other nations are authorized to wear a similar ribbon
in the same location on their uniforms. This ribbon
is of the same size and shape as the SFMC Award
ribbons. It is worn on the right pocket flap of the Mess
White (Class A) Uniform and on the BDU’s (Class C
Uniform).
SFMC Mess Night 2009
Hello from IC2009 Launch Control! I am happy to
announce that the IC2009 Team has added the
popular SFMC Mess Dress to the next IC, August 6th9th, 2009! The cost of the Mess Dress is $35.00 and
the menu sounds great with apple topped pork chops,
wild rice, a delicious vegetable medley, and a great
dessert to be announced. So, if you are interested in
enjoying a great meal as well as mix and mingle with
the Corps finest, drop by www.ic2009.org and register
for the SFMC Mess Dress. “One Small Step...One
Giant Leap.”
I look forward to IC/IM 2009 in Greensboro, NC. Make
your plans now and register online at:
www.ic2009.org.
What do YOU want from the SFMC?
The members of the General Staff have received very
little feedback about what you, the members, would
like to see from the SFMC General Staff.
If you have ideas you think we should take a look at,
please let us know. You can reach the members of the
General Staff as follows:
SFMC Commandant: [email protected]
SFMC Deputy Commandant: [email protected]
Sergeant Major, SFMC: [email protected]
Commanding Officer, Forces Command:
[email protected]
Commanding Officer Training and Doctrine Command:
[email protected]
Commanding
Officer,
Information
Command:
[email protected]
Remember, we are here to serve you and your needs.
We can’t do that without your input. Help us make the
SFMC even better.
Until my next report, I remain in Service to the Corps.
John Roberts, Commandant, SFMC
Deputy Commandant, SFMC
Report from the Deputy Commandant
Greetings Marines,
0337-89-18
Every now and then, I like to go back and review the
MFM, read about the SFMC that I’m supposed to
be supporting, and figure out what I can do to bring
new life into our beloved Corps. Sometimes it’s just
nice to get a refresher on who we are what we’re
supposed to be doing. Whether you’re new to the
Corps or you’re an old, grizzled veteran, it’s nice to
get back to basics, back to your roots.
Charities: For the most part, the Corps as a whole
has been very lax in the charitable involvement that
we’ve campaigned for. I know there are several
units that have jumped feet-first into various and
sundry projects, from Overseas Coupon Program
to Polar Bear Plunge to Wounded Warrior Project.
Here in the 3rd Brigade, as a part of Region Three’s
charity this year, we contributed to Child’s Play, a
gamers’ charity focused on providing children in
hospitals around the nation with games, ranging
from handheld toys and console systems to board
games.
With the Christmas season upon us, many of us
have shifted our focus to the USMCR’s Toys-ForTots Foundation <http://www.toysfortots.org/>. From
their website, the Marines “collect new, unwrapped
toys during October, November and December
each year, and distribute those toys as Christmas
gifts to needy children in the community in which
the campaign is conducted.” Volunteers help to
collect toys and money (the Marines in uniform are
not allowed to collect monetary donations) and to
work in depots to sort the donations for distribution.
Those SFMC personnel assisting the USMCR during
the holidays are authorized the Commandant’s
Campaign Ribbon, which you would report on your
MSG Report following the activity. I, personally,
would love to read any stories from the MSGs about
their activities during the Christmas break. Feel free
to send them to [email protected]
On a personal note, anyone who has met me at
Summits or ICs might have noticed that I wear a
stainless steel bracelet on my right wrist. That piece
of metal is a POW/MIA bracelet. The first bracelets
were made by Carol Bates. You can read her article
on their origins at <http://www.pow-miafamilies.
org/bracelets.html>. The bracelet I wear is in
remembrance of LTC Gary H. Fors. You can read
more about him at <http://www.pownetwork.org/
bios/f/f027.htm>. I would like to challenge all
of you out there to consider purchasing a bracelet in
remembrance of these fallen heroes, taken captive
or never recovered, while in the service of their
country. There are a number of sources available
to purchase bracelets from. They range from $1020. Some, like the ones offered at <http://www.powmiafamilies.org/bracelets_get.html>, donate 100%
of their proceeds to charity, while others, like <http://
www.memorialbracelets.com/>, donate at least a
portion to various charities.
Well, until next time...
In Service to the Corps,
Aaron Murphy
Major General, SFMC
Deputy Commandant
STARFLEET Marine Corps
CO INFOCOM, SFMC
Report from the CO INFOCOM
Begin transmission…
Greetings Marines,
0737-47-16
Once again deep from the confines of the SFMC Data
Warfare center it’s time yet again for the INFOCOM
report. Summer is now gone and fall is here and by the
time this goes to publication winter will surely have us
in its icy grip. Winter is a special time of year for me; it
means unbroken snow reflecting the moonlight, trees
draped in snow, and time with friends and family.
I count myself lucky that throughout FLEET and the
SFMC I have met many people and out of those that
I have met I can count many of them as my friends.
If it were for not FLEET and the SFMC I would not
have these many friends. Over the years many
have asked me why I joined STARFLEET. I wish I
could say that I joined because of the much-invoked
nebulous “Gene’s Dream” or something similar. But
it is even something even more simple and selfish
than that. I joined because I wanted to spend time
with people who shared my interest in Star Trek and
science fiction. That’s it, plain and simple. I joined
because I could “geek-out” about Star Trek in an
atmosphere where it was considered the norm. Of
course this doesn’t mean that I don’t ascribe to the
ideals that were presented in Star Trek, it just means
that they were not the overriding factor for my joining
STARFLEET.
When I did make the decision to join STARFLEET 12
years ago I didn’t really know what I was getting myself
into. But I am sure glad I took that step. Sure those 12
years have been occasionally bumpy, but for the most
part things have gone well. I’ve made good friends,
and I met my wonderful wife through STARFLEET.
STARFLEET has changed since I first joined, some
ways for the better some not so good. Regardless,
with 12 years down I’m curious as to what the next
12 years will bring. So I say let us take a deep breath,
look forward toward the future, and let us go out there
and see what happens and “Boldly Go…”
SFMC Manuals and Websites
In 2009 several manuals will either be added or
revised. Most of the revisions that are going to take
place are due to proofreading that was performed. As
usual these new and revised manuals will be released
at that year’s International Conference.
The SFMC websites continue to work well and I
continue to fix any issues and problems that are found
either by a marine or myself when visiting the pages.
If you discover a problem or error please contact me
so that I may correct it.
Staffing
It took over a year before I finally received enough
applications for DCOINFOCOM before I could
make an informed decision as to whom to appoint.
A total of seven (7) applications were submitted for
consideration. It was tough trying to decide who would
be appointed to the position. I wish I could appoint
more than one individual, but alas I can only appoint
one DCO. But before I announce the appointment
I would like to thank each and every marine who
stepped up to the plate and submitted an application.
Each of the candidates has a long history of lending
a helping hand to other members in FLEET and the
Corps. I would also like to thank them for their hard
work in those areas also.
Page 37
As I said it was a tough choice. However after some
thought and some discussion with various individuals
I have made my decision. I would like to congratulate
GSGT Dave Lowe on his appointment to the position
of DCOINFOCOM. Dave was chosen for various
reasons including technical ability, and his ability to
tell it as it is, which I find very important. I want to
know when I’ve screwed up and rest assured this
marine will definitely let me have a full broadside if I
do. I feel that he will make a good DOCINFCOM and
between the two of us we can come up with some
ideas which will not only knock your socks off, but will
keep the SFMC technologically moving forward.
Future Projects
Now that I have a DCO, INFOCOM can now move
forward on some projects and ideas that have been
simmering. Look for announcements regarding those
projects either here in the “Attention on Deck!” or on
the Corps-l email list.
Need help with your group’s website?
If there is any Unit, Battalion, or Brigade that needs
help in setting up a website or fixing one please feel
free to contact me and I’ll be more than happy to see
what I can do to help. Be sure to have an idea as to
some of the site basics (what information is to be on
the site, what you want the site to do for you, etc...) as
it will help me help you.
End Transmission…
BGen. Sean Niemeyer
COINFOCOM
[email protected]
USS Asimov NCC-1647-A
Region 7, Pennsylvania (USA)
CO TRACOM, SFMC
Report from the CO TRACOM
1138-50-635
So, the task is to write a column that will be widely
read (well, hopefully it will be read by those who
have an interest in the SFMC, at least), is of interest,
topical, explains what TRACOM has been doing
recently, and provides some small satisfaction for the
reader having taken the time to digest the words and
content. Not much to ask--surely?
Hmmm, maybe--that is, until it comes time to sit
down and actually write something--which is not
easy when your mind is a blur of everything that has
been happening since you last wrote such a column,
coupled with the knowledge that whatever it is you do
want to write will not be read for some many weeks
into the future when everything expressed here will
be very old news. Oh well--shut up and get on with
it...
TRACOM has such an important role to play within the
Corps and, as such, virtually everything we do must
be accurate, of value, provide a service to members,
and have at least some connotation of a ‘fun’ element
that makes people want to join in and partake of
whatever it is we are offering. And our philosophy at
TRACOM is to ensure that we can indeed provide
each of those criteria--consistently and with value. So
it will come as no surprise to any reader to hear me
state that I believe that we are certainly achieving this
objective and that with the support and good efforts of
the TRACOM staff, we are adding more value to the
SFMCA experience every week.
By the time this gets to print, we will have long ago
completed our review and redraft of every SFMCA
student’s records and the Database Training Awards-and examinations should now accurately portray the
correct dates and correlation of awards to courses will
have been checked and adjusted. This is especially
important for those students who have long been
entitled to any such award, but which was not
reflected in their records. Our School Directors will
have continued to work through each of their courses,
checking exams against resource material and
tweaking and adjusting curriculums accordingly. We
will also have begun the laborious process of editing,
adding-to, adjusting or creating, all of our SFMCA and
TRACOM manuals. We will have evaluated some of
the new course ideas that we are being presented
with or are developing, and worked further on the
release of those existing or new courses that require
adjustments or new research material. We will also
have continued to work with School/Branch Directors
on the development of any possible new awards or
devices that may be under consideration. We will also,
of course, have continued our objective of providing
consistent accuracy in the maintenance of student
records and worked on programs that will ensure the
future continuation of such worthy administration.
Also--and perhaps most importantly--we will have
hopefully released some of this new course material,
including new schools and our brand new Cadet
Academy, into the SFMCA program.
And at the end of that, we will probably sit down and
grab another coffee--then start all over again.
So when you next send off a request for a course,
or pore over the contents of a manual as you do an
exam, check your records in the database to see
if your award has been posted, or simply make an
enquiry as to a certificate-- remember that behind the
scenes, there is a huge volume of effort, commitment,
and energy being expressed on your behalf by a
willing and passionate team of people who give up
their own real-life responsibilities to answer the call of
being a TRACOM staffer. We all have fun doing this--I
can only hope the reward is the pleasure our students
gain from involvement. See you in the lecture hall!
COL Bruce O’Brien
COTRACOM
[email protected]
Region 5 Recruiting Officer
USS Southern Cross NCC-63550
Region 11, New Zealand
CO FORCECOM, SFMC
FORCECOM Report
REPORT FOR: October 2008
0238-01-810
2nd BDE: Wild Dueces: We may be
second but we’re better than you. OIC
GEN
Wade Olson e-mail: captwho@
wildblue.net
Brigade DOIC (name and rank): BGN
Neil Yawn e-mail: [email protected]
3rd BDE: Dogs of War, Motto: Cry
Havok OIC Jeff Schnoor, Brigadier
e-mail: brigadecommander3bde@
hotmail.com
Brigade DOIC John Johnston, Colonel
e-mail: [email protected]
5th BDE: Birds of Prey- Motto: Swift,
Sure, Secure
Brigade OIC: BGN Norman E. DeRoux
[email protected]
Brigade DOIC: Russell Garrison DOIC
[email protected]
6th BDE: Ice Warriors- Motto: In space
all warriors are cold warriors
Brigade OIC: Tom Webster BGN OIC
[email protected]
7th BDE: “The Lucky Sevens” Motto:
We’d rather be good than lucky,
fortunately we’re both
Brigade OIC: Joseph C Dorffner Jr,
Major General [email protected]
Brigade DOIC: Mike Stein, Brigadier
General DOIC [email protected]
10th BDE: The Smiling Cats, Motto: In
The Service of Peaceful
Coexistence, OIC BGN Norma
Langlois [email protected]
DOIC LGN Paul Reid sakaari@shaw.
ca
11th BDE: The ANZACS, Motto:
Advance, OIC COL Bruce O’Brien,
[email protected]
DOIC : BDR Gary Amor picard@senet.
co.au
12th BDE: The Dirty Dozen OIC BGEN
Travis J. Littou [email protected]
DOIC WO1 Jennifer Hoover
[email protected]
15th BDE: The Nameless Ones, Motto:
Risk is our business OIC: COL Thomas
C. Guertin, SFMC, 007@
stationianfleming.org
DOIC BGN Paul Fest, SFMC
[email protected]
20th BDE: no OIC at this time.
Brigades not reporting this period, 1st,
2nd, 4th (due to Truman’s
death, they were given permission to
skip this report), 8th, 9th, 13th,
14th, 17th.
**BRIGADE UNIT DATA**
Units NOT reporting: (as reported by
Brigade OIC’s)
666th, 314th, 801st, 809th, 822nd,
832nd, 728th, 724th, 786th, 725th,
41st, 788th, 375th, 201st, 203rd, 216th,
226th, 242nd, 276th
Page 38
Brigade Strength
2nd 27/47
3rd: 39 / 10
5th: 26 / 41
6th: 05 / 10
7th: 38 / 42
10th 4 / 3
11th 11 / 23
12th 32 / 42
15th 18 / 16
20th 2 / 0
Changes to roster:
Recruit:
Ronald Ryder, Brandy Cannon, Karl
Clark, Trent Schulte, Nick Hamze, Paul
Woolard
Discharge:
Cody Wyatt, Eddy Davis, Carrie
Morgan, Mark Hanford, Robert Mulvey,
Edward Mulvey, Robin Mulvey,
Rebecca Mulvey, Vincent Mulvey, R
Bedford,
Elizabeth Mulvey, Angel Avery, Fox G.
Avery, Jada Avery, Raven Avery,
Mark Urban 63829 - Passed Away in
late August.
Strike groups activated:
577th MSG, USS Aurora, 4BN, 5BDE-Chartered 0809.20 2LT Carl Clark, OIC
822nd Badlands Ice Breakers, Brett
Thompson
Strike groups deactivated:
248th MSG rejoined the 325th
714th MSG: Chapter decommissioned
716th MSG: Chapter decommissioned
201st, No Members in Good Standing
203rd, No Members in Good Standing
Awards issued:
Joint Service Ribbon
LCPL Courtney Martin, BDR Craig
Martin, MSHP Heather Martin, LCPL
Sarah
Martin, LCPL Shelby Martin,
Academic Excellence Award-Carolyn
Zimdahl
12th BDE: 20th Anniversary Ribbon LGEN Jeffery Higdon, , COL
Christopher Higdon.
Reporting Officer
Linda Olson
Major General, SFMC
Commanding Officer FORCECOM,
Quartermaster, SFMC
DOIC of 674th MSG
USS Relentless NCC-81001
Region 2, Florida (USA)
[email protected]
DCO TRACOM, SFMC
Name: Scott Anderson, Sr.
Rank: Colonel
Position: DCO TRACOM, SFMC
Other Positions: Judge Advocate General, Chief of Communications
Ship: USS Dragons Fury NCC-74304
Region: 1, West Virginia (USA)
0139-04-743
Report from the DCO TRACOM
Greetings, Marines!
Let me start out by saying that a lot of
wonderful things have been going on
in TRACOM in recent months. Bruce
and I have been diligently working on
updating each of the TRACOM Awards
in the database, we are reinstituting
the Student of the Month program, and
we’re working on many levels with the
creation of new courses that includes
the cadet programs for each Training
Branch and some possible new schools,
just to name a few.
The updating of the awards is a project
we began at the beginning of our terms
here in TRACOM. Our first phase
consisted of just getting the awards into
the database, and at the time, we entered
the date we were working on those
awards. With this final phase, we have
changed all of the dates to correspond
to the date the awards should have been
entered, and made sure that those who
qualified got the correct award. It has
been a long and large project; we have
entered or altered some 2,000 entries
for the available TRACOM awards, and
we still are working on this project as I
write this article. So we ask that you go
into your records and make sure that
the dates are correct, and should you
find a problem just e-mail me directly
at [email protected] and I will
address it as soon as possible.
The Student of the Month is a wonderful
program, one that represents the best
and the brightest Marines in the Corps,
and I am glad to see it come back to
TRACOM. With Bruce’s approval I have
gone back to January of 2008 and have
compiled a list of our best students for
the Student of the Month awardees
for the year. The qualifications for the
Student of the Month and the Student
of the Year are not just the number of
courses completed for a given period,
but also the number of Distinctions
and Honors grades for a given month,
College Graduations, and the courses
taken, along with the levels of difficulty
of each course. The Student of the Year
is determined by the work completed for
the whole year by each Student of the
Month, looking at their achievements as
a whole and not just for a single month.
One special note is that the Student of the
Year will be included in the nomination
list, along with the nominations from all
of the School Directors, for the TRACOM
Commander’s Award that is issued at the
International Conference.
Now it is my pleasure to announce
the Training and Doctrine Command’s
Student of the Month for January 2008
through August 2008.
January 2008
BGN Larry Dale French, Sr., USS
Inferno, Region 7
Larry completed 8 courses, 3 with
Distinction and 3 with Honors. Larry
also completed the requirements for the
SFMC War College.
February 2008
CMDR Eric Johannson, USS Sunflower,
Region 12
Eric completed 12 courses, 5 with
Distinction and 6 with Honors.
August 2008
LTC David M. Bailey, USS Azrael,
Region 3
David completed 8 courses, 2 with
Distinction and 3 with Honors.
March 2008
MGEN Catherine L. Ramsey, USS
Wernher von Braun, Region 2
Catherine (a.k.a. Kit) completed 11
courses, 4 with Distinction and 5 with
Honors.
Finally, we are looking at building several
schools over the coming months and in
addition we have many Directors looking
at building a Cadet Course in each of
their schools. At this point we have PD-7
online and functioning, with the Infantry
School close to completing its final phase
before official launch. If you are interested
in creating a cchool for TRACOM,
please contact the COTRACOM, Bruce
O’Brien, at [email protected] to start
that process. Course ideas for existing
schools should be directed to the current
Director of that specific school.
April 2008
COMM Gary Wayne Hollifield Jr., USS
Star Runner, Region 1
Gary (a.k.a. Tiny) completed 13 courses,
4 with Distinction and 8 with Honors.
May 2008
MGEN Catherine L. Ramsey, USS
Wernher von Braun, Region 2
Catherine (a.k.a. Kit) completed 13
courses, 2 with Distinction and 5 with
Honors.
June 2008
LTC Michael John Timko III, USS
Liberator, Region 1
Michael completed 20 courses, 2 with
Distinction and 11 with Honors.
July 2008
MGEN Rebecca Louise Self, USS
Spiritwalker, Region 2
Rebecca completed 10 courses, 4 with
Distinction and 4 with Honors.
Let me close by saying that these
past few months, while being some of
the busiest times, have been great.
Seeing the piqued interest in the SFMC
Colleges by so many members, having
the reporting rates of the Directors and
other staff improve, and all of the positive
feedback from each of you has been
more than I imagined. I look forward,
with great enthusiasm, to the coming
months and years and the growth of this
great department within the SFMC.
Semper Fi,
COL Scott A. Anderson, Sr.
DCOTRACOM
USS Dragon’s Fury NCC-74304
Region 1, West Virginia (USA)
Dean of cadets, SFMCA
Calling All Cadets (Ages 5-18)
0239-97-310
I am MGEN Rebecca Louise Self,
and I am the new Dean of Cadets for
STARFLEET Marine Corps Academy.
We now have an Academy for all
students aged 5-18. We will be opening
initially with just a few courses, but we
will be adding more as soon as possible.
Courses are grouped together by age
groups, and we have it broken down as
thus:
The -6 series of courses are for Cadets
aged 5 to 7. The -7 series of courses
are for Cadets aged 8 to 11. The -8
series of courses are for Cadets aged
12 to 14. The -9 series of courses are
for Cadets aged 15 to 17.
We are going to eventually have
courses just like the adults in all of our
Branches and Schools.
Professional Development: Professional
Development is the school where the
students go for the fine art of becoming
a Professional Soldier. Being a Marine
is more than a career choice, it is a
life choice. This is where beings to go
to become Marines and where many
Cadets will begin their studies.
Page 39
Non-Commissioned Officers: This
school instructs its students in the
important aspects of the heart of
any military organization--the Non
Commissioned Officers. Here cadets
will learn the basic elements that will
help guide them on their career to be
a “noncom,”
Leadership: This will be courses in the
area of “Leadership.” Leadership is the
ability to influence other people to get
the mission accomplished, whatever
it may be. Just as in your everyday
lives, Leadership plays a role in the
Military, but with a slightly different
twist. Non Commissioned Officers and
Commissioned Officers are expected to
be Leaders--either by the virtue of their
rank or position. All are expected to
Lead! Cadets attending this School will
learn the basic elements that will set
them on the path to good leadership.
Aerospace: This school instructs its
student in all phases of Aerospace
Operations;
from
Ground
and
Maintenance Crews, through Forward
Aerospace Controllers, to Advanced
Aerospace Combat techniques. Here
Cadets will gain a basic introduction to
the Aerospace Branch.
Armor: This school instructs its students
in all phases of Armor Operations;
from basic heavy vehicle driving,
through large bore artillery operation,
to command and control of mobile field
units. Armor is still an important fighting
element of the SFMC, and Cadets
taking these basic courses will gain a
good understanding of this Branch.
Combat Engineers: This school
instructs its students in all phases of
Combat Engineering Operations; from
all aspects of the Combat Marine field of
endeavors from Battlefield Preparation,
through Mobility Denial, to Special
Equipment Requirements are taught in
this comprehensive curriculum. Here
Cadets will gain a basic introduction to
the Combat Engineers Branch.
Infantry: This school instructs its
students in all phases of Infantry
Operations; from aspects of Infantry
Operations such as Small Unit Tactics,
Weapons and Armor, Power Infantry
and many more are covered thoroughly
in this School. This is the school for any
Marine who has ever dreamt of calling
out “I am the Infantry. Follow me!” For
those Cadets wishing to pursue a career
in this oldest of the military branches,
the IN courses will provide a good basic
introduction.
Maritime Operation: This school
instructs its students in all phases of
Maritime Operations; covering maritime
equipment, tactics, missions, and
organization. The Maritime Operations
Branch Director administers the
Maritime Operations School through
the STARFLEET Marine Corps
Academy. Here Cadets will gain a basic
introduction to the Martiime Branch.
Mecha: This school instructs its
students in all phases of Operation,
Maintenance, Tactics and Logistics of
Mechanized Enhanced Combat Heavy
Armor (or Mecha) units in theory and
in practice. Graduate from this School
and you will be well prepared to “Wield
the Lightning.”
Medical: This school instructs its
students in all phases of Combat
Medical Operations; all aspects of the
Medical regimens as utilized by the
STARFLEET Marine Corps are covered.
Cadets taking medical courses will be
introduced to very basic medicine with
great emphasis on First Aid.
Special Operations: This school
instructs its students in all phases of
Special Operations; all aspects of the
rigorous and highly specialized field
of Special Operations are covered
within this curriculum. Cadets will come
here to learn the basic techniques and
elements of being a SpecOp Marine.
Support: This school encompasses all
areas of Marine operations not taught
in other schools. The Support School
covers it all, from Chaplains, through
Maintenance and Supply, and all the
way to Demonstration Teams. Here
Cadets will learn the basic fundamentals
of the various elements that go together
to form this all-important Branch of the
SFMC.
Xeno-Studies: This College was set
up as the home for the different series
of courses designed to familiarize the
Marine with the races and cultures he
may encounter during his tours of duty
with the SFMC. Cadet students will gain
their first-studies of some of the foreign
races and cultures that will assist them
in their future career as a Marine.
Someday, maybe within a year, I even
hope to open a Military History Branch
School.
All the courses so far will use the
manuals of the adult courses, except
the First Aid courses for MD-7 and MD-
8. These two use any and all of any
current First Aid Manuals from home,
libraries, and the Internet. The courses we have as of opening are
going to be:
Ages 5-7 Armor and Professional
Development.
Ages 8-11 Armor, Medical, and
Professional Development.
Ages 12-14 Aerospace, Armor, Combat
Engineering, Infantry, Medical, and
Professional Development.
Ages 15-18 Medical.
We are getting ready to open XenoStudies for Romulans (ages 8-11 and
ages 12-14) hopefully in the next couple
of weeks (as of mid November).
We will be opening courses in all the
other Branch Schools as they are
developed. I am hoping we will open
between one to two each month for a
bit until we have at least one in each of
the Branch Schools for each age group.
So keep checking the SFMCA web site
for details. Thank you for making this
Academy a possibility for the Cadets. MGEN Rebecca Louise Self
Dean Cadet, SFMCA
Commanding Officer
USS Spiritwalker NCC-31097
Region 2, Alabama (USA)
Sergeant Major, SFMC
Report from the Sergeant Major, SFMC
Greetings, Marines!
0540-03-747
First, a reminder that the official SFMC
NCO mailing list has been shaken out
of its long slumber. The list is open to
any enlisted member of STARFLEET
(Marine or Fleet) and any officer
interested in enlisted affairs. You can
sign up at http://lists.sfi-sfmc.org/
listinfo.cgi/nco-l-sfi-sfmc.org
Once you’re signed up, I’d like to
request that you send a quick message
to the list introducing yourself. We’ve
had a couple of interesting discussions
to date, and I’m a great one for tossing
questions and ideas out there for the
list to consider.
As usual, the enlisted ranks of the
Corps have been busy with various
projects that I’ve been privileged to be
asked for input on. It’s a bit premature
to bring any of these projects up right
now, but I can confidently state that
there are some very good ideas being
developed. One project I’m heavily
involved with involves the creation
of some brand new NCO material for
TRACOM.
Currently, I’m trying to wrap my
head around the Warrant Officers
of the Corps, and what we can do
to promote this part of the enlisted
rank structure. Your input is not only
welcome, but also needed. One
thing that has come up in discussion
is that the suggested requirements
for the various WO grades are a bit
daunting to many. I’d like to remind
you that these are only suggestions,
and promotions to WO (or any other
enlisted rank) are handled strictly by
your local chapter. Every unit is free
to set its own internal requirements
and promotion standards, including
training and Time in Service/Time in
Grade standards.
One of the responsibilities that NCOs
traditionally have is seeing to the
training of their troops. To that end, I’d
again like to encourage any Marine
who hasn’t availed themselves of
the opportunities TRACOM provides
to do so. If you’ve already taken all
the courses in one area, expand your
horizons a bit. Both the SFMCA and
SFA offer a wide range of interesting
and fun courses to help do just that.
Taking those courses costs you nothing
but a bit of your time and a fair amount
Page 40
of “brain sweat.” In return, you may
get something tangible, like a notation
in your file or a ribbon for your Class
A’s. But far more importantly, you’ll
get a sense of personal satisfaction
and accomplishment.
As I write this, my region has been
reminded about an approaching
deadline for awards nominations.
No award can ever be made unless
someone writes a recommendation
for someone to receive that award. It’s
up to each and every Marine, of any
rank, to start the process of getting
our fellow Marines recognized for
their achievements. If, for instance,
the Star of Valor was not awarded in
your Brigade this year, it’s most likely
that nobody was recommended for
it. That doesn’t mean that nobody
deserved it. Here’s my challenge to all
of you: take a moment to look at the
good work being done by your fellow
Marines, and make sure that those
further up the Chain of Command are
aware of it as well.
I don’t know of any Marine who
sets out to win an award, but we
are all pleased when we get official
recognition for “just doing our job.”
As always, if someone from the
enlisted ranks in your area is doing
something special or fun, I’d love
to hear about it and make their
accomplishments known in this space.
To that end, I’d like to congratulate
GSGT Dave Lowe on his appointment
as DCOINFOCOM.
I want to remind you again that your
opinions, ideas, and concerns are
not only welcomed, but also needed
by the SFMC General Staff. When I
mentioned this subject to a member
of my own unit, I was told “But I don’t
have any questions or concerns
or anything like that. Far as I’m
concerned, they’re doing a good job
and I’m happy.” To which I replied:
“Ever think that maybe they might
want to hear that as well?”
Semper Fi!
MGSGT Jerome A. “Hawk”
Stoddard
Sergeant Major of the SFMC
[email protected]
NCOIC
USS Thermopylae NCC-74703
Region 5, Washington (USA)
Director, SFI Recruitment
Name: James Herring
Rank: Vice Admiral
Position: , Director, STARFLEET Recruitment
Ship: ISS Royal Sovereign NCC-72201
Region: 12, Kansas (USA)
1241-01-722
Hidee Ho Neighbor!
A laurel and hearty welcome to the Recruiting and
Retention section of STARFLEET International! I am
your host, VAdm. James Herring. For those of you
who don’t know me (and you know who you are) a
little background. I started in 1987 and have held
numerous local, Region and Fleet level positions--often
simultaneously--and I was even Fleet Admiral for a
bit. In the real world, I have owned businesses, been
a professional photographer, and I currently work for
a newspaper in the Sales/Advertising department. In
other words, I am a salesman. And as you can tell, I
am also very shy (not). So when asked to take on this
position, I jumped at the chance. I am a BIG believer in
advertising and even a bigger believer in SFI. Does that
mean I have all the answers? Of course (not).
What it means is that I have been doing this for a long
time, believe in what I am doing, am very outgoing, have
thick skin, and tend to be hard-headed. And I have heard
a lot of “no’s” in my time. Yeah, those are qualities you
need if you are in sales and if you are recruiting for or
trying to retain people in an organization. It is honestly
like asking the question of how to cure a cold. There
are some basic ideas that usually work. Does it work for
all? No. Will what I am recommending work for all? No.
What I can say is that they should work a lot of the time.
Every ship is different, every person is different. But the
one thing that is constant is this: if you don’t recruit, you
will not have a crew. If you don’t do things that people
want to do, you will not retain them. And when you loose
people, for whatever reason, you have to do something
to replace them. Remember, you need 10 dues-paying
people to keep your ship “active” within SFI.
I will try to touch on things that I have found and used
in my time in Fleet and outside that have helped me. So
for this installment, let me jump into this swirling mess
now and start off with something that, of the 221 ships
in the 0806.07 Vessel Registry, 163 (74%) have put on
their reports as having: a web presence.
Of those 163 which listed a web address, 31 (19% of the
163) had sites that were no longer there/unable to open/
find. Since a lot of people do almost everything online,
you should always make sure you have some kind of
up-to-date web presence.
I checked every web site that was listed in the Vessel
Registry so I could see what was out there. There were
some great sites! I mean it. They had more stuff on there
to download or links to things that I hadn’t considered or
even thought would be on a Trek web site. And then
there were some that were very lacking. And then you
had a lot that fell in the middle. They had a good-looking
web site, lots of neat stuff, but they also had some things
that were distracting.
If your site is good-looking, has all the technical data for
your ship, pictures from a barbecue, and links to lots of
Trek stuff, that’s great. But if your newsletters stop at
2002, some of the links you have are broken, and you
are still advertising for a 2006 convention…no matter
how current your upcoming events may be, I would
wonder. First impressions still pop up in our brains.
Here are some things to think about when designing
your web presence. Your site should be pleasant
looking…especially if someone will be there for a while
looking around, downloading, clicking links and tabs.
And it should be easy to navigate. You want people to
check out your site, so you shouldn’t make it impossible
to find things or label them in Klingon. Though it might
look cool, some may not take the time or just move on.
Now, the Fleet members will not have a problem with
any of this; but I am talking about someone not in Fleet
yet. Also when you design, you need to think how fast it
will load onto the screen, if the music you want to play
will kick people off the site or off the web. These are the
more technical questions that you need to check with
whoever is designing your site.
On the site, you should have either a short history or
a direct link to the STARFLEET site. Since you are a
ship of the line in Fleet, and since the Fleet web site has
a ton of information--from the Academy to processing
membership packets--this is a must.
Next, you need to mention what your ship is all about.
This should be more real life versus your Trek alteregos. Even correspondence ships put things down about
what they do: meet online, game online, meet in person,
charities, parades, go to their Regional Summit or IC. If
you want to put down the fictional aspect of your ship,
that’s fine, too. In fact, that could be something fun for
your ship to do: write the history of your chapter, or for
that matter, research your ship name and see if there are
any historical precedents. Just look at the Enterprise.
And look at any ship that carries a military ship name
or the name of a historical person: Lexington, Hood,
O’Bannon, Joan of Arc, to name a few. Also make sure
you think about a ship’s logo.
The reason behind that is for the person who is viewing
your site to see what you do. They need to have as much
information so they can make an informed decision. And
that decision is whether or not to contact you so they
can join.
And that leads to the next thing: contact information. You
must have some kind of link that person can click on
to be able to send the Captain or designated recruiting
officer an e-mail for more information. Some people are
nervous about putting their phone number out there.
Page 41
Speaking for me and only me (Standard Region 12
disclaimer), I have never had a problem with my number
being out there. Some do. In my opinion, you might want
to see if you can find one person who would be willing
to take calls from people. Because no matter how good
you think you are at giving directions, and no matter how
good you think MapQuest is (I really beg to differ there),
some people are just navigationally challenged and need
to be talked through. No matter what you decide, there
has to be some way to contact your ship.
That goes to the next part: a little something about the
CO and the crew. This goes hand-in-hand with what
your ship is all about. Some people like to see a picture
of the person they are dealing with or know something
about them. Again, in advertising, a face tends to ease
people’s fear. Why do you think you see pictures of
lawyers in ads? Ok, maybe not the best analogy. But
people like to see other people having fun; then they can
imagine themselves in that picture having fun.
And last, but most definitely not least, you must have a
current calendar of events of what you are doing, where
you are doing it, and how to get a hold of whoever is
coordinating it. Time, location, cost, uniform, etc. should
all be included.
Those are just some of the basics. Extras I have seen
and have thought they were neat were: ship’s logo,
commissioning plaques, newsletters, rank structure,
promotion policies, handbooks, awards, stories, rank
and position requirements, ship’s academy courses,
downloadables, news feed, active links to other ships,
regions, Trek sci-fi sites, and all the other extras that
make checking out a ship’s web site enjoyable.
Always, always, always keep your web site up to date.
Trust me, nothing will get people more upset--either
prospective crew, your own crew, or just visitors from
another ship--than to see outdated events listed! You
can have all your newsletters on there; just make sure
that if you stop in 2006, you explain that you lost your
Chief of Communications and that’s why you don’t have
a current newsletter and that the position is open to
anyone who would like to apply for it.
Lastly, let me say this: I know there are ships out that are
just family ships--two or three families comprise the ship.
They do things together and they have fun and don’t do
recruiting as they don’t need or want to. If your ship is
that way, then having a web site is not for you. Some
may say that they want to show off what they have done.
That’s great, and they have every right to do that. But if
they do not include any contact info or anything more
that stories or pictures of them having a good time, that
is like having someone sit across from you and eat a
big dinner with desert--and you are on a diet. It might
make you a bit mad, upset, and angry that you can’t be a
part of that. In phone books, the big ads are advertising
something. They want people to contact them.
If your ship isn’t that way, but you want to show off and
be proud of what you do, then please mention that, while
you are a chapter of STARFLEET, you have a closed
admission policy. But here is a link to your Regional
web site or link to the SFI site so that the person who
stumbles across you doesn’t get mad and give up on
joining a Star Trek fan club.
The best way to look at your ship’s web site is to look
at it as if you were looking at it for the first time. Or
for that matter, have someone else look at it who is
not a member and ask them what they think. Ask them
to view it as if they were interested in joining. Does it
have current events to make them want to come to a
meeting? Does it have neat downloads or links to other
things? Is it easy to maneuver and find things?
And if you come up with a new web site, make sure
you report to HQ the address, so we can put it out
there. You never know, someone might actually check
all the web addresses and see what’s out there and
get ideas.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to
direct them my way. I know I can’t please everyone,
and not everyone will agree, but considering that I
make my living in sales, I might know what I am talking
about. If not, show me what works for your ship. Like
I said at the beginning, I know I don’t have all the
answers, and I am not afraid to learn new things. But
if you don’t let me know, how can I learn either?
USS Marathon NX-3105
Name: David E Ryan
Rank: Admiral
Position: Commanding Officer
Ship: USS Marathon NX-3105
Region: 2, Florida (USA)
0242-05-31
10th Anniversary Susan B. Koman Race for the Cure
Team Starfleet, consisting of members of the
USS Marathon and the USS Tiberius, cocaptained by Adm. Dave Ryan and Col. Oliver
Savander, supported by Region Two Coordinator
Comm. Jack Eaton, joined forces. Coordinated
by communication liaison Gunnery Sgt Dave
Lowe of the Tiberius, two crews participated
in the 10th Anniversary Susan B. Koman Race
for the Cure in St. Petersburg, FL on Saturday,
October 4, 2008.
consisted of a choice of races: a competitive
10K, a competitive 5K, a 5K walk, and a 1 mile
walk. There were also survivor tributes along
with other events geared towards education
about the disease.
Admiral David E Ryan, CO USS MARATHON and
Colonel Oliver Savender, CO, USS TIBERIUS at table.
Photo submitted by David Ryan.
The Susan B. Koman Society is instrumental
in breast cancer research and support for
individuals battling the disease and survivorship.
In the past 10 years, the society has raised 20
Million in the St. Petersburg area alone. This
10th anniversary event itself raised $1,003,942.
The main part of RFTC that is important is
that up to 75% stays in the Suncoast Region
(Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee, Pasco and
Polk counties in the West/Central Florida
area).
Quoting from ST: TMP, Gunnery Sgt Dave was
heard to have said, “Admiral, these Departure
orders… it’s only 0500…” To which the
good Admiral responded, “Its gonna be fun…
doggone it.” They picked up Col. Ollie Savander
and proceeded to the team set up area, which
appeared to be about ¼ mile walk from the
parking lot. On this page are pictures of our
command post.
Post race Colonel Oliver Savender, CO, USS TIBERIUS
and Admiral David E Ryan, CO, USS Marathon.
Photo submitted by David Ryan.
The team raised $320… not bad for a first
effort! We are thrilled that many members
contributed to the event, including Comm. Matt
Moyer, Starfleet CompOps Chief. Let’s make
this better than ever next year! The team talked
about Starfleet to many people, and distributed
numerous flyers before the event itself. It
Page 42
Admiral David E. Ryan, CO, USS MARATHON and
Gunnery Sergeant Dave Lowe, USS TIBERIUS at Table.
Photo submitted by David Ryan.
USS Ronald E McNair NCC-61809
Name: Pamela Michaud
Rank: Fleet Captain
Position: Commanding Officer
Other Positions: Region 1 Awards Director
Ship: USS Ronald E Mcnair NCC-61809
Region: 1, South Carolina (USA)
0143-09-618
Hollywood Day at the
South Carolina State Museum
Stardate 210806.14
The SC State Museum has reached
back in time to gather scores of artifacts,
photographs, posters, and other memorabilia
from movies great and small to produce the
new blockbuster exhibit “Hollywood Comes to
South Carolina: A Century of Filmmaking in
the Palmetto State,” which opened Jan. 12,
2008. The exhibit traces the history of films
large and small made in South Carolina over
the entirety of the 20th century, and includes
early documentaries and educational films, in
addition to major motion pictures. There are
photographs, posters, movie clips, filmmaking
equipment, costumes, props, and other
artifacts that they may have been seen on the
big screen or perhaps even seen in person
in their towns. And of course, information
on South Carolina stars is included.
Included are such items as a “fat suit” worn
by Eddie Murphy in “The Nutty Professor
2”, the gallows used in Mel Gibson’s
Revolutionary War epic “The Patriot”, a pair
of pants worn by Kevin Bacon in “Death
Sentence” (the recent release filmed in
Columbia), a dress worn by Julia Roberts
in “Something to Talk About”, and the
“interview” couch used in “The Big Chill.”
Other items include a knife used by John
Wayne, a working fire engine used in the
mini-series “Chiefs”, costumes worn by
Bruce Willis, Samuel L.
Jackson, and Jeremy
Irons in “Die Hard
with a Vengeance”,
scripts, models, film
equipment…and the
list goes on.
In addition, clips from
films can be seen on
monitors throughout the
exhibit gallery.
McNair member Cat Henry, CaptAIN Blackbeard, and Junie B. Jones.
Photo submitted by Pamela Michaud.
An away team consisting
of McNair CO Pam
Michaud,
Engineering
Officer Chitiaka Henry
and Crewman Mike
Henry beamed down to
the SC State Museum
to help them celebrate
Hollywood
Day
on
June 14, 2008. From
a galaxy far, far away
came
the
Wookiee
Chewbacca. From the
magic kingdom, Snow
Page 43
McNair CO Pam Michaud and Captain Blackbeard.
Photo submitted by Pamela Michaud.
White, Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland.
Mystery Inc’s own Scooby-Doo, Fred, and
Daphne joined in the fun. From the land of
OZ came Glenda the Good Witch, Dorothy,
and her dog Toto. Even Indiana Jones made
an appearance. Captain Blackbeard and
even Junie B. Jones came. The day started
with children and parents coming to join us
all for breakfast. A trivia game and costume
contest were held, as well as a scavenger
hunt was held where the children looked for
Cinderella’s glass slipper, a phaser, tribble,
Indiana Jones’s whip, as well as other items.
After breakfast, there were pictures taken,
as well as roaming the museum interacting
with the guests and patrons. We had a great
time. The museum was very happy that we
were able to help them that day.
In Loving Memory
From Jack Kern
From Jim Monroe
Deb and I had met while we were both stationed
at the Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs,
Colorado. We had dated for several months,
and then I was transferred to Camp Red Cloud,
Korea.
My first introduction to Deb Kern was with the
Klingon Warrior Academy. I was a young Marine
Captain and interested in gaining a broader
knowledge of the Klingons and their culture. She
gladly accepted me as a Student in the newly
formed Klingon Warrior Academy and went to
work on the KWA 100 and 200 courses.
While I was stationed in Korea, we decided to get
married and did so May 27, 1989. Of course, we
didn’t have much of a honeymoon, due to the fact
that I had been reassigned to Holloman AFB in
Alamogordo, NM. When Deb first came to visit
Alamogordo, she wasn’t very impressed with
the small town. Even though the place had
grown on her some, I like jokingly saying that I
was surprised that she didn’t divorce me before
being transferred to Holloman AFB in January,
1990.
When it came time for me to undertake the KWA
300, I was told that it had not yet been developed.
I asked if I were to develop the needed courses if
Like in some marriages, with both parties being
active duty military, we had our ups and downs.
In July of 1990, I was sent on a temporary
assignment for 90 days with a few other folks
from my unit. While I was gone, she was called
up for Desert Shield and Desert Storm. That in
itself was a rather trying time for us with the
uncertainty of what would come, but needles to
say, we survived.
Throughout her lifetime, she had always been
a very active person: she played softball, went
to school, and other things. When her health
prevented her from doing things like she had
before, it was a little bit of a letdown for her. But
until her death, on July 15, 2008, she still had her
hands full keeping me in line (that’s big job for
any one).
Though I know that she is in a much better place
now and is not suffering anymore, I will miss her
very much.
From Cindy Mapes (a friend in Colorado)
We lived in an older home in Colorado Springs,
and I had an opportunity to buy a NEW home up
on the bluff. But my debt ratio was too high for me
to qualify to buy it. Deb offered to go in on the
loan with me, and her income would get us the
loan without any problems. She only wanted
to help me out, and she had no desire to own
a home. So on the same day we signed all the
papers for the new house, she signed a “quit
claim” which means she gave the house to me.
She was still on the loan but gave up her rights
to the property. I can’t think of too many people
who would do that for anyone.
Lionel Smith (Klingons Forever)
I was a junior exchange officer assigned to the
USS Mir back when Deb was XO. She got us
both assigned to conduct a graveyard shift,
EVA hull inspection together. So here we were,
outside the ship, tethered to each other, upside
down to the stern, and with the giggles.
Finally, we had both retired, myself in January,
1994 and Deb in January, 1998. I went to work
and Deb went to college and got her Degree
from New Mexico State University, Las Cruces,
NM.
Deb retired from the Air Force with a 30%
disability. This was due to a few medical
problems that she had while at active duty. Her
health had already started to decline even more
while in school. By the time she graduated she
was wondering why she had even put herself
through all that when was unable to go to work
with her degree. But that was something that she
had always wanted to do and wasn’t a waste of
time (my opinion).
identity of K-James zantai Veska and met many
other Klingons in the House of Veska. This
union has led to a much deeper understanding
and enjoyment of the Star Trek universe, not to
mention meeting some of the best people in any
world, Sci Fi or ST.
I could get credit for the work. Deb said that it was
not a problem...and get to work!
And to work I did. I searched all of my Star Trek
materials looking for lesser-known points of the
published Klingon culture, society, and military to
be added to this new work for the STARFLEET
Academy, Klingon Warrior Academy. After a
careful review and confirming of several points
of concern, the new courses were ready for Fleet
use.
This was the start of a longtime joint undertaking
between the two of us, working on several different
projects for the STARFLEET Academy and the
STARFLEET Marine Corps Academy. And this
moved over to many other projects in other Sci Fi
organizations.
It was because of Deb Kern and the Klingon
Warrior Academy that I developed the Klingon
Page 44
Deb then pulls a vinyl sticker out of her pocket
that says “Gas, Grass or Ass - Nobody Rides for
Free.” We could barely pull the backing off of
it with our gloves on, but we finally managed to
paste it to the back of the port nacelle.
Deb had several other stickers with her and we
plastered them all over the back end of that ship.
“I Brake For Ferengi”, “Nuke the Whales,” a fish
with feet, “Wookie Foot Rocks”, and many more.
She even had an aerosol paint can with her and
we drew a Klingon smiley face above the shuttle
bay door.
Engine efficiency increased by 2% and aft shield
strength by 8%.
SFI Membership Application
Page 45
STARFLEET Communiqué’
STARFLEET Communiqué Submission Guidelines
1) WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR:
3) FORMAT OF SUBMISSIONS:
The STARFLEET Communiqué , the bi-monthly newsletter
for our fan organization, welcomes printable submissions
from any member of our club. Among the items most
frequently submitted are:
3.1) Please send all written articles in Microsoft Word
.doc format. Make sure the document contains only text.
Do NOT embed photos or other images inside of Word
documents. Send images separately.
5.2) Photos or artwork that might be of questionable taste
run the risk of not being accepted for publication. The
Communiqué editorial team errs on the side of caution
in most decisions of what to publish. If you push the
envelope, do not be surprised if your submission does not
make it into the publication.
1.1) Articles about chapter, regional, or fleet events,
3.2) Images should be sent as jpeg files with no
compression (or the highest quality jpeg setting). Photos
and artwork should also be saved at the highest possible
resolution. Photos that are less than 800 pixels wide or
tall will usually look pretty bad when printed.
5.3) Try to avoid talk of politics (either inside or outside
of STARFLEET), and talk of religion. Informal spiritual
references are acceptable, but remember that IDIC allows
for a wide diversity of beliefs, and we want to respect and
be open-minded about all cultural perspectives.
3.3) In certain cases, .pdf and .xls files can be sent
as submissions, but please check with the Chief of
Communications before sending a submission in either of
these formats.
5.4) No personal attacks against any individual, either
inside or outside of the STARFLEET organization.
1.2) Articles about some aspect of Star Trek or science
fiction,
1.3) Articles about opportunities and/or resources for
STARFLEET members and Star Trek fans in general,
1.4) Articles about important issues for our fan
organization,
1.5) Photographs of chapter, regional, or fleet events-including members, activities, and items of interest,
1.6) Photographs of famous Star Trek and/or science
fiction celebrities,
1.7) Drawings, cartoons, schematics, or other printable
artwork,
1.8) Other fun Star Trek or sci-fi items--such as short
stories, poems, or recipes.
Please limit any written submissions to 5,000 words or
fewer, unless you have first requested permission from
the Chief of Communications for a longer submission.
2) WHERE TO SEND IT:
2.1) All submissions to CQ should be e-mailed to:
[email protected]
or postal mailed to:
Commodore Jon Lane
Chief of Communications, STARFLEET
3858 Lamarr Avenue
Culver City, CA 90232
2.2) Please note that any physical submission mailed
will not be returned unless the sender includes a selfaddressed, stamped envelope and a written request that
the submission be mailed back.
2.3) Submission deadlines are usually printed in previous
issues of the Communiqué and posted to the various
STARFLEET chat lists. However, if you are ever curious
when the next submission deadline will be, feel free to
contact the Chief of Communications. Please note, the
earlier a submission is received, the more likely it is to be
included in the upcoming issue instead of having to wait
until a later issue is published.
3.4) Please proof-read your written submissions carefully
before sending them. Use a spell-checker, and if possible,
read the submission out loud to make certain all of your
sentences are clear and make sense. Submissions do
not have to be completely free of typos, but the editorial
team prefers to have to do minimal corrections of articles,
if possible.
4) WHAT YOU NEED TO INCLUDE:
4.1) All photos that you submit should include a separate
text file containing captions. Do NOT rely on file names
for your captions; file names are usually changed and
simplified during production and lost once photos are
placed into page layouts.
4.2) Photo captions should include the names of all
people pictured (if available) and preferably their chapter
name, as well. Also, PLEASE include the name of the
photographer, even if you are the photographer and are
also submitting the photo.
4.3) For the author, please include as many of the following
as you can:
Author’s full name
Author’s rank and position in their chapter
That chapter’s name, NCC number, home state (or
country, if not U.S), and region
That chapter’s logo (if available)
A head shot photo of the author (if available)
A brief list of some of the author’s best achievements
while in STARFLEET
5) WHAT TO AVOID
5.1) The Communiqué is read by a wide and diverse
audience around the world, including people of different
ages, genders, religions, and political beliefs. Please
write in a professional manner using language that would
be appropriate for the widest possible audience.
Page 46
5.5) No blatant advertising. Because of our periodical
mailing rate with the U.S. Post Office, any advertisements
contained within our publication increase our postage
costs. As such, any advertisement needs to first be
approved by the Executive Committee.
6) AND FINALLY
6.1) Please submit ONLY YOUR OWN WORK. Or if you
are submitting on behalf of another person, be certain he
or she is credited as the author and has given permission
for the submission and publication of his or her work. Do
not violate another’s copyright or plagiarize another’s
work.
6.2) Space in the Communiqué is limited. Not all articles
will fit. Sometimes a submission will need to wait for one or
more issues until there is space for it. Some submissions
may not be used at all. The final decision of what gets
published in the Communiqué and when is made by the
Chief of Communications and his or her editorial team.
6.3) Please try to carefully proof-read any text submission.
However, be aware that we reserve the right to make
editorial changes to any submission to correct typos,
clarify meaning, and in some rare cases, to shorten
length. Every effort will be made to keep the integrity of
the original submission, but understand that changes may
likely be made before the final publication.
6.4) That said, we make mistakes, too. We apologize in
advance if we misspell your name or the name of someone
in one of your photos or articles. We strive to be perfect,
but we don’t always make it. The most important thing for
all of us when it comes to the STARFLEET Communiqué
and our overall organization is to enjoy Star Trek and have
fun.
THANKS FOR READING ALL THIS
AND FOR YOUR SUBMISSION!
Staff of Starfleet International
COMMANDER
FADM Sal Lizard
P.O. Box 774
Circleville, OH 43113
[email protected]
888-SAL-4-SFI or 740-601-7263
Chief of Staff
VADM Sam Black
2112 56th St.
Lubbock, TX 79412
[email protected]
806-789-1501
Historian
GEN Wade Hoover
[email protected]
Inspector General - Interim
GEN Wade Hoover
[email protected]
VCS Policy Advisor
CAPT Ronald Bishop
[email protected]
Retention Deputy Director
RADM Dave Pitts
[email protected]
Member Services Administrator
BGN Bran Stimpson
helpdesk.sfi.org
MSR Officer – Reporting via email
CAPT Zed Drebin
[email protected]
Annual Campaign Director
ADM Marlene Miller
461 Harmony Lane
Campbell, Ohio 44405
[email protected]
Support Services
LT Dennis Bilyk
COL Jack Alexander
LT Chad Harrington
Annual Campaign Co-Director
Adm. Helen M. Pawlowski
4837 Germania St.
St. Louis, MO 63116
(no e-mail)
CHIEF OF COMMUNICATIONS
COMM Jonathan Lane
Chief Alumni Association
3958 Lamarr Avenue
MCPT Daniel Dreesbach
Culver City, CA 90232
[email protected]
[email protected]
Annual Campaign Co-Director
ADM Sherry Anne Newell
International Conference Liaison 5 NW 40th St
GEN Mark H. Anbinder
Lawton, OK 73505-4911
[email protected]
[email protected]
Vice Chief of Communications
and Content Editor
MGEN Dennis Rayburn
[email protected]
[email protected]
Member Recognition
ADM Linda Kloempken
[email protected] or [email protected]
FRC Director
BDR Jeff Schnoor
[email protected]
Communiqué Submissions
[email protected]
Office of Orientation Director
** Vacant **
VCS Communications Director
CAPT Michael Soucy
[email protected]
Personnel Director
FCAPT Teresa Remaly
[email protected]
Public Relations Director
ADM Brandt Heatherington
[email protected]
Quartermaster
VADM Pete Mohney
[email protected] or
[email protected]
Recruiting Director
VADM James Herring
[email protected]
Staff Advisors
FCPT Tom Donohoe
LCDR Terry Remaly
VICE COMMANDER
VADM Dave Blaser
74072-260 Guelph Street,
Georgetown, ON L7G 4B5
Canada
[email protected]
VCS Chief of Staff
COMM Bob McCann
[email protected]
International Charities Director
FCPT Ellen Majka
[email protected]
STARFLEET Marines
MGN John Roberts
[email protected]
Overseas Coupon Program
RADM Edward Allen III
[email protected]
CHIEF OF OPERATIONS
VADM Jerry Tien
45018 Cougar Circle
Freemont, CA 94539
[email protected]
Vice Chief of Operations
ADM Cindy Krell
[email protected]
Correspondence Chapters
COMM David Kania
[email protected]
http://correy.sfi.org/
Retention Director
CAPT John Schulte
[email protected]
Communiqué Editor-in-Chief
CMDR Prasith Kim-Aun, DMD
[email protected]
Alumni Outreach Program
Director
CAPT Annie Wheeler
[email protected]
Office of Disabled Accessibility
Director
FCPT Dana Marshall
[email protected]
Office of Disabled Accessibility
Assistant Director
COMM Keith Marshall
COMMANDANT OF
STARFLEET ACADEMY
ADM Peg Pellerin
180 So. Reynolds Rd.
Winslow, ME 04901
[email protected] or
[email protected]
Academy Vice-Commandant
ADM Marlene Miller
[email protected] or
[email protected]
Coordinator of Academic
Services
ADM Carol Thompson
[email protected]
Page 47
Coordinator of Support Services
Gregory S. Staylor
[email protected] or
[email protected]
Membership Processing
Administrator
FCPT Matthew Ingles
[email protected]
Electronic Services Chief
ADM Gregory S. Staylor
[email protected] or
[email protected]
Database Operations Lead
Joe Fuller
[email protected]
STARFLEET Scholarship
Program Director
CMDR Reed Bates
[email protected]
CHIEF OF SHAKEDOWN
OPERATIONS
RADM Warren Price
315 Highway 220
Cedar Grove, TN. 38321
[email protected]
888-SFI-TREK Ext 706
Vice Chief of ShOC
ADM Alex Rosenzweig
[email protected]
Department of Technical
Services
ADM Alex Rosenzweig
[email protected]
DTS Schematics Artist
Advanced Starship Design
Bureau
MGEN Joost Ueffing
[email protected]
Staff Assistant/
ShOC Webmaster
COMM William “Biff” Bassett
[email protected] or
[email protected]
CHIEF OF COMPUTER
OPERATIONS
COMM John Halliday
2807 Norton Ave.
Lago Vista, TX 78645
888-SFI-TREK ext. 707
[email protected]
Vice Chief of Computer
Operations
COMM Robert ‘Bob’ Chin
[email protected] or
[email protected]
Infrastructure Operations Lead
** vacant**
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
COMM Mike Stein
50 Howe Ave.
Nutley, NJ 07110
[email protected]
Vice Chief Financial Officer
ADM Pat Spillers
[email protected]
Fund Raising Officer
CAPT Joe Horton
[email protected]
List revised 12/2008