Untitled - USS Thermopylae

From the Center Seat…
Greetings shipmates and friends,
I guess this is my first official missive as the CO of the USS
Thermopylae, Pride of the 5th Fleet! My route here was somewhat
different, but thanks for the vote of confidence. I shall strive to be
worthy of that trust.
First, I would like to announce my appointments to the command staff
of the USS Thermopylae.
Executive Officer FCPT Cathey Fuller
Marine OIC/2nd Officer MGSGT Jerry “Hawk” Stoddard
Sciences Officer CAPT Prasith Kim-Aun
Medical Officer FCPT/BDR Jari James
Engineering Officer MCPO Dan Gwinn
Communications Officer CPT Scott Nakada (Scott does the web site, so this makes sense, not
assigning you to do the Comm Link my friend!)
Tactical Officer TBA
Helm/Navigation TBA
Yeoman/Charities CMNDR Lisa Hergert
Chief of the Boat SCPO Jenna Cardoski-Wiebe
Ship’s Counselor FCPT Dona Rae Colbert
JAG Officer LTJG Duwane Smith
Please let me know if I missed a position! Thank you to the above named shipmates for
volunteering (more or less) to help keep the Thermopylae strong and active!
Administrative notes
1. The lodge has asked us if we could move our meetings to 3PM instead of 2PM. Henceforth,
meetings will be on the 3rd Sunday of each month at 3PM, same location (Pyramid Masonic
Center). Light potluck follows each meeting.
2. The USSThermopylae_members, USSThermopylae_public and
USSThermopylae_executiveboard yahoo groups will be going away before the next meeting.
I have reopened the USSThermopylae yahoo group. Please join us there!
3. I am going to ask the Executive Board to meet with me to review the Constitution and By
Laws, as well as any other official documents by the end of this year for possible revision,
approval and changes.
4. We now have an open Facebook page!
I am still looking for volunteers to help with event planning. I know what I like to do, but what
do you like to do? The new movie is opening in May! Let’s make a huge endeavor to be a
presence for at least one opening night. More on that later! (but not lots later!)
We have a ton of work to do! And, we have some new members to help us do it…
2LT Nicholas Kirschner just joined the Thermopylae about a month ago and already has 50
correspondence courses! Way to go Nick! Nick is an RN in the US Army currently stationed at
Madigan. Looks like our medical competency just continues to grow.
Ted Ocshenhirt, a longtime friend of Keith and Dana (and former Captain of the USS Excalibur)
has joined us! Welcome aboard Ted, it is great to have a seasoned veteran such as yourself
joining us.
With Prasith moving to Sciences that means that the arms room will be relocated to the science
deck. I am detailing two transporters, three marines and a replicator to assist in the task. POWs
currently stored in the arms room are the responsibility of the owners. (Privately Owned
Weapons … come on, Spartans don’t keep prisoners!)
We have had some of our founding group rotate back aboard. The Christian family (Jeez, Amber
is almost old enough for her learner’s permit … maybe we should give her helm?) is back with
us! Welcome home Peter, Angelina, Angelina Jr., Amber and Patricia! Speaking of the
Christians … there is a new Christian in the family! (No, Angelina didn’t have a baby… ) I
would like to announce the marriage of Matthew Christian and Heather Clements!
Congratulations you two!
Brandy Cannon has also been helping increase the roles of the Spartans, congratulations on your
sweet little baby girl! (Can we do an Andorian christening? It would be fun!)
Dennis and Tracy Jones also reenlisted, thanks guys! Dennis has expressed an interest in the
CAG position within the 503rd. I leave Marine appointments up to the OIC of Marines. Tracy
has expressed interest in helping with the Comm Link, thanks!
I also see PVT Mark Fischer back on the rolls! Welcome back Mark, looking forward to seeing
you soon.
There are a couple of names that I do not recognize on the roster; CMDR Lester Frothinger and
Crewman Mary Freitas. I’ll be contacting those folks to see if we can hookup and help get them
involved. (Hmm, ship’s counselor?)
At our March meeting we were all surprised to see LTC Purkey! Yep, Gerry is now our sole
mechanized infantry force with the loss of COL Dana Marshall during last year’s assault on
Cardassia Prime. Gerry has some motorized assistance and is getting around much better these
days. Glad to see you Gerry!
Well, that about does it for this month. Look for more information on activities with both the
yahoo group and Facebook page. If you are sending information to one, please post on the other
or ask me to post it for you. I want this crew to be well informed!
Summer is coming and I look forward to some great times with the greatest ship in Starfleet!
Your obedient servant,
FCPT Joe
Greetings Crew,
This is my first Comm Link in a long time. As I find more of the templates
(stored somewhere on my computer) I will get things set out a little better.
We have articles from Captain Kim-Aun, Gunny Hawk, and the very
informative article from Fleet Captain Joe Fuller.
I would like to congratulate our CPO Jenna Wiebe, Region 5 Enlisted
Member of the Year, well done! I also congratulate our Spartans! You received
the following awards; Brigade Achievement Award:
John "Digger" Caverly
Brigade Service Commendation:
Jari "Gato" James and J.A. "Hawk" Stoddard
Star of Valor-2012:
Frank Stevens
The 503rd also received; The Meritorious Unit Citation as well as Brigade
Guidon Streamers: REPORTING-2012 and SERVICE-2012.
Our Spartans keep going; Legion of Valor-2012 503rd MSG, USS
Thermopylae. Well done, Marines!!
Congratulations also to our newest married couple Matthew and Heather
Christian. May your life together be astounding and beautiful!
Fleet Captain Cathey R. Fuller, XO USS Thermopylae
From the desk of the Medical Officer
The Election
Most of you know it by now: Our new CO is FCPT Joe Fuller – and he already selected his
wingman (or "wingwoman"), FCPT Cathey Fuller! Congrats Joe, it's good to have you back on
the Chair. A big applause and "thank you" goes to FCPT Dona Rae Colbert for running as a
candidate for the captain's seat! Let's hope that there will be more volunteers in 2 years to choose
from.
Under the hand, an interesting strategy was discussed: Joe would resign right after the election
(does that sound familiar?) and according to our Constitution, this would make Cathey our new
Captain! How "palatable" is that? A less provocative suggestion by Joe himself would be to go
fishing and leave the bridge to his XO. Joe wouldn't officially resign, but this would make
Cathey a de-facto Captain.
Yep, sometimes nobody knows what mischieve this crew is up to...
But before the votes were counted, we had a surprise guest who literally "rolled in" just in time
to submit his ballot: MAJ Gerald Purkey, leader of Thermopylae's mechanized infantry!
Jerry was greeted with a frenzied applause, but was apparently at a loss why he received so much
attention! Yes, we missed you, buddy!
Good Food and New Faces
What a great St. Patricks' Day feast! We had great food and dessert, and it seemed that everybody
enjoyed it. My personal favorite was Joe's corned beef made completely from scratch. Somehow
I always had a weakness for corned beef...
It was wonderful to see "old" faces again, i.e. "lost" members that rejoined the Thermopylae. So
please welcome back LT Tracy Anne Jones and CMDR Dennis Jones. In case you don't know or
remember them, here they are:
Tracy Anne Jones
Dennis Jones
I never knew this, but CAPT Scott Nakada has an uncle who is a STARFLEET member as well,
namely PO2 John Abbott! He's been with STARFLEET since 2010 and – according to Scott –
has a "strong opinion of politics and religion" – whatever that means. John was a former Airforce
supply sergeant and worked as an MP for a while. During my conversation, I noticed that he was
pretty savvy about real steel guns until he revealed to me that he was a gun collector and even
had a table at gun shows. Since he lives out in Port Orchard, it is going to be a little bit of a
challenge for him to make it to all our meetings, especially if one of his shows would come up.
But he wanted to try his best to be present. On a different note, it shouldn't come as a surprise
that he does prop work as well. Obviously, it all stays in the family...
John Abbott
Christopher Travis was another new face that I haven't met yet. He has been pretty active on the
Yahoo-Group and on facebook, so I was glad to finally meet him in person. Chris used to live in
California and has been a STARFLEET member for over 10 years, but he somehow got lost in
the SFI database and is still undiscoverable to this day. Speaking of being lost in the transporter
stream.
Chris Travis
SCPO Jenna Wiebe was actually the one who recruited him. This is what she told me:
"I had offered something (I forget what now!) on Freecycle and when he arrived to pick it up, I
was wearing my "Lost Girl's Pirate Academy" shirt. He asked if I was into pirates, I said I was,
and we talked about the Ren Faire (editor's note: Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire) for
at least 20 minutes! We decided to keep in touch because he was new here and was happy to find
someone with common interests, and I eventually invited him to the Therm."
Two thumbs up for Jenna's recruiting efforts!
Dona Rae's Golden Moments
So far, the new year has been very kind to Dona Rae! She attended with much anticipation the
Emerald City ComicCon, from which she shared some memorable moments with us. I will
presume that her greatest moment was her photo shoot with elusive Enterprise captain Sir Patrick
Stewart:
Of course, to have photos taken with Dirk Benedict ("Face" from "The A-Team") or Wil Weaton
("Wesley Crusher" from "Star Trek - The Next Generation") or Michael Shanks ("Dr. Daniel
Jackson" from "Stargate") is pretty good, too, but geez – if I were in her shoes, I would blow up
that photo with Patrick, frame it, and hang it over my bed! Or – since we are adults – let's hang it
in the office instead... Way to go girl!
Well, that's it from the desk of your medical officer! I hope to see you at the next meeting. Until
next time!
CAPT Prasith Kim-Aun, DMD
Medical Officer
USS Thermopylae NCC-74703
Greetings from the booth in the back in the corner in the dark …oops …that’s the opening from
one of my OTHER monthly reports … sorry …let me start over.
Some of you know me already. Those of you who don’t are in for a great big … oops …that’s
not going to fly, either. Almost gave the CO and a few others a heart attack there. How’s this:
Hey, Spartans! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat! …. Sigh …never mind.
This is my first report here as 2nd Officer/Marine OIC, and I thought I’d lead off with a bit of an
introduction for those who may not know me, and then go into a few other comments about what
I’ll be using this space for in the future.
I’m Master Gunnery Sergeant Stoddard … please, call me “Gunny”, “Hawk” or “Gunny Hawk”.
I’ve been on the Thermopylae since the days when it was an Aeroshuttle towing a U-Haul full of
Marines, serving as the top kick of the 503rd. But, many of you have never seen me face to face
because these days I hang my hat (or is that hats?) out in Montana, at remote Edgar Station (‘Not
the end of the universe, but if you climb up on a big rock, you can probably SEE it from here”)
along with the rest of the scruffy bunch of range rats that makes up Remote Detachment One of
the 503rd MSG (aka The Big Sky Buzzards). Among other things, I’m also Sergeant Major of the
STARFLEET Marines and have served on the SFMC General Staff in that office for over 5
years. But, enough about me …let’s talk about YOU and what you can expect to see in this
space.
Sadly, if you’re waiting for me to resume my stories about Edgar Station, it won’t be happening
in this report. But, I may be sending those in as separate pieces once in a while, along with other
fiction. Mainly what you’re going to get here is pats on the back, some encouragement in various
areas, my thoughts on matters pertaining to the 503rd, important news from the SFMC that you
may have missed, and the occasional gentle nudge if I feel it’s needed. Let’s start there.
With my DOIC, BDR Jari “Gato” James, and me being stuck in remote postings, we’re going to
need to be kept in the loop about what’s happening back there in the Puget Sound area. I’ve
posted a job description to the 503rd MSG Yahoo group for the Reporting Officer, HQ
Detachment …essentially someone willing and able to keep us updated on what we can’t be
present to see. This is a position of responsibility, and it’s pretty much open to any member of
the 503rd who’s willing to do it, and that can be actually present at meetings, events, fun
gatherings, etc. Contact me if you’re interested. And, if nobody contacts me, remember that I’m
a senior NCO, and I’m not above gently twisting an arm or two to get someone to volunteer.
Seriously, it’s a good way to help your fellow Marines out, and demonstrate you can handle a
little responsibility.
Communication is going to be key, and to that end, if you’re not currently on the 503rd Yahoo
list, I’d like you to be there. You may have to put up with some useless chatter (probably from
me), but there will be posts tagged OFFICIAL or ATTENTION TO ORDERS that you should
probably see. Again, contact me privately, and we’ll get you connected (or re-connected) to the
list.
Along with communication, one of my goals is to work harder on Recruiting and Retention. We
used to earn a Recruiting streamer for our Guidon almost every year, and while I don’t expect
that, having new faces and fresh ideas is always a good way to keep a group going strong. And
just as important as recruiting is retention: making sure we all keep being part of the 503rd and
the Thermopylae something people enjoy and keep coming back to. We’re actually off to a darn
good start. We’ve had several former members return, and in no particular order, join me in
welcoming back PFC Mark Fisher, LT Vicky Jeanne Sheppard, CMDR Dennis Jones, LTC
Gerry Purkey, LT Tracy Jones, COMM Peter Christian, and LTC Angelina Christian. Good to
have you all back! And, a special welcome to our newest Spartan, 2LT Nick Kirschner, who’ll
also be helping out the Medical department.
One thing I hope to be able to report here on a fairly regular basis is when one of us receives a
promotion or some other form of recognition. To that end, I was happy to announce the
promotion of Susan Tracy to SSGT and Frank Stevens to GSGT. After taking the usual loving
verbal abuse from “Uncle Grumpy” for not letting him fly under the radar, we did have one
problem. With more than one “Gunny” in the 503rd again, just saying “Gunny” may be
confusing. “Gunny Uncle Grumpy” is a bit cumbersome, so for now it’s “Grumpy Gunny” if you
want his specific attention. I also have to note that our long suffering Chemical and Biological
Warfare expert, my dog Bear, was also promoted to SSGT by the CO this month. (Bear is the
second longest serving non-human member of the 503rd, if we don’t count Prigal. Can you name
the non-human with the longest Time in Service in the 503rd? )
I’ll be doing reviews of people’s ranks and awards at least every couple of months as part of
making my required report up the SFMC Chain of Command and making recommendations as
necessary.
I’d like to draw your attention to a couple of really nice, really easy to put together uniform
options in the latest MFM. Based on a long black vest, there’s both a Class B (duty) uniform and
a Class C (working or field) uniform that can be put together quickly and “off the rack” (through
commercial sources) for not a whole lot of outlay. About the only special items they’ll require is
SFMC pins and rank insignia. And, I’m happy to report that the most common vest (with
numerous useful pockets) is usually available in sizes to fit those of us who are built on a larger,
more “heroic” scale. I was involved in ‘beta testing” both these new uniforms and both of them
were comfortable to wear. You’ll find them listed as the Service Undress Uniform (MFM 2012 p
44) and the All Weather Work Uniform (MFM 2012 p 47). And, there’s more: a newly
authorized “boonie hat” on p 50, and a way to “correctly” wear non-SFMC awards and ribbonsthe Award Case- on p 52. As the “local commander”, I’m hereby authorizing any uniform
variation or optional item listed in the MFM for wear by the 503rd, effective immediately.
Our main mission is going to be to have fun. We won’t neglect community service activities, and
I’ll certainly be encouraging you to take SFA and SFMCA courses. But, at the end of the day,
this is supposed to be fun, even if it means just getting together with friends to shoot the breeze.
And, all those fun activities from all three detachments are going to go straight into the unit
reports, right along with community service hours, the Reading Challenge, etc. The 503rd used to
be pretty much the standard the rest of the 5th Brigade measured themselves against, and if we all
work and play together, we’ll show them that we still are.
Finally, the answer to the question above? None other than SGT Cuddles, my evil green cheeked
conure, who was named the mascot of the 503rd MSG with the permission of Captain Cathey
Fuller in 2006.
Nothin’ up my sleeve …Presto… no doubt about it, I’ve gotta get another hat … wait, I think I
just did.
Semper Fi!
Gunny Hawk
Aka
MGSGT Jerome A “Gunny Hawk” Stoddard
OIC 503rd MSG “The Spartans”
“Retreat is NOT an option”
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